Dominica Dorning
Clinical Psychologist
& Supervisor
Dominica is a clinical psychologist and supervisor, experienced in the fields of complex trauma, human rights and systemic injustice. Her work is motivated by a strong sense of integrity and compassion. Dominica is available for supervision and training for psychologists, and other professionals, working in the human rights and trauma field. She also provides online psychological treatment to adults and young adults.
Clinical Supervision
Reflective and collaborative clinical supervision for psychologists of all levels of experience, as well as professionals working with traumatic content or under systems of injustice
For Psychologists
Dominica is a Psychology Board of Australia approved supervisor and is experienced in the provision of individual and group supervision for:
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Clinical Psychology Masters Students
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Provisional Psychologists
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Clinical Psychology Registrars
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Clinical and generally registered psychologists
Dominica’s approach to supervision is collaborative and reflective and can be adapted to the experience level and goals of the psychologist. Dominica draws on her knowledge of trauma informed and culturally responsive practice and principles of CBT, ACT, DBT and EMDR to guide her supervision work.
For Other Professionals
Dominica is also experienced in providing individual and group clinical supervision to other professionals (such as lawyers, social workers and volunteers) working with clients who have experienced trauma, or with other types of traumatic content.
These sessions aim to support professionals in their development of trauma informed and client centred practice, as well as to prevent vicarious trauma and sustain staff in the often protracted fight for justice and change.
Dominica is available to provide individual or group supervision in the following areas:
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Understanding and preventing vicarious trauma and burn out
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Acknowledging and managing the impact of systems of injustice on staff morale and client outcomes
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Trauma informed practice
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General wellbeing and self-care maintenance
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Working effectively with individuals seeking asylum and those from refugee backgrounds
Training & Facilitation
Empirically designed training in trauma informed practice and prevention of vicarious trauma
Dominica is experienced in designing and facilitating online and in person training for a wide range of participants including clinicians, students, health professionals, lawyers and policy makers.
Dominica draws on evidence-informed research and her broad clinical experience to implement interactive and informative training.
Dominica is available to provide training on the following topics:
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Trauma Informed Practice
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Understanding and preventing vicarious trauma and burnout
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Clinical considerations in assessment, diagnosis and treatment of PTSD and complex PTSD
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Working effectively with individuals seeking asylum and those from refugee backgrounds
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Working effectively with interpreters
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Adapting evidence based clinical interventions to suit the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse clients
She is also available to design or adapt specific training on request.
Please get in touch with any queries.
Psychological Treatment
Dedicated to the psychological treatment of people from diverse backgrounds and survivors of trauma
Dominica is a Clinical Psychologist with 13 years experience across the public health and private practice fields. She is particularly experienced in working with adult and young adult survivors of trauma and people from diverse cultural backgrounds, with a range of presenting difficulties.
Dominica enjoys working with people from all walks of life. She has a particular interest in the areas of:
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Depression and anxiety
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Stress and life transitions
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PTSD and complex trauma
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Emotion dysregulation
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Refugee and asylum seeker mental health
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Gender, sexual diversity and cultural identity
Dominica draws on a warm, non-judgemental, flexible working approach and evidenced based interventions to treat symptoms of psychological distress. Examples of this may include increasing the understanding of your psychological difficulties, learning new skills to cope with distress, processing traumatic experiences, lifestyle changes and/or challenging unhelpful belief systems.
Dominica is trained in and draws on the following evidence-based therapy approaches in her work:
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
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Trauma Focused CBT
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
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Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
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Dominica is currently available for online psychological treatment for adults and young adults. Please get in touch with any enquiries.
Dominica does not provide crisis mental health services.
If you require immediate support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14,
or for a mental health emergency, call 000.
About Dominica
Dominica is a clinical psychologist and a Board approved supervisor. She has over 10 years’ experience working in the trauma field across public health, NGO and private practice settings.
Guided by her strong sense of justice, early in her career Dominica developed a passion for working with clients from refugee backgrounds and individuals seeking asylum. She went on to work in the field for eight years, providing individual treatment and developing a strong foundation of knowledge and skills in the assessment and treatment of complex trauma.
Throughout her work with refugee trauma survivors, Dominica also gained experience in supervising clinical psychology students and registrars, and providing clinical consultation to other staff from varied professional backgrounds. She also drew on her experience and knowledge of geopolitical issues and domestic policy to help design and deliver a variety of training to her colleagues, and to other service providers and government departments.
Throughout her career, Dominica experienced the challenges of working within a punitive and unjust immigration system, in which government policy often contributed to maintaining the distress and disadvantage of her clients. She was aware of the emotional toll this took on herself and her colleagues, as they struggled to practice in line with their own ethics.
Dominica combines her experience working within such challenging systemic environments, with her clinical knowledge and optimistic outlook for change to provide supervision to psychologists and other professionals working in the human rights and trauma field. She also designs and delivers training in trauma informed practice and the prevention of vicarious trauma.
Dominica is also experienced at providing psychological treatment to clients in private practice. Her areas of focus include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), complex trauma, emotion dysregulation, and gender, sexual diversity and cultural identity.
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Qualifications & Professional Associations:
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Bachelor Behavioural Science (Hons)
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Masters Clinical Psychology
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Yoga Teacher Training (350 hrs)
Psychology Board of Australia (PBA)
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Clinical Endorsement
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Approved Supervisor
Acknowledgement
I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation as Traditional Owners of the land on which I work. I pay my respects to Elders past and present.
I acknowledge that these lands were never ceded.
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I embrace diversity and strive to create a safe space for everyone.
