Susan Bennett M.C.F.T., Grad. Dip. C.& F.T., B.Sc.(App), Adv. Dip. CSW
Susan has been counselling clients for over 23 years. She spent the first 7 years counselling in a non-governmental, Registered Training Organisation, during which time she also coordinated the delivery of the Advanced Diploma of Community Services Work, and lectured in the Course.
Following this, she established Embark Counselling, her private practice, and partnered with another local private practice for close to 10 years. There Susan co-facilitated the delivery of an ACA Accredited Supervision training programme to the professional therapeutic community. She also spent a number of years facilitating therapeutic trauma groups for men and women.
Her private practice is currently located in Dee Why, where she continues to provide counselling and supervision to the Northern Beaches community and beyond.
Prior to her counselling career Susan worked as a hospital scientist for 16 years at Sydney's St Vincent’s hospital in the pathology department, during which time she spent 5 years lecturing in Microbiology at T.A.F.E. Ultimo.
Susan's undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Applied Science and her scientific background and training has influenced her therapeutic approach, adding elements of logic and structure that she incorporates into therapy as appropriate.
She also has a Master of Couple and Family Therapy (UNSW), a Graduate Diploma in Couple and Family Therapy (AIRS) and an Advanced Diploma in Community Services Work. She holds a Cert. IV in Workplace Training.
Susan has worked closely with humanitarian and aid workers during her own local and international humanitarian experience. Over the last thirty years she has combined her skills as a hospital scientist and a counsellor and undertaken the following work:
- Aids-related education in Aboriginal communities on Palm Island in northern Queensland
- Support for local community projects in Karachi, Pakistan; Nairobi, Kenya; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Lusaka, Zambia and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Malaria and tuberculosis diagnostic work in refugee camps in North Sulawesi, Indonesia
- Trauma and vicarious trauma related counselling for people affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Pader, Northern Uganda
These experiences have given Susan a passion not only for the communities she assisted, but for the people she worked along side. Susan is committed to equipping people in the ‘helping professions’ with the skills they need to keep doing the work that they love without burning out.
She is a registered Clinical Counsellor with the ACA College of Clinical Counsellors.
Susan is currently registered with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) as a level 4 member, and is contracted to employment assistance providers Access EAP and Acacia Connection.
She has a current Working With Children Check.
Susan is also a Professional Supervisor and has been registered with the ACA College of Supervisors since 2017.
She is happily married to Steve, her husband of 45 years, who is also her greatest advocate. They have one exceptional daughter, Rachel.