Dunja Bastiaens

Counsellor (and Overseas Trained Psychologist)

Dunja is an overseas trained psychologist who has completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. She is a counsellor at Solana Psychology and awaiting psychologist registration with AHPRA.

Dunja’s experience includes working with children, adolescents, adults and families. She has experience both in public and private healthcare settings. She was initially trained at a mental health center that specialises in personality disorders. It was here that she started gaining experience in psychodynamic therapy, mainly in group therapy settings. Drawn to working with therapeutic frameworks that take into account early childhood experiences. She continued at another mental healthcare facility that specialised in complex and persistent psychological problems. Clients often presented not just with longstanding patterns in their personality, but also with comorbid mood-disorders (depression or anxiety), neurobiological presentations (ADHD and/or autism), substance-related and addictive disorders, PTSD and/or other trauma and stressor related disorders. During this time, she mainly supported clients through individual therapy. After this, Dunja moved to Australia and started working at a private practice that specialises in neurodivergence and animal assisted therapy. Here she gained extensive knowledge on autism and ADHD, and how to support clients (and their families) with a variety of challenges as a counsellor.

Dunja uses different therapeutic frameworks, and integrates them to offer a tailored approach. These therapeutic frameworks include: Affect Phobia Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and Mindfulness. She also uses techniques from Somatic Experiencing.

Dunja sees clients with a variety of psychological presentations, and has a special interest in working around the following themes: (childhood) trauma, attachment and relationships, communication and social skills, identity and sense of self, boundaries and needs, perfectionism and self-criticism, recurring anxiety, spiritual awareness, and more. Dunja believes that no matter what you’ve been through, everyone is capable of healing and growth. Throughout the years she understood that during therapy, she has mainly been assisting her clients with one primary goal: to reconnect with their true selves. If you feel like you don’t know who that is, or you feel like you’ve lost touch with your true self, Dunja will help you find your way back.