Jessie Baker

Role

Founder & Manager Director 

Psychologist & Clinical Supervisor

Qualifications

Master of Clinical Psychology with Distinction

Post-Graduate Certificate in Autism Studies   

Bachelor of Psychological Science with Honours

Board-Approved Supervisor - AHPRA; STAP reg

Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (member)

Summary

Jessie is a Psychologist registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Jessie has obtained a Master of Clinical Psychology, Post-Graduate Certificate in Autism Studies and a Bachelor of Psychological Science. Jessie is also EMDR trained and a Board-Approved Supervisor (STAP) with the Psychology Board of Australia. Jessie is passionate about supporting and training fellow psychologists, neurodiversity, diagnostic testing and assessment and acute psychiatric presentations. With a background in  government, not-for-profit organisations, the NDIS sector and private clinical work, Jessie has experience working with a breadth of populations and client presentations. Jessie has worked for several years managing multidisciplinary teams of health professionals and provides supervision and training for mental health professionals, educators and organisations. She supports a holistic approach to mental health and wellbeing, and recognises the value of psychosocial considerations in improving the prognosis of mental health concerns. Jessie utilises evidence-based frameworks and supportive counselling throughout her work to support clients in achieving their therapeutic goals. Whilst Jessie is not currently accepting new clients or taking a waitlist, she continues to provide clinical supervision across the Ability Psychology clinical team.

Jessie's therapeutic approach is warm and characterised by unconditional positive regard and mutual respect. She fosters a no-blame, accountable yet validating client-centred approach to behaviour change. In session, Jessie works to hold space for her clients and their experiences whilst remaining goal-oriented in approach. She values working collaboratively with her clients to identify their support needs, preferred outcomes and existing strengths/preferences in working towards therapeutic goals. To do so, Jessie utilises a variety of modalities to be adaptable to the client’s needs. Jessie is dynamic in approach and able to apply practical interventions, whilst also allowing space for deeper exploration of a client's experience, beliefs, reflections and opportunities for increased self-agency. Jessie is neuroaffirming and aligns with the principles of equality and acceptance upheld by the neurodiverse community (i.e., different, not deficit). Jessie also adopts a trauma-informed and strengths-based framework, and where applicable, enjoys utilising elements of attachment theory and a schema-informed approach to help contextualise a client’s experience, in addition to other applicable psychological theories and models. By increasing a client's knowledge and understanding of themselves, such as their cognitive and behavioural patterns, Jessie hopes to empower her clients to feel more ready, able and confident in approaching different barriers and challenges they may experience in their life and to see meaningful change.

When Jessie isn't working on the business or in the business at Ability, she enjoys being outdoors (bonus points if it's near the water!), spending time with her dogs, and getting involved in sports.

Areas of Support

Broadly speaking, psychologists are trained to work with a variety of psychological conditions and the factors that inform this. When working with a client, a part of the psychologist's role is evaluating their suitability for a client's identified support need/s. Where another clinician may be better suited to support the client, a psychologist will discuss any recommendations for on-referral with the client. 

Jessie regularly works with clients who are experiencing a range of clinical concerns and /or support needs. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Mood (e.g., adjustment, depressive, bipolar and schizoaffective disorders)
• Anxiety (e.g., generalised anxiety, separation anxiety, phobias)
• Neurodevelopmental Matters (e.g., Autism, ADHD)
• Cognition & Learning (e.g., intellectual and/or developmental concerns, learning difficulties)
• Grief, Loss & Bereavement
• Stress-Related Concerns (e.g., burnout, relationship breakdown, employment-related and/or job loss, communication skills, navigating interpersonal challenges, conflict resolution)
• Posttraumatic Stress (e.g., PTSD, acute stress)
• Personality Disorders (e.g., BPD)
• Psychotic Disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and related concerns)
• Sport & Performance-Related Matters
• Chronic Pain & Health-Related Matters (e.g., managing wellbeing concurrent with physical conditions, pain management, sleep hygiene)
• Parent Support (incl. pregnancy, birth, attachment, and child-development related matters)
• Substance-Use & Related Concerns

Jessie enjoys working with individuals, groups and organisations in the areas of sports, performance and organisational psychology (e.g., training and professional development services). She also values involvement in preventative initiatives (e.g., fostering a resilient workplace) and draws from principles of positive psychology, resilience and mindfulness to develop the skills of the people and stakeholders that she works with. 

Therapeutic Models & Intervention Frameworks

• CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
• DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy)
• ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)
• Schema Therapy 
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
• IPT (Interpersonal Therapy)
• PMT (Parent-Management Training)
• SFT (Solution-Focused Therapy) & Motivational Interview
• Mindfulness & Positive Psychology
• Play-Based Therapy
• Creative & Expressive Therapies/Approaches

Assessment Services

Psychologists are trained to assess for clinical concerns, some of which can pertain to diagnostic conditions as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition, text revision (DSM-V-TR, 2022). However some assessment queries require additional training and resources (i.e., psychometric measures) to evaluate and assess. At Ability, we have a broad range of diagnostic testing tools and measures available to evaluate many, common assessment queries. In addition to standard psychological assessment competency, Jessie is able to provide: 

• Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD, Autism) (All Ages. Administration of Relevant Measures e.g., ADOS-2, MIGDAS-2, ADI-R, Sensory Profile, clinical observation)
• Assessment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (All Ages. Administration of Relevant Measures e.g., Conners Scales, DIVA-5)
• Assessment of Intellectual Ability, Cognition, Executive Function and Learning (All Ages. Administration of Relevant Measures e.g.,  Wechsler Intelligence Scales, Tests of Nonverbal Intelligence, ToPF, MoCA, BRIEF-2, achievement-testing)
• Assessment of Adaptive Behaviour and Functional Capacity (All Ages. Administration of Relevant Measures e.g.,  ABAS-3, Vinelands, WHODAS 2.0)
• Assessment of Memory (All ages. WMS-IV)
• Other diagnostic evaluation of psychological concerns and/or disorders (DSM-V-TR)