Cate helps clients with

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Autism spectrum disorders (including assessment for autism)
  • Parenting and child/teen behaviour difficulties
  • Adjustment difficulties
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Cognitive testing
  • IQ Testing
  • Learning testing
  • Testing for learning disorders
  • Testing for Autism
  • ADOS tests
  • ADHD testing

What is a Clinical Psychologist?

A clinical psychologist undergoes further training and supervision in order to assess, diagnose and treat mental illnesses or psychological problems, and to provide a wide range of psychological services to individuals with mild, severe or complex mental health difficulties.

Therapeutic Approach

Dr Cate Hearn works with a variety of practice approaches depending on individual needs and preference.

Her therapeutic approaches include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Schema Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Social Thinking/Social Communication (for individuals with autism spectrum disorders or those needing social skills support).

Dr Hearn may make school and/or home visits if indicated and requested. She can work with families, partners, parents, children, teachers and others as requested.

A welcoming and safe environment for clients to discuss the issues and difficulties they face.

Cate’s approach to treatment is warm and open-hearted, and the assistance she provides is always tailored to suit each client’s needs.

As well as considerable experience in a variety of clinical settings, Cate has worked at Belmont Private Psychiatric Hospital and lectured in psychology at Griffith University.

Cate is also a registered primary school teacher and has extensive experience with children in mainstream and special education settings.

Qualifications

Dr Hearn has completed 17 years of post-school study and holds the following qualifications:

  • Bachelor Education (Primary)
  • Graduate Diploma of Special Education (Communication Disorders)
  • Master of Education (Special Education)
  • Bachelor of Psychology (Hons)
  • PhD (Clinical Psychology)
  • Plus additional training to become a clinically endorsed psychologist

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About Dr Cate Hearn

Teaching

Dr Hearn is a qualified qualified primary school teacher and taught in mainstream state and Catholic schools from Prep through to Year 7 in Brisbane for more than a decade. She later completed qualifications in special education and taught in several special schools.

After gaining experience in a range of settings, Dr Hearn became an Advisory Visiting Teacher, and worked across multiple schools providing communication assessment and support to children in special and mainstream settings and provided advice and support to classroom teachers and parents.

Psychology

Dr Hearn first registered as a psychologist in 2013. She is very experienced, to date having completed more than 10 000+ hours of direct client therapy with children and adults with varying psychological presentations.

Dr Hearn worked at Belmont Private Psychiatric Hospital for several years. There she ran a specialist therapy program for adults with moderate to severe psychological disorders, and provided general psychological therapy to day patients and inpatients.

For some years, Dr Hearn lectured in psychology at Griffith University in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, lecturing and convening courses in Professional Psychology (Honours Program), Psychological Assessment, Lifespan Development, and Social Psychology. For several years, she has provided professional supervision to provisional psychologists. Dr Hearn has also provided extensive teaching, training and supervision to provisional psychologists in the science, art and interpretation of cognitive and learning assessments (WISC, WAIS, WIAT).

While caring for her children and owning and running a retail e-commerce business, Dr Hearn undertook a PhD. Dr Hearn’s PhD made an original contribution to further our understanding and treatment of social and generalised anxiety in children and teens. During her PhD, over a period of five years, she managed a large randomised control study and conducted over 1000 diagnostic clinical interviews with children, teens and their families, and provided online therapy to these families. As a result of the unique findings emerging from the PhD, Dr Hearn authored and published several international peer reviewed papers (see below).

Currently, Dr Hearn has relocated to Bangalow in NSW, and is providing therapy mostly to children and teens due to a significant need for those services in the area.

Of most importance to Dr Hearn, is that her varied study as well as her life and professional experience, has allowed her to develop a good understanding of the experiences, difficulties and challenges that many adults, children, teens and families face. Dr Hearn very much enjoys building a strong rapport and good working relationship with her clients and their families.

Publications

Dr Hearn has published the following international peer reviewed articles:

  • Do worry and its associated cognitive variables alter following CBT treatment in a youth population with Social Anxiety Disorder? Results from a randomized controlled trial.
    Hearn, C. S., Donovan, C. L., Spence, S. H., & March, S. (2018).
    Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 53, 46-57.
  • A worrying trend in Social Anxiety: To what degree are worry and its cognitive factors associated with youth Social Anxiety Disorder?.
    Hearn, C. S., Donovan, C. L., Spence, S. H., & March, S. (2017).
    Journal of Affective Disorders, 208, 33-40
  • What’s the worry with social anxiety? Comparing cognitive processes in children with generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder.
    Hearn, C. S., Donovan, C. L., Spence, S. H., March, S., & Holmes, M. C. (2017).
    Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 48(5), 786-795.
  • Thinking about worry: Investigation of the cognitive components of worry in children.
    Donovan, C. L., Holmes, M. C., Farrell, L. J., & Hearn, C. S. (2017).
    Journal of Affective Disorders, 208, 230-237.
  • Generic versus disorder specific cognitive behavior therapy for social anxiety disorder in youth: A randomized controlled trial using internet delivery.
    Spence, S. H., Donovan, C. L., March, S., Kenardy, J. A., & Hearn, C. S. (2017).
    Behaviour Research and Therapy, 90, 41-57.