About me
Heya, I’m Sagar! I understand how nerve-wracking it can be to walk into a psychologist’s office. That’s why I aim to be as warm, empathetic and approachable as possible, to build a genuine relationship as the foundation of our therapeutic process.
I’ve worked across Australia with both men and women, across many cultures, and with young and old — from 2 to 94. Through my experience, I’ve come to see and cherish that little inner children we carry, as well as respect and honour the adult selves we’ve fought hard to become.
My therapeutic approach is to give you insight into your thoughts and emotions and provide a compassionate and understanding space to allow you to process and heal. Then, collaboratively we’ll create tools and strategies that work for you to ensure problems don’t arise again.
- Registration with the Australian Health
Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
- SIRA-Approved Psychologist
- Bachelor of Art with Honours (Psychology)
Qualifications
- Graduate Diploma in Psychology
- Associate Member of the Australian Psychological
Society (APS)
- Member of the College of Professional Psychology
My Therapeutic Approach
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As I’ve developed my practice, I’ve moved from a purely Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approach, into a more psychodynamic Internal Family Systems (IFS) way of working.
CBT is a powerful therapeutic tool that involves rationalising, challenging, and reframing thoughts as they arise within us. It is considered the gold standard therapeutic approach, because 1) it’s effective; and 2) it’s the most scientifically validated. If you’ve ever seen a psychologist before, 8 times out of 10, they’re using this approach.
Why’s this a problem?
The issue I’ve found is, most of my clients are already really good at rationalising their thoughts. They’ve done it their whole lives. And on a deeper level, learning to rationalise your suffering into ‘feeling okay’ feels dismissive of your experience; it’s abandoning the ‘little you’ that lives at the centre of your very being.
If you’ve ever felt like you already know what to do in your head, but it hasn’t sunken into your bones, or that your body isn’t playing along, you’ve faced this problem.
And this is the kind of thinking CBT can promote.
Don’t get me wrong, detaching ourselves from our emotions to solve the problems ahead of us is a necessary skill to have. It is a powerful way to cope. But as a life-long strategy, holy f*ck, it’s exhausting.
What’s the solution?
In IFS, all of our experience, thoughts and emotions are seen as arising to protect us. Sometimes they’re in conflict, but they’re trying their best to look after us the only ways they know how.
It can seem counter-intuitive, but if you’ve ever had a life-long habit you’ve struggled with, or a regret or trauma you just can’t seem to get past, this approach allows for deep healing, rather than just coping. It’s one of the few things we can do to see our experience for what it is, negotiate with it, and make peace with it, to live a cleaner, more fulfilling life.
I have trained and practised across a broad range of therapeutic modalities. My preferred way of working is to blend these together in a manner that best suits the person I’m working with.
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What I’m trained in:
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Somatic Therapy (includes trauma-based approaches)
- Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
- Person-Centred Therapy (Rogerian Therapy)
- Trauma-Focused CBT
- Narrative Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Existential Therapy