deisy woods image

Deisy Amorin-Woods

Psychotherapist/Family & Relationship Therapist

Deisy Amorin Woods, mental health practitioner, psychotherapist, family therapist, is the Director and principal practitioner @ both Insight Counselling & Relationship Centre & Heights Counselling Services. With a wealth of experience spanning over 20 years, she has worked across the government, non-government sectors as a senior clinician as well as manager of clinical and counselling services within the fields of mental health, drug and alcohol, sexual and reproductive health, justice system, migration, cultural issues, refugees, torture & trauma, grief & bereavement, and women’s issues. Deisy possesses training in psychology, social work, teaching and has postgraduate training in relationship and family therapy. She also holds a Masters degree in Family Therapy & Mental health. Following on from her research resulting from both her masters and high degree research dissertations, Deisy is looking at expanding on the knowledge and findings of her exploration about the influence of culture on the therapeutic process  with the aim of developing a culturally sensitive framework in working with intercultural families and families from culturally diverse backgrounds. Over the past couple of years, Deisy has been studying towards her PhD exploring the ‘lived experience’ of therapists and clients in working systemically with culture.

Deisy is accredited as a mental health provider registered with Medicare Australia and ATAPS and accepts referrals from GP’s and psychiatrists for the provision of focused psychological services and services under the Better Access program. She has worked extensively in public, NGO’s and private mental health services in adult health and adolescent services. She has trained in the use of the following interventions: Narrative Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Motivational Interviewing. Deisy is able to combine the above interventions with psycho-education and skills training including anger management, stress management, communication, social and parent management training in order to support clients in addressing many mental health and other presenting issues.

Deisy is also accredited as a family therapist registered with the Australian Association of Family Therapy. She possesses extensive experience providing family therapy, couples counselling and relationship therapy in Australia and overseas. Deisy is thus properly trained and qualified to provide family and relationship therapy. Deisy has completed post-graduate training in highly regarded institutions in Australia and overseas. After completing her basic training in family and relationship therapy in Perth, she attended professional couple therapy training in New Zealand and Perth with the Imago Institute. Further to this, Deisy also completed a four-month clinical family therapy externship at the Accademia di psicotherapia della famiglia in Rome, Italy, under the guidance and lead of Professor Maurizio Andolfi, family therapist and child psychiatrist. Deisy later completed her Masters specialization in family therapy in Brisbane under the guidance of visiting systemic family therapist Dr. Paolo Bertrando, from the Episteme Centre in Turin, Italy.

Deisy has extensive experience working in government, non-government and private settings in a diversity range of settings, including mental health, drug and alcohol, justice system, immigration, settlement and trauma, grief and loss (including palliative care), as well as sexual and reproductive health. She has held senior clinical and management positions in the mental health, sexual and reproductive health and drug and alcohol sectors.Over more than a decade, Deisy has worked in private practice providing therapeutic services to families, couples and individuals presenting with relationships issues and with mental health issues. She works with people and their ecological system with special interest in family and systems, complex trauma, self-identity, chronic conditions (including those related to mesh implants and auto-immune conditions), cultural diversity, and cross-cultural relationships. As a systemic therapist she is guided by a number of key theoretical perspectives and practice models which lead to improve the functioning and structure. She considers the interplay between family of origin and current presenting issues and between early childhood & adult attachments and the impact on how we view self and how we relate to others, particularly in the presence of trauma & complex trauma. She explores & identifies people’s strengths and attempts in encouraging and maintaining positive change. Her approach is designed to assist people to develop awareness and gain insight into issues, imparting them with new skills & strategies, in order to empower them to gain self-confidence and develop decision making while finding alternative ways to find meaningfulness and life purpose.

Deisy has had many radio appearances, including on 6PR & The Sattler Files. She has been a frequent invited guest as well as having her own segment discussing relationships and mental health. 
Deisy has worked as an academic and has presented at numerous conferences nationally and internationally. She is also a published author.

Deisy is a qualified and highly experienced supervisor, and provides clinical supervision to individual allied health practitioners and clinical teams.

