Our Team

As a team we value and are committed to ownership, dedication, responsibility and accountability to each other and our organisation. We aim to celebrate each others successes and stand with each other in difficult times.

Jeanene Ecob (Executive Director)

 Grad Cert MH (C&A); MA Couns; B.A.CC; CMCAPA; PACFA 

Expertise: Counsellor, PCIT Therapist, Child and Family Therapist

Jeanene has been married for 20 years and has three children – 17, 14 and 10 years old. Jeanene’s background was in finance, however, through the influence of youth work and membership of a church that is strongly committed to welfare work, moved into counselling in the early nineties.
Jeanene brings a wealth of knowledge related to children’s issues and family dynamics, and has a vision for families to become all they can be – safe, connected, healthy environments for individuals to prosper in. Jeanene joined the team at SCW in 1996 and is responsible for the management and growth of the service.
Jeanene’s training was initially youth work, she then completed a bachelor of counselling at the end of 1995. She has also done intensive mediation training and completed her Masters degree in Counselling in 2000. Jeanene has completed more than 5,000 hours of counselling specialising in relationships, child and family, trauma and grief and personality disorders.

Most recently, Jeanene completed a graduate certificate in child and adolescent mental health at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry.
Jeanene supervises, consults and speaks broadly on issues relating to parenting, marriage and family and human relationships and their impact on individual and community health.

 

Kerry Moss (Parent Assist Project Coordinator) 

B.Sc. (Psych), Grad.Dip.Counselling; Cert IV Workplace Training and Assessment, CMAPC, PACFA

Expertise: Counsellor, PCIT Therapist, Rock and Water Facilitator

Kerry has been married for 18 years and has 2 children aged 16 and 14. After many years of work in administrative positions, Kerry began studying at University and in 2002 completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology). She subsequently earned a Graduate Diploma in counselling from Tabor College. Kerry began working at SCW initially as a student therapist until late 2005 when she became a member of staff in the role of Parent Assist Program Coordinator. This role sees Kerry assisting low income families with PCIT, child and individual counselling and she is also involved in community parent education. The greatest benefit of the role was Kerry’s training in Rock and Water - a social strengths active learning program for boys. With vision and passion for the potential this program has for the future well being of its participants, Kerry is strongly motivated to develop the program and take it to other areas of preventative care. Kerry currently runs the Rock and Water program for boys aged 9-12 twice a year. The feedback so far is very encouraging. Kerry also continues with child and family therapy, PCIT and individual counselling.

 

Karlyn Johns (DSI Coordinator and S.A.F.E. group Facilitator)

Karlyn is married to Sean and has three beautiful children. Her career in this industry commenced when she started coordinating a street outreach van called Wesley Mission Drug Arm. Her role there was to set up the service, coordinate volunteers, write the policy and procedures, and provide casework for young people. She then moved to StreetSmart in their chronically homeless youth centre to coordinate an intervention program for young people (10-16) who were leaving home early. The program provided mediation, counselling and casework. Karlyn has a heart for young people to know God’s love and to reach their fullest potential by supporting them to overcome their situation. She has completed a community welfare certificate and mediation training and is currently enrolled in a Social Science Degree. Karlyn feels blessed to be a part of the Deliberate Self Injury Program and believes her past experience has given her the confidence to face the challenge of supporting those in the community who are affected by DSI.

 

Susan Foyle - (Business Manager and Rainbows Coordinator)

Susan joined SCW in January 2007. She has experience gained from working in many varied fields including customer service, marketing, bookkeeping and management. This brings a range of business experience to the team. Susan completed the Lifeline telephone counselling course in November 2007 and in December 2008 she completed the Foundations of Mental Health Work series with the NSW Institute of Psychiatry. More recently (2010) Susan completed Crisis, Trauma and Grief - Working creatively with Children, with the National Association for Loss and Grief.  She has a passion for supporting families in challenging times and loves to see lives in the community changed for the better. Susan is an integral part of the SCW team, ensuring everything runs smoothly and that the team are kept in the loop. Susan is also always on the look out for any funding opportunities for SCW! She has been married for 13 years and has 2 lovely boys.

