Dr. Lalitha (Lali) Newman
Registered Psychologist (Educational and Developmental Psychology registrar), MPsych(EdDev)/PhD, BBehavSc(HonsPsych), BBehavSc(Psych)
Lalitha is a psychologist who holds a Master of Educational and Developmental Psychology and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Monash University and is currently completing her registrar program in Educational and Developmental Psychology.
Lalitha gained experience providing both psychological assessment and treatment from a range of private practice settings. She takes a warm and compassionate approach to providing mental health support for people of all ages.
Lalitha is passionate about child and youth psychology, the parenthood period and supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions. She has experience working with individuals with neurodevelopmental condition/s such as Autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. She views psychological assessment with this population as an opportunity to gain a more thorough understanding of an individual’s strengths and unique needs, which enables them to be supported most effectively. When providing counselling with this population, Lalitha takes a neurodivergent-affirming approach and aims to support individuals to grow in their self-understanding.
During counselling, she draws from a range of modalities including cognitive-behavioural therapy(CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and schema therapies, and her therapeutic interventions are informed by attachment-based approaches such as the Circle of Security. She also incorporates creative techniques when supporting children and teens involving art, play and music where appropriate. Lalitha takes a developmentally sensitive approach to working with young people, tailoring her approach to the child’s age and developmental stage. She aims to support young people across settings by working in partnership with a young person’s parents and teachers.
In addition to her clinical work, Lalitha has experience working in psychology research and teaching in the higher education sector. Her work experiences have included University unit co-ordinating, tutoring and lecturing, supervising student research and being a research assistant. Lalitha explored music-based interventions to support parent–child attachment with children up to 5 years old in her PhD research. Prior to becoming a psychologist, Lalitha was a piano teacher.
To book a consultation with Lalitha, please contact our Birtinya client support team on (07) 5357 9108