About me
The long way here
Hi, I’m Donald.
I didn’t take a straight path into this work. Before becoming a psychologist, I worked in management and later in software development. Both taught me useful things, but neither felt like where I was meant to stay. By that point, I already knew from my own therapy how much can change when someone feels properly met by another person. Working in a field that was light on human contact gave me the final push to stop circling the idea and actually change course.
Looking back, my interest in psychology started much earlier. I was often trying to understand the people around me and asking a lot of “why” questions. Part of that was probably curiosity. Part of it, if I’m honest, was anxiety. Understanding things felt like a way of creating safety.
That still shapes me now, though in a very different way. I care deeply about understanding people, but not in a detached or overly analytical sense. What matters to me is helping people feel less alone in what they carry, and creating the kind of space where something more honest and different can emerge.
I came to Australia from Europe years ago, but my connection to this place started even earlier, when I lived with a family on the Sunshine Coast as a teenager. That time stayed with me. It taught me something about belonging, about context, and about how much people are shaped by the environments and relationships they live in. Australia still feels important to me in that way. Being outdoors, near water, moving my body, being with family, those are some of the ways I come back to myself.
Therapy matters to me because I get to be alongside people in moments that are often unseen by others, difficult, and deeply courageous. The work is rarely dramatic from the outside. Often it is quieter than that. Someone sees a pattern more clearly. Someone stops abandoning themselves in a familiar situation. Someone begins to feel stronger, or sadder in a more honest way, or more alive again. Those shifts matter.
Outside the therapy room, I’m most myself when I’m moving: cycling, hiking, surfing, swimming, playing with my kids. I value depth, humour, directness, and real connection. I’m also somewhat clumsy and regularly injured in minor, unimpressive ways, which entertains my kids.
If you’d like to know more about how I work and what therapy with me is like, you can read more on my What to expect page. I also offer sessions in German for those who feel more comfortable speaking in their first language.
Professional background
I’m a Registered Psychologist currently completing the Clinical Psychology Registrar Program. I hold a Master of Clinical Psychology (Distinction) and a First Class Honours degree in Psychology with Counselling, and I’m a Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS).