Bronwyn Massavelli (Clinical Psychologist)
- Name
- Ms Bronwyn Massavelli
- Occupation
- Clinical Psychologist
- Psychologist
- Gender
- Female
- Medical Specialties
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychology
Dr Bronwyn Massavelli is a registered Clinical Psychologist and provider with Medicare, a member of the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian Psychological Society College of Clinical Psychologists, the Psychology and Ageing Interest Group and the Psychologists for the Promotion of Animal Welfare Group. Bronwyn completed all of her training through the University of QLD.
Bronwyn also holds a strong background in research and likes to maintain a good clinical and research balance in her work in line with evidenced based practice. Bronwyn has attended and presented research findings for various past research projects at a number of prestigious national and international conferences.
Her research is listed further below. Her workplace history includes in aged care, within a high secure inpatient mental health facility, with older adults with osteo-arthritis and adults with a variety of mental health problems. In addition to individual treatment, Bronwyn has experience facilitating group programs for Social Anxiety Disorder, as well as Relaxation and Storytelling with older adults in aged care facilities. Bronwyn provides skills within Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) frameworks, as well as Motivational Interviewing and some Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Bronwyn is an accredited Triple P provider.
Bronwyn is committed to providing evidenced based psychological interventions that are tailored to the individual and developed on the basis of ongoing assessment and a collaborative working relationship. Bronwyn believes that a strong collaborative working relationship with patients is a key contributing factor for good therapeutic outcomes. Bronwyn has a key interest area which pertains to older adult mental health and in addition to aged care, she holds experience working with community based older adults (depression, anxiety, osteoarthritis, health-related concerns and interpersonal difficulties). In addition to individual treatment, Bronwyn has facilitated group programs for Social Anxiety Disorder, as well as Relaxation and Storytelling/Reminiscence with older adults in aged care facilities.
Other specific clinical interest areas pertain to the psychological benefits of pets and companion animals, and increasing awareness amongst professionals and the community that depression is not a normal part of ageing.
Bronwyn also has a clinical interest in general Depression, Anxiety, and Psychosis, Grief and Loss of Pets and Companion Animals, the Psychological impact of health-related conditions, Stress Management and Work-Life Balance.
Bronwyn primarily treats adults and older adults, and occasionally children (aged 8-12) with mild anxiety and mild anger difficulties, and adolescents.
Older Adult Mental Health
Our population in Australia like the rest of the world is ageing. Therefore we are living longer and our incidence and prevalence of diseases and health related conditions are also increasing. In addition to the typical stressors common to everyone, older adults are more likely to be impacted upon by loneliness, isolation, loss of independence and psychological distress that are associated with health concerns affecting mobility, chronic pain, increasing frailty and falls risk, a loss of independence, change in role and life transition. Older adults also are more likely to encounter bereavement and loss of friends, family and pets. The research suggests that 15-20% of adults aged 60 and above are affected by depression, anxiety and other conditions, with Depression, Dementia and Anxiety among the most common difficulties affecting older adults. A common myth associated with ageing refers to Depression and Anxiety being seen as a normal part of ageing which should be expected. This is not the case, and as such, the signs and symptoms of these are often misidentified in older people and missed by health-care professionals. Furthermore, there may be an increased reluctance for older people to seek help for their concerns. Increased education and training amongst health care providers and encouragement to seek support can aid treatment and intervention of psychological distress in older age.
Social Anxiety
Social Anxiety is one of the more common anxiety disorders that is characterised by a fear of negative evaluation and judgement from others and a fear of embarrassment or humiliation in public. Social anxiety tends to begin in childhood or adolescence and affects around 1 in 10 people at some point in their lives. Common situations that are significantly difficult for people with social anxiety include public speaking, appearing anxious to others, making requests, dating and relationships, meeting new people, performing around others and dealing with authority figures. Individual affected by social anxiety experience marked psychological and physical anxiety which results in marked avoidance of the feared social situations and often leads to social isolation.
Gold standard interventions such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy which incorporates cognitive challenging, behavioural experiments and Exposure, can be collaboratively tailored to the individual to improve functioning through effectively targeting the factors that contribute to Social Anxiety.
The Psychological Benefits of Pets, and the Loss and Grief of Pets and Companion Animals
The Human-Animal Bond refers to the attachment bond between people and their pets and if this is broken, creates significant impact on people’s psychological and physical health. The importance of pets and companion animals in people’s lives should therefore not be underestimated or de-valued. They play an important role in our psychological, social and physical health and wellbeing across the age span. Specifically, increasing research supports the benefits relevant to companionship, positive emotional well-being, reduced loneliness, increased physical activity, ownership and mastery. Other benefits may include Functional (caring for another, improved self-image, mobility), Relationship (pets give warm and non-judgmental attention, the giving and receiving of affection), Passive (animals are entertaining, enhanced relaxation and social interaction), Cognitive (stimulated self-reflection, memories, sharing anecdotes/funny stories of pets) and Spiritual (Enlightened mood, a feeling of “normality” to have animals around).
The impact of a loss of a pet or companion animal can be likened to losing a human companion or significant other, and for some people, their pets/companion animals are their family. The grief process is suggested to be similar, whereby people experience a sense of numbness, shock and disbelief, feelings of guilt, sadness, and depression, and commonly anger. There also may be a preoccupation with thoughts and memories of their pet and difficulty concentrating and making decisions. The Psychological impact of pets is a rapidly developing area in psychology and the impact of pet loss is becoming a more common reason for referral for psychological support. Psychological support can assist people who have lost their pet to reflect on the meaning and significance the pet had in their lives, mourn for their pet and process this loss, and accept that their grief is warranted.
Stress Management & Work-Life Balance
Everyone experiences stress in some aspects of their lives on a regular basis and some stress is in fact healthy. Stress is an indication that things in our life are causing us concern and impacting on how we are thinking, feeling and behaving. For example, stress can help us perform under pressure and motivate us to achieve goals and our best potential. However, too much stress can have the opposite effect, causing us to operate in emergency mode and impact negatively on our thinking, feeling and behaviour. Some of these signs may be feeling overwhelmed with responsibility, difficulty coping and making decisions, feeling burnt out and losing a connection with some areas of your life (e.g. relationships, decreased work productivity and job satisfaction, family, interests and hobbies). High amounts of stress and pressure over a period of time can also lead to depression and anxiety. Achieving and maintaining a healthy work-life balance and implementing good lifestyle choices can act as buffers to stress.
Psychological Impact of Health-Related conditions
Poor lifestyle choices and increasing age can increase susceptibility to health-related difficulties and chronic conditions. Some common examples of these include heart disease, diabetes, obesity and weight gain, and hypertension. Our mental health has a bi-directional relationship with our physical health, such that as mental health deteriorates, physical health may also deteriorate, and deteriorating physical health may result in poorer mental health (e.g. Depression and Heart Disease). Developing and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits, self-care and adherence to tailored treatment protocols can assist us to maintain healthy physical and mental health. Similarly, acceptance to development and onset of health related difficulties and chronic conditions can aid in management and prevention of further difficulties and enhanced quality of life.
- Affiliated Clinics
- KCPsych
- KCPsych - Banyo
