
Executive Wellbeing Psychologists

Dr Jane Austin, Clinical Psychologist
I am a Clinical Psychologist with over 25 years of experience. I have broad expertise encompassing community mental health, private practice, employee assistance programs and organisational psychology. My authentic, warm and direct style allows me to initiate and grow one-on-one relationships, navigate challenging conversations and quickly grasp client needs.

Peter Hayton, Registered Psychologist
I am a Psychologist with over 25 years of experience. Working in and founding The Banyans Treatment Centre provided me with the sensitivity and insight to help various business owners, senior leaders, public figures and sports personalities. I bring a sensitive approach and am well-connected to multiple health professionals and bespoke service providers to enhance well-rounded care and growth.

Chris Hepperlin, Clinical Psychologist
I am a Clinical Psychologist with over 25 years of experience. Additionally, I hold an MBA from the University of Sydney’s Graduate School of Business. I have worked in a variety of tertiary hospitals, specialist mental health, community health, and university settings. I have held senior management positions in the health and education sectors in NSW and QLD and am a former President of the Asia Pacific Student Services Association.

Martin Hood, Clinical Psychologist
I am a Clinical Psychologist with over 18 years of experience in adult mental health. As a business founder, I bring a unique perspective and expertise in supporting business entrepreneurs, offering guidance, managing stress and burnout, and helping them find clarity and direction in life.
Executive Counselling for Resilience & Life Direction
High-functioning individuals’ drive to succeed can sometimes jeopardise their personal relationships and the ability to invest in self-care. As a result, executives and entrepreneurs often experience high levels of stress and burnout, anxiety and a sense of meaninglessness and isolation that can lead to depression if left untreated for too long.
When stress overwhelms you and starts affecting your mental and physical wellbeing, it may be time to seek executive stress counselling.
Learn about the signs that indicate you may need help managing your stress levels and find out how counselling can benefit you.
Identify Warning Signs of Executive Stress & Burnout
Emotional burnout is exhausting, and it can negatively impact your relationships and wellbeing. Identifying early warning signs can help you take action to manage your health. Symptoms include feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and unable to cope, sleep issues, headaches and muscle tension, irritability, alcohol or other substance use to cope, and losing motivation in work, relationships and hobbies.
Identify the Triggers of Your Executive Stress & Burnout
There are often known triggers that raise your stress levels and make it more difficult for you to manage. If you know your triggers, you can aim to anticipate them and put strategies in place to prevent the adverse effects or, even better, find ways of removing the triggers. Triggers might include late nights, deadlines, seeing particular people, hunger, etc.
CBT Therapy – Notice Your Self-Talk
Common unhelpful thinking styles can occur when you are stressed. Your thoughts constantly interpret things in the past, present and future. These can be unrealistic, unhelpful, repetitive, or self-critical and create a lot of unnecessary stress. Learn to identify those unhelpful thoughts and challenge them with some questions: Is that really true? Do I have evidence for that? Is there a more realistic alternative explanation? Is this thought helpful or unhelpful to me? What would be a more valuable and helpful thought right now? What would I tell a friend who was going through this situation?
Finding the Right Psychologist for You
If you decide to start executive counselling, you must find a psychologist experienced in the area(a) you are struggling with. A further important consideration is that you can build a strong therapeutic relationship with your psychologist. If it doesn’t feel like you ‘click’ in those first couple of sessions, therapy with that person will likely not work well for you. An excellent first step is to consider what is important to you in a therapist or psychologist. Would you prefer a male or female psychologist? Is their age and life experience important to you? What about the religious or ethnic background? What kind of personality would you prefer – Formal? Relaxed? Directive? Warm?
Confidential Executive Counselling with a Psychologist
Discuss your mental health concerns with a highly experienced Clinical Psychologist. Develop a plan based on recommended evidence-based methods likely to produce the best outcomes. During your initial counselling session, a psychologist can provide you with strategies to start working on immediately.
Learn and Develop Life-long Skills with a Psychologist
Through counselling with a Clinical Psychologist, you can learn and develop life-long skills to overcome stress and burnout, anxiety, depression, traumatic events, and longstanding issues.
Therapy can help you enhance confidence and assertiveness and boost your wellbeing and overall satisfaction with life and relationships.