  

Rachel McKinnon (Psychologist, S.A.F.E. Group Facilitator and Can Do Kids Group Coordinator)

B. Psyc (Hons), Grad Dip Ed, PG Dip Soc Hlth, Associate MAPS

Rachel has known for a long time that her passion lies in working closely with people to support them in finding hope. As well as counselling, this passion has been outworked through her involvement in youth ministry over the past 8 years, and more recently specifically in outreach to those who are marginalised in the local community. She has worked in various church-based and welfare roles including drug & alcohol and homelessness services. Her formal training began with an undergraduate degree in psychology, and her honours year led to some further research work in the area of educational psychology. Rachel has since completed postgraduate qualifications in both education and applied psychology/social health, and is currently an intern psychologist at SCW as well as working as a local primary school chaplain. She very much enjoys her work and feels priviledged to be involved in people’s lives in this way.

 

Karen La Motte (Counsellor and S.A.F.E. Group Facilitator)

M.A. Counselling (Cand.)

 

Dr Steven Dawson (Clinical Psychologist)

PHD (Clin Psych); MAPSS (Clin college)

Dr Steve Dawson (Ph.D. Clin.Psych) is a clinical  psychologist with a special interest in the assessment and treatment of ADHD and learning disability in children, adolescents and adults. His assessments include neuropsychological assessments to help gain insight and assist treatment planning for these and other conditions. His treatment emphasises working around the difficulties in attention, memory and  executive function often present in these conditions. He also has an interest in social anxiety disorder, depression and issues facing men including separation/ divorce. He has many years experience in the use of cognitive behaviour therapy, insight oriented psychotherapy and, more recently, mindfulness based cognitive therapy.  Following a first degree, Steve completed a Graduate Diploma in Science (Psychology) at the Australian National University, gaining First Class Honours.  He then began a Masters in Clinical Psychology at ANU before transferring to a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wollongong, graduating in 1994. He worked in full time practice for several years before combining private practice with 5 years part-time work as a clinical neuropsychologist at the Canberra Hospital and NSW Brain Injury Service based at St. John of God Hospital Goulburn. In 2006 he joined the University of Canberra where he lectured in the postgraduate program in clinical psychology for 3 years, also spending time as director of the Psychology Clinic and overall director of the program.

During that time his clinical research focussed on executive function issues in disorders such as ADHD, dyslexia, psychosis and obsessive compulsive disorder. In early 2009 Steve moved to Sydney to join Southern Community Welfare and also the Mindcare Centre in Broadway.

Steve has maintained a strong interest in assessment and management of
·    ADHD along with
·    Learning Disability (including dyslexia),
·    Asperger’s Syndrome,
·    Behavioural and emotional disorders in children, adolescents and adults.

With the adult population Steve also has a long background in using a variety of psychological therapies to treat adults for:
·    ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome.
·    Depression, Anxiety
·    men’s issues, including separation/divorce,
·    work related stress

Steve received early training in behaviour therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy and, in later years, in cognitive  behaviour therapy including mindfulness based cognitive therapy. He also conducts neuropsychological assessment of adults related to traumatic brain injury and stroke as well as dementia, learning difficulty, and psychiatric illness.

Steve is a member of Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society; as a result, for those referred by a paediatrician, psychiatrist or GP (a Mental Health Care Plan is necessary for GP referral) clients will receive back $115 per 50 minute appointment through Medicare or $55.55 per short follow up (20 minutes). 

A flyer for Steve is available for download by clicking here.

Barbara Higgins (Breakthrough Coordinator)

Barbara is an active retiree who coordinates the Breakthrough - Divorce and Recovery Workshops for SCW. Barbara’s early training was in nursing, followed by marriage and the birth of her 4 children. Barbara has been married to Barry (also a member of the Breakthrough team) for over 45 years. Through the years Barbara has been involved in many church related ministries and has become educated in these areas as the need arose, including a lay pastoral course. More and more Barbara has felt a calling towards assisting those who are hurting or disadvantaged.

 

Kate Van Barneveld (Counsellor and Support after Suicide Group Coordinator)

B.Couns., M. Couns.

Kate has worked with SCW for 8 years. She has been happily married to Nico for 38 years and has three adult children. Her initial counselling training was with Anglicare. She has studied Psychodrama (using drama to counsel) and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Counselling. She is a generalist counsellor but specialises in the area of sexual addiction. She is also the co-ordinator of the Sutherland Shire Support After Suicide Support Group.