Irene Ivanhoe Psychotherapist

Irene

Certified Relationship Psychotherapist

Psychotherapist in Melbourne

Psychotherapist, Counsellor and Supervisor

She/Her/Hers.

Hart Centre Certified

In personOnlineAfter hoursBusiness hours

Types of Counselling

  • Relationship Counselling
  • Desire & Intimacy Counselling
  • Trauma Counselling
  • Anxiety & Depression Counselling
  • Neurodiversity Counselling
  • ADHD Counselling
  • LGBTQIA+ Counselling
  • Grief Counselling
  • Anger Management
  • Pre-Marriage Counselling
  • Online Counselling

Session Fees

Individual: $170

Couples: $220

Areas of Interest

  • Adjustment
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Attachment
  • Bereavement / Mourning
  • Betrayal
  • Blended / Step families
  • Body confidence
  • Career
  • Caregiver stress
  • Childhood trauma / Abuse
  • Chronic illness
  • Communication
  • Conflict management
  • Couples in business
  • Cultural differences
  • Divorce / Separation / Breakup
  • End of life
  • Extended family / In-laws
  • Fertility / IVF
  • Gender / Identity
  • Infidelity / Affairs
  • Intimacy
  • LGBTQIA stigma / Bullying / Discrimtination
  • LGBTQIA+ / Queer
  • Life transitions
  • Long distance
  • Loss of a relationship
  • Low sexual desire
  • Menopause
  • Mental load
  • Military trauma
  • Mismatched libidos
  • Money / Finances
  • Natural disaster trauma
  • Parenting
  • Perinatal depression
  • Pet loss
  • Phobias
  • Polyamorous / Open relationships
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Pre-marital counselling
  • Pregnancy / Miscarriage
  • Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)
  • Previous relationship trauma
  • Seniors
  • Sexual trauma
  • Sleep disorders
  • Somatics
  • Step families
  • Stress
  • Suicidal thoughts / Ideation
  • Trauma
  • Trust issues
  • Women’s health
  • Young families

Types of Modalities

  • Attachment-based
  • Culturally Sensitive
  • EMDR
  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
  • Existential
  • Feminist
  • Gottman Method
  • Humanistic
  • Integrative
  • Multicultural
  • Person-Centred Therapy (Client-Centred / Rogerian Psychotherapy)
  • Psychodynamic
  • Psychoeducation
  • Somatic
  • Trauma Focused
  • Trauma Informed

Accepted Insurance Funds

  • ARHG (St Luke’s Health, Police Health, GMHBA, Emergency Services Health, Phoenix Health, See-u by HBF (previously CUA), AIA Health, Mildura Health, Teachers Union Health, Westfund, Teachers Health, Nurses & Midwives Health, Unihealth, Doctors Health Fund, HBF, Australian Defence Force Family Program)
  • ahm Health
  • BUPA
  • HBF
  • GU Health
  • Medibank Private

“One good conversation can shift the direction of the change forever.”

— Linda Lambert

Specialised Training

  • 2025 – EMDR – EMDR Training Australia and New Zealand
  • 2024 – Group and individual supervisor training – Supervision Training Services
  • 2024 – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma Themes – Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute
  • 2023 – Lev 3, Certified Integrative Attachment Therapist – Integrative Attachment Institute
  • 2023 – A Gestalt and Somatic approach to processing traumatic experiences – Connect Ground Clinic
  • 2023 – Emotional Focused Therapy for Couples – EFTTA
  • 2023 – Specialist Course In Integrative Couple Therapy – Relationship Australia
  • 2023 – Canine Assisted Therapy – Provisional Certified handler – Lead The Way Institute
  • 2022: Mentalised-Based Treatment Practitioner Training – MBT Australia
  • 2019-2022: Bachelor of Counselling and Integrative Psychotherapy – Ikon Institute of Australia
  • 2022: Gottman Method Couple Therapy, Level 1 Training, Gottman Connect
  • 2022: Complex Trauma Certification Training Level 1 & 2 (CCTP/CCTP-II) – Janina Fisher – PESI
  • 2020: Trauma-Sensitive Yoga 20-hour Foundation Workshop for Health Professionals & Yoga Teachers – Centre for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI
  • 2018: Diploma of Remedial Massage – The Australian College of Eastern Medicine
  • 2017: CERT IV – 800 hours Purna Yoga Training – Byron Yoga Centre

About Irene

Please note: Irene only works with couples and does not offer individual counselling.

Irene’s approach to couples therapy is warm, empathetic, and deeply relational. She sees the relationship as a space where both love and vulnerability meet, and where our past experiences, attachment wounds, fears and hopes can shape the way we connect with one another.

Irene supports couples who may be feeling stuck in recurring conflict, increasingly disconnected, struggling with trust or intimacy, or finding it difficult to understand and reach one another. She also works with couples navigating significant life transitions and experiences of grief and loss, including when these experiences have changed the way they relate to one another. She works collaboratively with both partners, creating a space where each person can feel heard, understood and respected, without judgement or blame. Rather than taking sides, she helps couples become curious about the patterns that develop between them and the needs, fears and protective responses that sit underneath them.

Hart Centre Located in Ivanhoe, VIC

More About Irene

    • Deep relational attunement and capacity to mentalise
    • Creating a safe and compassionate environment, while gently challenging clients
    • An ability to integrate different modalities rather than work rigidly within one model
  • Over 5+ years.

  • A young gay couple I worked with both came from significant trauma backgrounds. They deeply loved each other, but their relationship was also marked by projections, mistrust and difficulty feeling secure with one another.

    Through meaningful and sustained therapeutic work, they gradually developed the capacity to take responsibility for their own responses and patterns, communicate more openly, trust one another and become a reliable, dependable team, while also maintaining a healthy sense of individuality within the relationship.

    What has been particularly rewarding is seeing how much they have grown, not only as a couple, but as individuals. They have now bought a home together and are building an exciting future, including hopes of creating a family.

    Witnessing them move from a relationship shaped by fear and mistrust to one grounded in trust, mutual responsibility, security and genuine partnership has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of my work.

93% Client Satisfaction
Trusted, recommended, and valued
97,000+ Clients Helped
People just like you, finding their way forward
Great Match Guarantee
Peace of mind if your first match isn’t right. Terms.