Sophie Henshaw

Born and raised in the UK from an English and French parentage and fluent in both languages, I moved to Australia at the age of 24. From very young my passion was for the arts. As a child I spent many hours reading children's classics, drawing and painting, which developed my imagination and instilled a firm belief in magic that has not left me to this day. My first degree was in fine arts and at heart I am still more of an artist than a scientist. Later on through several harrowing personal ordeals I developed a great curiosity about the nature of suffering and in particular the function of emotion. What, I wondered, was the purpose of emotion when it could be so intensely painful and what if anything could be done to transform it?

So began an intense journey of personal growth that had me develop my intuition, understanding and empathy. I developed a great interest for all sorts of alternative therapies and practices, from yoga, meditation, the Alexander Technique, kinesiology, metaphysics to nutrition and health. My life experience culminated in a desire to offer people a therapy service that provided all the advantages of conventional wisdom and practice infused with a unique touch of magic.

I went to Murdoch University as a mature age, full-time student in 1993. I obtained a Bachelor of Psychology degree after 4 years then won a scholarship to do a Doctor of Psychology degree which I obtained in 2000. After graduating, I set up Henshaw Consulting and worked part-time with a variety of corporate and private clients, writing reports, designing interventions for organisations and conducting therapy with groups and individuals. Since then I have also worked in a maximum security male prison, a psychiatric hospital, in general practice with GPs and with drug and alcohol, disability and head injured service providers. I have designed hospital based mental health programs, run workshops on understanding emotions, weight loss, depression and anxiety.

In March 2003 I was awarded the specialist title of "Clinical Psychologist" from the Psychologist Board of WA. I am also a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the College of Clinical Psychologists and the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy (AACBT). I remain committed to my ongoing personal and professional development by continually engaging in therapy, supervision, reading and attending workshops, seminars and conferences.  By the end of 2007 I had completed a 3 year psychotherapy training in Hakomi and I attended the International Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Conference in Barcelona.  I look forward to meeting you soon!