Leisa Petersen
Registered Psychologist
BPsych(Hons), Master Gestalt Therapy, Graduate Certificate Artistic Therapies, Circle of Security Parent Educator.
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About Leisa Petersen
I am an experienced Psychologist, Couples Therapist and Gestalt Therapist with a deep passion for guiding people toward greater self-awareness, self-acceptance, and authentic self-expression. Drawing on the core principles of Gestalt Therapy, I help clients explore their present-moment experiences, focusing on what is immediately accessible and observable. This approach allows deeper layers of the self to emerge, creating space for integration, transformation, and the release of what no longer serves clients.
With extensive experience across diverse settings—from universities and prisons to rehabilitation centres and private practice—I bring a broad and nuanced understanding to their work.
I am skilled at helping clients navigate various challenges, from trauma to life transitions, using a tailored, relational approach that honours each person’s unique experiences. This fosters a foundation of trust, empathy, and authenticity in the therapeutic relationship.
My warm and approachable presence creates a safe and supportive space where clients feel genuinely seen, heard, and valued. Skilled in addressing a broad spectrum of psychological issues, I work collaboratively with clients, empowering them to explore their inner worlds and relationships with greater confidence and clarity.
Incorporating evidence-based modalities such as Gestalt Therapy, Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness, and Compassion-Based Therapies, I offer an integrative approach that facilitates healing and growth. This process invites clients to engage deeply with their experiences, ultimately guiding them toward greater integration, freedom, and fulfilment.
Couples Therapy: The Journey & Stages Using Gestalt Therapy
My approach to Couples Therapy is grounded in Gestalt principles. It is a process-oriented model that emphasises awareness, responsibility, and authentic contact. The goal is to help partners become more fully present with themselves and with each other, identify repeating relational patterns, and experiment with new ways of relating in the safety of the therapeutic space.
Couples can expect to move through a series of phases designed to deepen understanding, increase openness, and foster lasting change.
1. Initial Engagement and Awareness Building
The first stage of therapy involves establishing a safe and supportive environment where both partners feel heard and respected. The therapist facilitates exploration of presenting concerns while inviting each partner to notice their immediate experience in the “here-and-now.”
- Focus areas: include awareness of body sensations, emotions, tone of voice, and non-verbal cues.
- Clinical aim: to shift from problem-saturated narratives to direct experience, providing insight into how each individual contributes to relational cycles.
2. Contact and Dialogue
At this stage, the couple is guided to move beyond abstract descriptions or blaming language and instead engage in authentic dialogue with one another. The therapist encourages partners to speak directly to each other, rather than about one another.
- Focus areas: clarifying needs, practising active listening, and recognising interruptions to contact (e.g., defensiveness, withdrawal, projection).
- Clinical aim: to heighten awareness of relational dynamics as they emerge in session, making implicit communication patterns explicit.
3. Experimentation and Exploration
Gestalt Therapy utilises experiential techniques to help couples uncover underlying emotions and unfinished business that may be influencing the present relationship.
- Focus areas: include role reversal, empty chair dialogues, body-awareness exercises, or focusing on moments of relational impasse.
- Clinical aim: to create opportunities for partners to experience themselves and each other in new ways, expanding their relational repertoire beyond entrenched cycles.
4. Integration and Responsibility
As awareness increases, the emphasis shifts toward integration. Each partner is supported to recognise and take responsibility for their own feelings, needs, and behaviours, rather than externalising them onto the other.
- Focus areas: include ownership of projections, differentiation of self from partner, and cultivating empathy.
- Clinical aim: to reduce cycles of blame and defensiveness, and foster a climate of mutual recognition and accountability.
5. Transformation and Choice
In the final stage, couples are equipped to make conscious choices about how they wish to move forward in their relationship. With greater clarity and awareness, they are less bound by automatic reactions and more capable of engaging authentically.
- Focus areas: include creating new patterns of contact, negotiating needs and boundaries, and consolidating growth achieved in therapy.
- Clinical aim: to empower couples with the freedom to choose intimacy, separation, or new forms of relational engagement based on awareness rather than compulsion.
“I strive to create a safe space for the unspoken and unseen to emerge and be processed. This leads to greater awareness, clarity of mind and body, deeper self-understanding, self-forgiveness, and self-compassion—ultimately empowering individuals to begin living the life they truly desire.”
– Leisa Petersen
Evidence-Based Therapies I Use
Qualifications, Memberships & Registrations
- Bachelor of Psychology – Bpsych (Hons)
- Master of Gestalt Therapy – MGest Therapy
- Registered Circle of Security Parent Educator
- Graduate Certificate in Artistic Therapies
Investment, Funding & Rebates
From July 1st, 2025
- 300Individual Private Appointment (50-min)
- 201.05Individual Medicare Appointment Out-of-Pocket with GP Referral (50-min)
- 380Couples Counselling Appointment (50-min)
Rebates and other funding may be available depending on your eligibility.
- Medicare Gap Fee: The difference between the psychologist’s session fee and the Medicare rebate.
- Medicare Rebates: $98.95 per 50+ minute session with a valid doctor’s referral or Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP). You can secure your first appointment without a referral, but you must have one at the appointment to be eligible for the rebate. More about Medicare rebates >
- Private Health Rebates: Available depending on your private health policy and ‘extras’ cover. Please contact your private health insurance company to check your eligibility and the exact rebate amounts. More about Private Health Insurance rebates >
- Appointments outside of business hours (starting from 4:30 pm) are available and attract a small additional fee of $30.