Deisy has worked with individuals (young people and adults), couples and families from a diversity of backgrounds and cultures and presenting with a wide range of issues. Deisy has developed and facilitated a diverse range of groups (psycho-education and therapeutic) and workshops for individuals, couples and families. While Deisy has experience working with a diversity of people and issues, her areas of interest are relationship issues, self-esteem, identity (cultural and sexual), social isolation, addictive behaviours, anxiety disorders, grief and loss, trauma, sexual and reproductive health issues, chronic pain and autoimmune conditions.

Deisy is a systemic therapist so even while working with individuals in the room, her aim is to work with the individual and their environment, including their relationships. She is interested in the interactional patterns and dynamics; how they impact on the individual; and how they contribute to the development and maintenance of issues clients present with and which keeps them stuck. She is particularly interested in the shift out of ‘stuckness’ into forward movement & growth. Thus she assists people to recognize and consider the potential benefit of including these relationships (family members and significant others) and their influence as resources and as part of their treatment plan.

Deisy provides consultation services and clinical supervision to individual practitioners as well as group supervision to clinical teams. Given Deisy’s clinical experience working across the various sectors (government, non-government and private), and having worked as a private practitioner for many years, she is able to support and coach practitioners through their transitional clinical process. Deisy is therefore frequently approached by clinicians (from allied health) working in organizations interested in and wishing to get established into private practice. Deisy also provides clinical supervision to undergraduate and postgraduate university students and supports universities with student placements.

Deisy is also an academic and has worked across 4 universities in Western Australia in the Masters of Counselling and Social Work Programs.

Deisy is committed to attending ongoing professional development, whether in Australia or overseas, in order to improve and maintain her skills and knowledge. She is also committed to reflective clinical and therapeutic practice. To this end, she attends ongoing clinical supervision for her individual, couple and family therapy work with prominent and well respected individual, couple and family therapists, this includes participation in family therapy supervision with Professor Maurizio Andolfi.

***COVID-19:Given the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities, families, and individuals, Deisy has written extensively in the topic and has published some works. She initially lead a collaborative paper with international family therapist colleagues, titled: Family Therapy and COVID‐19: International Reflections during the Pandemic from Systemic Therapists across the Globe – Amorin-Woods., etal (2020) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anzf.1416

Deisy was later invited by the ANZJFT editor, Glenn Larner, to be a guest editor for the  special COVID-19 edition, the collation of which has spanned over 9 months. This special issue titled: Covid-19 Systems & Families: Acknowledging Loss, Trascending Hope. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678438/2021/42/1

includes 9 articles by highly esteemed international family and systemic therapists, two of which are authored by Deisy: The COVID‐19 Pandemic: An Evolving Story. Professional and Personal Insights using Self and Culture as Agents of Calm and Healing after a Year of Co‐habitation with Imminent Threat, D. Amorin‐Woods  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anzf.1442

 Systemic Practice in the Time of COVID: Conversations Among Culturally Diverse Therapists, D. Amorin‐Woods, M Andolfi, HJ Aponte https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anzf.1440

& the Editorial: COVID-19 systems and families: Acknowledging loss, transcending hopehttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anzf.1444

Other roles:

Deisy holds roles as Associate Editor (Interviews) at the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

and

WA State Branch Rep at the Australian Association of Family Therapy

Deisy holds Membership/ Clinical Membership with the following Associations:

Clinical Membership Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)

Clinical Membership The Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT)

Clinical membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers & a Member of the Australian College of Social Workers.

Deisy also holds accreditation as a Mental Health Practitioner & Registered with Medicare Australia

Deisy also is a member of the International Family Therapy Association (IFTA)

Deisy is also a member of the Family Therapy Multimedia Archives Team at the Accademia di Psicoterapia della Famiglia, Italy: http://www.accademiapsico.it/multimedia-library/team.html

For further information on clinical or consultation services or research projects please contact Deisy via mobile on 0400518626 or via email: deisy.insightcounselling@bigpond.com

Alternatively you can find out further or updated information on clinical services, workshops and groups via FB news feeds