Located in Palm Beach and Burleigh Waters on the Gold Coast, founded by Michelle Gray, founded by Michelle Gray, the practice offers supportive, evidencebased, and scientifically grounded therapy for adults seeking meaningful and lasting change. It is a welcoming space where clients can slow down, feel understood, and begin to reconnect with themselves.
- Phone: 0447 009 465
- Email us: michelle@palmbeachpsychology.com.au
My Services
Trauma & EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Recovery from childhood trauma, emotional neglect, and attachment wounds
Support for complex trauma and dissociation
Healing relational trauma and patterns rooted in early experiences
Personal Counselling
Support for day‑to‑day challenges
A safe, grounded space to reconnect with yourself
Identity, self-worth, and life-direction exploration
Coercive Control & Domestic Violence
Recovery from coercive control, emotional abuse, and intimate partner violence
Safety planning and rebuilding autonomy
Psychoeducation on trauma bonding and nervous system responses
Anxiety & Mood Concerns
Generalised anxiety, social anxiety, and panic
Depression and low mood
Stress, burnout, and emotional overwhelm
Perfectionism and high-functioning anxiety
What people are saying!
From the very beginning, Ali made the whole process so easy. By asking the right questions, she helped me narrow down and choose the flooring I really liked. Her knowledge and understanding were incredibly helpful. Ali then came to my house with the samples, measured up, and organised a prompt quote.
Rachel Fanning
Michelle is a highly attentive listener and exceptional subject matter expert in her field.
Bern Jones
Brilliant EMDR therapist
Lisa Rowlands
Very Professional and Helpful with lifes challenges.
James Stanley
Michelle was amazing support and a brilliant Emdr practitioner!!! I 10000% reccommend.
Cheyenne Greffe
Michelle brings a calm, grounded presence that instantly makes you feel seen and safe. She has a remarkable ability to hear not just your words, but what’s underneath them. Her insight is gentle but powerful, and she knows just how to guide the process with care. Her use of EMDR for trauma work is powerful—subtle at times, but deeply transformative. Shell doesn’t just do therapy; she creates space for real change.
Kerry Sutton
Michelle is a highly attentive listener and exceptional subject matter expert in her field.
Bern Jones, Customer
I couldn’t recommend Michelle more! I have been searching for the right psychologist for years, and Michelle was exactly what I was searching for! 1000% recommend !!!
Cheyenne Greffe
Michelle is an amazing help with life’s challenges and ensuring i sm supported and validated.
Lisa Rowlands
A S K Q U E S T I O N
Any questions about us
1. What EMDR is
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a trauma‑focused therapy that helps the brain reprocess experiences that were overwhelming at the time they occurred. These unprocessed memories can continue to trigger emotional, cognitive, and physiological reactions in the present. EMDR supports the brain in integrating these memories so they no longer feel threatening or intrusive. EMDR is a structured, evidence‑based psychotherapy designed to help people process distressing memories, reduce emotional reactivity, and build more adaptive beliefs.
2. How it works
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements, tapping, or auditory tones) while the client briefly focuses on aspects of a distressing memory or trigger. This dual attention—part of the memory and part in the present—helps the nervous system shift from a reactive state into a more adaptive, integrated one.
3. What EMDR targets
- Traumatic or overwhelming experiences
- Negative self‑beliefs formed during difficult events
- Current triggers that activate old emotional patterns
- Somatic responses linked to past experiences
4. What clients often experience
- Reduced emotional intensity around past events
- Decreased physiological reactivity
- More balanced, realistic beliefs about themselves
- Increased capacity to stay regulated in the present
5. Why EMDR is effective
EMDR is grounded in the idea that the brain has a natural capacity to heal. When an experience is too overwhelming, it can become “stuck” in the nervous system. EMDR helps unlock and reprocess these memories so they can be stored in a more adaptive way, reducing symptoms and improving overall functioning.
Add this information in Ask Questions- Schema Therapy is an integrative, evidence‑based psychotherapy designed to help people understand and change long‑standing patterns that began in childhood or adolescence and continue to affect their emotions, relationships, and coping in the present.
6. What Schema Therapy is
Schema Therapy focuses on maladaptive schemas—deep, enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that develop when core emotional needs weren’t met early in life. These schemas can be triggered in adulthood, leading to strong emotional reactions, self‑criticism, relationship difficulties, or unhelpful coping strategies.
