Michael Rooney

Hi. I am Michael. I am Irish originally and have lived in Melbourne for many years now.

I used to work in the corporate world and decided I wanted to focus my time and energy guiding people through the process of healing from the pain of addiction and trauma.

I am a fully qualified Clinical Psychotherapist, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy from The Australian College of Applied Psychology (ACAP). I am a Registered Clinical Psychotherapist with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) and a Registered Level 4 Counsellor & Supervisor with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). I am currently an advanced level student in Somatic Experiencing professional training.

Treating sex and love addiction and betrayal trauma is a very specialised area. I am one of the few Certified Sex Addiction Therapist’s (CSAT) and Certified Partner Trauma Therapist’s (CPTT) in Australia who have been trained by the International Institute for Trauma & Addiction Professionals (IIITAP) from Arizona, USA. I have also completed a Training Program for Professionals on “Best Practices in Treating Adults Enmeshed with a Parent”, facilitated by Dr Kenneth Adams in Michigan, USA.

Very often, people with addictions have early life underlying trauma that has not been processed. Trauma is stored in the body and traditional ‘talk therapy’ cannot access it. I have been trained in and use Brainspotting to help people process trauma that is stored in the deeper parts of the brain.

I also make extensive use of Pia Mellody's model of Developmental Immaturity as a guide to understanding and explaining the connection between adverse childhood experiences and relational trauma and current life issues.