Throughout her career, and even before she was Psychologist, Yelka has worked in organisations supporting those with severe and complex mental health concerns.
This includes having worked for NDIS-funded NGOs, NSW Health community mental health, emergency department and inpatient units, private hospital eating disorder wards, complex and neurodivergent-specific private practices, employee assistance programs and refugee trauma services.
Yelka has training and experience using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Schema Therapy, Exposure Response Prevention, Narrative Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy.
She also has a professional interest in supporting the next generation of psychologists as an academic mentor and sessional university teacher for undergraduate psychology classes. Yelka is registered as a Psychology-Board Approved Supervisor.
Yelka is the eldest child of hard-working migrants who came to Australia for a better life from a developing nation. She identifies as female, introverted and has always been somewhat eccentric.
Yelka is an ally and advocate for all diversity groups including but not limited to First Nations, CALD, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disabled, chronically ill and all body sized/shaped peoples. She has a variety of lived experiences with mental and chronic health conditions.
To keep life interesting, Yelka loves to have a joke, art and craft, sing at karaoke (badly), play D&D and open-world video games, talk to her house-plants, and re-watch fantasy or sci-fi movies while crocheting.
Please enjoy this image of Yelka and part of her dice collection.
Yelka is a Psychologist registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) pursuing endorsement in clinical psychology.
She holds as Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), Master of Professional Psychology from Macquarie University, and Master of Clinical Psychology from The Cairnmillar Institute.
Please enjoy an action shot of Yelka swoosh-ing in her first university graduation gown (or cape as she prefers to refer to it).
Eccentric Minds - Psychology would like to acknowledge the Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation, and the Wallumedegal people of the Darug Nation, the traditional custodians of the land for which our services are provided. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.