DR. KIMBERLY MERCURI

Dr. Kimberly Mercuri is a clinical psychologist with experience working across private, forensic, and not-for-profit settings. She enjoys providing individual therapy, as well as providing supervision for emerging psychologists.


Education

  • 2015 Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology)

  • 2015 Masters of Psychology (Clinical)

  • 2010 Post Graduate Diploma (Psychology)

  • 2004 Bachelor of Applied Science (Psychology)

Qualifications & Memberships

  • Endorsed Clinical Psychologist
    AHPRA RegNo: PSY0001130633

  • Member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS)

  • Fellow member of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists

Pay attention to your patterns because the way you learned to survive may not be the way you want to continue to live.
— @selfexpresscare

Area of interest

Dr. Kim has an interest in working with long standing problems like addictions and other compulsive behaviours, personality disorders, and working with early-life traumas.

Therapy Style

Dr. Kim utilises various psychological interventions but is primarily informed by Schema Therapy. This approach aims to understand, and eventually positively modify, unhealthy patterns in functioning by exploring early childhood relationships and unmet needs. This approach can be comforting at times, but with therapy one can increase conscious control over these schemas and in turn circumvent unhealthy responses. Dr Kim is currently engaged in supervised training to become an accredited Schema Therapist.

What is a Schema?

  • An enduring negative pattern that develops during childhood and adolescence.

  • They are important beliefs and feelings about oneself, others and the world.

  • If unhealthy, they can negatively impact the lenses in which we view ourselves and the world.

  • Unfortunately they are resistant to change, attracted to evidence that supports them, and usually do not go away without therapy. This is because schemas function on an unconscious level

  • An indication that maladaptive schemas may be impacting one's functioning is the experience that distress continues despite overwhelming success in one's life.

Dr Kim is available on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Contact us today to make an appointment.

Young et al. (2003) summarizes the primary goals of treatment as helping patients change dysfunctional life patterns and get their core needs met in an adaptive manner outside therapy...
— Farrell, Reiss, & Shaw (2014)

Pre-therapy questionnaires

Not all individuals will want to utilise this approach. Your treatment goals will be assessed and discussed in a collaborative fashion at your first consultation.

If you feel the Schema Therapy approach is right for you, please complete the following questionnaires prior to the first appointment. Responses can be saved directly on the document, or completed on a hard copy and scanned. Responses may or may not be scored by the first appointment. However, they are used as part of a comprehensive clinical assessment.

Young Schema Questionnaire

Schema Mode Inventory

Fees

As of July 2021, the fee to see Dr. Kim is $300.00 per session. Her fee attracts a Medicare rebate of $137.05 per session, for up to 10 sessions in a calendar year. To find out more about fees and rebates, head to our Fees section.