Shanti Monteiro
Clinical Psychologist
M. Psych (Clin), BPsychStud (Hons).
Shanti Monteiro is an experienced clinical psychologist located in the Coburg area committed to providing personalised, evidence-based assessment and psychotherapy in a warm, compassionate and supportive environment. Shanti’s approach to therapy is to compassionately guide people towards gaining a deeper, more insightful understanding of, and relationship with themselves, the way they relate with others (relationship patterns) and the way they relate with the world around them.
Shanti has completed a Bachelor of Psychological Studies, Bachelor of Psychological Studies (Honours), Master of Clinical Psychology and holds an Clinical endorsement from the Psychology Board of Australia. Shanti is a Psychology Board of Australia approved supervisor. Shanti has completed the Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (VAPP) foundational course in psychoanalysis as well as the EMDRAA’s Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy training. Shanti is also a Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) trained therapist part of the psychedelics team at Monash University.
Shanti employs a holistic approach when working with clients, specifically tailored to their individual needs. Her main therapeutic approaches include; Psychodynamic Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Cultural diversity is something Shanti is passionate about. Shanti strives to promote self awareness about privilege and attempts to work outside of the constrictions of hetero-normativity and cultural hegemony towards inclusivity and intersectionality.
Shanti believes it is the capacity to relate and be in relationships that becomes most affected or fractured through interpersonal, relational or developmental trauma. If the trauma occurred in the context of a trusting relationship or was perpetrated by a trusted person, trust itself and relationships by extension become conflicted. This makes care (and treatment) from a clinician a risk and safety issue for the client, therefore needs to treated very gently and with careful consideration. It is the capacity to trust and have safe relationships that needs to be repaired and the therapeutic relationship becomes the working model for that repair.
Shanti is passionate about working with individuals to process and integrate their trauma, whether it be a one off trauma (motor vehicle accident), early childhood trauma (abuse and or neglect), chronic long term trauma or trans or multi-generational trauma. Shanti employs a range of modalities to work with people to help them to heal their trauma. Shanti believes that trauma is somatic (physiological), affective (emotional), psychological and spiritual and as such, the therapy needs to address all these aspects of a person. Each individual needs a tailored approach to treatment where they feel safe, supported, in control and able to make decisions about their journey.