Hello Edwina
Edwina (She/they) is, firstly, a proud queer Tamil (தமிழ்) person, and, second, a clinical psychologist and board approved supervisor with AHPRA. She places a strong importance on a decolonised perspective (unfortunately, still within a capitalist framework) to make sure the people she works with have a holistic understanding of their current situation and experiences.
Hello Edwina
What led you to choose a career in psychology and mental health?
My parents fled Sri Lanka due to the civil war and growing up, I saw the firsthand effects of not only trauma, but what happens to the physical body when trauma is stored in the body and not dealt with. While psychology and mental health are more spoken about in society, it is still largely a Western science that has not progressed in the cultural needs of marginalised communities, and I wanted to be part of the change that it still desperately needs.
What's your cultural background and what makes it stand out?
I am Tamil born in Australia, and my parents were born in Sri Lanka. I identify as Tamil first due to the way Tamils have been treated for decades in Sri Lanka, and it is a very unique experience to have your cultural identity politicised and weaponised, not only in your country of birth (through racism) but also in your motherland. I am also openly queer.
What sort of Individual challenges can you best support?
I strongly believe that individual challenges cannot be supported by the individual alone, and will work with individual needs in the context of social inequities. In my career, I have worked with individuals who experience depression and anxiety-related symptoms, cPTSD and PTSD, issues within interpersonal relationships, racial, sexual, physical, interpersonal and childhood trauma, as well as BIPOC mental heath, South Asian mental health and queer mental health
What are your areas of expertise and is there anything else you want to branch out into?
First and foremost, my area of expertise is providing a comfortable and open space for people to feel safe in. My main treatment is EMDR, however, I use this approach in conjunction with schema therapy and DBT. I am hoping the more we can decolonise psychology, the more we can practice decolonised therapy, outside of social and financial barriers in a collective way (this is the dream I may not see in my time).
If you had an afternoon to yourself, how would you spend it ?
I would absolutely go to the beach. Despite being terrified of tsunamis, the ocean is such an underrated way of connecting to yourself!
