Sharon Southwell
Clinical Supervisor
Sharon joined Student Services in 2021 as a Clinical Supervisor. The primary aim of this role is to support staff in Student Services and beyond, as they engage with students.
Sharon has relocated from Melbourne, Australia, where most recently she had been working for eight years in private practice as a clinical psychologist.
Before qualifying as a psychologist, Sharon worked for ten years in a range of community, welfare and student support roles. These included working with women and children leaving family violence situations, and international and local students at the University of Melbourne. At the University of Melbourne, over a ten-year period, Sharon worked as tutor, in student support to international students, and student support and administration in teaching departments, colleges, and halls of residence.
Sharon has worked as a psychologist for over twenty years, in a range of settings, including with people with disabilities and their families, with people wanting to change substance-use behaviours, and with adults seeking general counselling through a community health service. She has experience as an educator and trainer for behaviour change programs. She also has experience supervising counsellors in crisis and smoking cessation services, as well as counsellor trainers.
Sharon’s first undergraduate studies were in classics, history and archaeology. After further graduate and postgraduate training in psychology, Sharon also completed specialist postgraduate training in clinical psychology. Sharon has regularly used a wide range of modalities. At the centre of her practice though are CBT and Schema Therapy on the one hand, and the third-wave cognitive and behavioural therapies, ACT, DBT, MBCT and MBSR, on the other.
Sharon is committed to compassionate, competent, safe, and evidence-based clinical practice herself, and she is keen to support staff with their own professional development and self-care.
Sharon has a longstanding interest in the relationship of values, meaning, existential questions, spirituality and religious belief and practice to mental health and flourishing.
Sharon is also a keen walker. If and as time permits, she is looks forwarding to walking and talking along West Sands.