7. Core components
1. Early Maladaptive Schemas
These are long‑standing themes such as:
- Abandonment
- Defectiveness/shame
- Emotional deprivation
- Unrelenting standards
- Failure
- Subjugation
They shape how a person interprets themselves, others, and the world.
2. Schema Modes
Modes are the moment‑to‑moment emotional states and coping parts that get activated. Common modes include:
- Vulnerable Child (sad, scared, lonely)
- Angry Child
- Detached Protector (shutting down, avoiding)
- Overcompensator (perfectionism, control)
- Punitive Parent (self‑criticism, harsh inner voice)
- Healthy Adult (balanced, compassionate, grounded)
3. Core Emotional Needs
Schema Therapy emphasises universal needs such as:
- Safety and stability
- Connection and acceptance
- Autonomy and competence
- Realistic limits
- Play and spontaneity
When these needs aren’t met, schemas form.
8. How Schema Therapy works
The therapy blends cognitive, behavioural, experiential, and relational techniques to help clients:
- Identify their schemas and modes
- Understand where these patterns originated
- Recognise when schemas are being triggered
- Reduce the power of unhelpful coping strategies
- Strengthen the Healthy Adult mode
- Meet unmet emotional needs in healthier ways
Techniques may include imagery rescripting, chair work, cognitive restructuring, behavioural pattern‑breaking, and strong therapeutic attunement.
9. What clients often experience
-
- Greater self‑understanding
- Reduced self‑criticism
- More stable relationships
- Improved emotional regulation
- A stronger, more compassionate internal voice
- Freedom from long‑standing patterns that once felt “just who I am”
In the Ask questions
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence‑based psychological treatment that helps people understand the connection between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, and teaches practical skills to create meaningful change.
10. What CBT is
CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts influence how we feel and how we behave. When someone has unhelpful or distorted thinking patterns, these can lead to distressing emotions and behaviours that reinforce the cycle. CBT helps people identify these patterns and replace them with more balanced, realistic, and helpful ways of thinking.
11. How CBT works?
CBT is collaborative, goal‑focused, and time‑limited. It typically involves:
- Identifying unhelpful thoughts or beliefs
- Understanding how these thoughts affect emotions and behaviour
- Learning skills to challenge and reframe unhelpful thinking
- Practising new behaviours to break old patterns
- Building coping strategies for future situations
Key components
1. Cognitive strategies
These help clients recognise and shift unhelpful thinking patterns such as catastrophising, black‑and‑white thinking, or self‑criticism. Techniques may include thought records, cognitive restructuring, and identifying core beliefs.
2. Behavioural strategies
These focus on changing actions to influence mood and functioning. Examples include behavioural activation, exposure, problem‑solving, and building healthy routines.
3. Skills development
CBT teaches practical tools such as:
- Emotion regulation
- Stress management
- Grounding and relaxation
- Communication and assertiveness skills
12. What clients often experience?
- Improved emotional regulation
- Reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms
- Increased confidence in managing difficult situations
- Greater awareness of internal patterns
- More adaptive coping strategies
CBT is widely used for anxiety, depression, stress, eating disorders, trauma‑related symptoms, and many other concerns. It’s flexible, practical, and empowering—helping clients become their own therapist over time.
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Billing & Rebates
| Appointment Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Fees for Face-to-Face appointments and Telehealth appointments | $200 |
| Medicare Rebates. If you have a mental health treatment plan from a GP you will get $98.95 rebate from Medicare. | $98.95 |
| Therefore, the out-of-pocket cost with a mental health treatment plan | $101.05 |
| Consultation Fees | |
| Face-to-Face and Telehealth appointments per session | $200 |
| Medicare Rebates | |
| Clients with a valid Mental Health Treatment Plan from their GP are eligible for a Medicare rebate | $98.95 |
| This reduces the out-of-pocket cost to per session. | $101.05 |
| Private Health Insurance | |
| A receipt will be provided after each session for you to submit to your private health insurer. | |
| Rebates vary depending on your individual policy and level of cover. | |
| Third-Party Billing | |
| Sessions funded by NDIS, DVA, or WorkCover will be invoiced directly to the relevant third party after your appointment, in line with their billing requirements. |
Note: Health Insurance. You will be provided a receipt of payment after the session, that you will forward to your Private Health Insurance. The amount rebated will be dependent on your Private Health Insurance.
Third Parties such as NDIS, DVA or Workcover will be billed after your session.