Professional Experience | Drleoniewhite

Dr Leonie White

Psychologist and Clinical Family Therapist

Bachelor of Behavioural Science
Bachelor of Psychology (Hons)
Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology.
Registered Psychologist - Psychology Board of Australia AHPRA
Board Approved Supervisor - Psychology Board of Australia AHPRA
Member - Australian Psychological Society (APS)
Clinical Member - Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT)
Accredited Supervisor - Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT)
Member - International Family Therapy Association (IFTA)

I am a Psychologist and Clinical Family Therapist with nearly three decades of experience in the counseling and mental health field, and a passion for supporting both individuals and families, as well as professionals, and organizations.

I am also the Director of Phoenix Family Therapy Academy www.phoenixftacademy.com

Over the course of my career I have had the privilege to work with children, teenagers, adults, couples, families, foster families, residential care providers, teachers and other helping professionals, in Queensland Health (Child and Youth Mental Health Service & Evolve Therapeutic Service), as well as Australian and Canadian Education and Child Protection Systems. I have a special interest in supporting the Wellbeing, Mental Health and Family Relationships of children, teenagers, adults, couples and families.

I established a Systemic Family Therapy and Psychology private practice in 2013 providing clinical services. In addition to this I support the wellbeing, growth and practice of other helping professionals through mentorship, individual and group supervision, consultancy, and professional development training, and I am a recognized supervisor of Psychologists with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and of Family Therapists with the Australian Association of Family Therapy.

I am committed to making Family Therapy accessible and useful and I love to create and provide a range of free quality resources for the community through my website blogs, eBooks, worksheets and infographics, as well as through my YouTube channel, and online courses.

In April 2021 I launched my passion project - the Helping Families Thrive Cards. A deck of 36 cards covering key ingredients of growing healthy, thriving families. These cards were inspired by the struggles families faced in 2020 and designed to make my clinical practice, and family therapy research and practice available and accessible to families.

My commitment to supporting wellbeing on a larger scale has also led me to contribute to the community by providing training events in the Education sector, and workshops for the community.

I love to support the development of the next generation of Family Therapists, Counsellors and Mental Health Professionals and enjoy ongoing teaching and supervision in the Masters of Counselling program at the Queensland University of Technology, supervising final year students in a Reflecting Team live supervision clinic, as well as providing guest lectures in Master of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern Queensland and guest lectures in the Advanced Certificate of Psychotherapy for the RANCP Queensland Branch. I have valued my past contribution to the Master of Mental Health (Family Therapy) program at the University of Queensland teaching and supervising across the program as well as being the Family Therapy field of study coordinator, and also my role as a founding director of the Queensland Institute of Family Therapy which operated from 2018 untiil 2024.

I am passionate about connecting with other helping professionals and sharing systemic family therapy theory and practice, and I have presented at multiple national conferences in relation to Systemic Family Therapy ideas in Mental Health, Child Protection, Collaborative Practice, Clinical Supervision and Integration of Therapeutic approaches. These include multiple Australian Association of Family Therapy National Conferences, an Australian College for Child and Family Protection Practitioners Conference, a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference (Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association), and she was an invited keynote speaker at the 2023 Association of Counsellors in Catholic Secondary Schools Queensland Conference. I have also presented internationally at the International Family Therapy Association Congress.

My contributions to the profession also include publications in academic journals, and the role of Guest Editor for a special edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy on the topic of Integrative Practice in Family Therapy.

As an integrative systemic family therapist and psychologist my practice is grounded has a focus on collaboration, strengths based practice, attachment understandings, creative therapy approaches, cutting-edge neuroscience, understandings of trauma informed care, and somatic approaches.

I am the Co-Director of the Queensland Institute of Family Therapy (QIFT), together with Dr Kate Owen www.qldfamilytherapy.com

Please note I do not provide a crisis service. If you require crisis support please contact Lifeline (13 11 14), or seek emergency services support by calling 000 or presenting to your local hospital Accident and Emergency Department.

Currently, I am available for Counselling and Family Therapy, Training, Consultancy, and Supervision (Individual and Group Clinical Supervision).

Publications:

White, L. (2022). Integrative practice in family therapy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 43, 3 – 8.
White, L. & Owen, K. (2022). Systemic integrative practice: A meta-framework. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 43, 33 – 53.
White, L. (2020). What can contemporary family therapy offer in a pandemic? Psychotherapy and Counselling Today, November 2020, 26 – 33.
Shum, D., Short, L., Tunstall, J., O’Gorman, J., Wallace, G., Shephard, K. & Murray, R. (2000). Performance of children with traumatic brain injury on a 4-disc version of the tower of London and the Porteus Maze. Brain and Cognition, 44, 54 – 62. (NB Leonie White nee Leonie Short)

Conferences:

2024 International Family Therapy Association Congress: Integrative Practice in Systemic Group Supervision: Growing Competence, Confidence and Adaptability.
2024 International Family Therapy Association Congress: Systemic Meta-Framework for Integrative Practice: Clinical and Teaching Tool.
2024 International Family Therapy Association Congress: Reflecting Team Supervision:
From the Mirrored Room to the Digital Zoom
2023 ACCSSQ Conference: The Gold Standard: School Based Interventions for Children and Adolescents - Creating Positive Parent Partnerships.
2021 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference (Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association) - Working Safely with Families and Trauma: Integrating Neurobiology, Stabilization and Family Therapy.
2019 Australian Association of Family Therapy Conference – What Matters in Contemporary Family Therapy: Things our Students have Taught Us.
2017 Australian Association of Family Therapy Conference – Systemic Interventions for Children in Care: What Works in the Context of Trauma and what do our Clients Notice Works?
2014 Australian Association of Family Therapy Conference – It Takes a System to Raise a Family Therapist (especially one working with relational trauma): How Systemic Group Supervision Can Grow Competent and Confident Family Therapists.
2009 Australian Association of Family Therapy Conference – Lessons Learned from Working Systemically with Children and Young People in Foster Care: Resilience and resourcefulness through Relationships
2008 Australian Family Therapy Conference – Evolutions in Family Therapy: Working Systemically with Children in Care
2008 Australian College for Child and Family Protection Practitioners – Evolutions in Partnerships: Meaningfully Engaging Young People in Collaboration
2004 British Psychological Society Annual Conference – Social Rules for Conflict Escalation in response to pushy behaviour in the Workplace