Anxiety and Depression Clinic

The Anxiety and Depression Clinic (ADC) is housed at the Cairnmillar Institute's Hawthorn East Clinic, and is directed by Prof. Peter Norton. The ADC opened in 2021, and serves three primary purposes:

  1. Providing low-cost state-of-the-art Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for the treatment of anxiety, depression, and related emotional disorders.
  2. Conducting research to better understand anxiety, depression, and related emotional disorders, as well as improve treatment options and outcomes.
  3. Training postgraduate students to deliver the most powerful treatments for anxiety, depression, and related emotional disorders.

If you, or someone you know is suffering from anxiety, depression, panic attacks, phobias, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, excessive or uncontrollable worry, obsessive-compulsive problems, or post-traumatic stress, we may be able to help as part of our ongoing research. Please contact us at our Hawthorn East Clinic.

 

About us

The Anxiety and Depression Clinic is directed by Prof. Peter Norton, and is staffed by registered psychologists and provisionally registered psychologists (post-graduate students) under supervision by clinical psychologists. In addition, the Anxiety and Depression clinic includes a number of research staff and affiliated faculty.

Director: Prof. Peter Norton

Affiliated Faculty: A/Prof Richard Moulding.

Clinical Staff

Registered Psychologists Coming soon
Provisional Psychologists Ori Rais and Samantha Thomas

Research Staff

Postgraduate (Masters) Students Justin Ispanovic, Megan George and Ursula Silverstone
Postgraduate (Honours) Student John Harris

Assessment and Treatment

The Anxiety and Depression Clinic offers low-cost Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for anxiety, depression, and related emotional disorders to the general public as part of our ongoing research. We currently only offer services for adults, aged 18 and older. Referrals to treatment providers who specialise in childhood anxiety or depression can be provided.

Treatment usually lasts for 10 weeks, although some people may require more or less time to overcome their anxiety or depressive difficulties. Currently, the clinic will be offering both individual and group-based treatment however the format offered to each client will depend on presenting problems and assessment outcome.

Treatment sessions are usually weekly and will last one (if individual) or two (if group) hours. Daytime and limited evening appointments are available. All treatments are conducted either by Prof. Peter Norton or the clinical staff of the Anxiety and Depression Clinic.

Medication

The Anxiety and Depression Clinic does not prescribe medication, although we will gladly speak with your physician or psychiatrist about coordinating services.

Treatment Options

If you call to request treatment at the Anxiety and Depression Clinic, several things will happen:

  1. Your contact information will be given to one of our therapists, who will contact you as soon as possible to schedule an assessment meeting.
  2. The assessment meeting is designed to better understand you and how anxiety or depression is a problem for you, and to make certain that our services would be helpful for you. The assessment is:
    • Free
    • Required before treatment can begin
    • Usually takes 2 hours - the therapists will ask you many questions about your anxiety, depression, and other related concerns.
  3. You will complete several questionnaires.
  4. Approximately one week later, you will meet again with the assessment therapist to review the results of the assessment, return the completed questionnaires, and begin scheduling treatment as appropriate.

If our services appear appropriate, group or individual treatment will begin shortly after the assessment is completed.

Research and current projects

The academics at the Anxiety and Depression Clinic are continuously conducting research to better understand anxiety, depression, and related emotional disorders, as well as their treatment. Ultimately, our research will help improve the assessment, treatment, and prevention of anxiety and depressive disorders. We hope to understand why some people develop emotional disorders, and which treatments are most effective for different people.

We will never conduct research on you without your consent. All research is reviewed and approved by the Cairnmillar Institute’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). For more information on the HREC, click here.

Current Projects

Transdiagnostic CBT for Emotional Disorders - Peter Norton, Chief Investigator

This research study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural therapy for Emotional Disorders, including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, and posttraumatic stress disorders, and investigate factors that might lead to better or worse outcome.

We are currently recruiting clients at the Anxiety and Depression Clinic to complete questionnaires and other assessments before and after treatment.

To book an appointment, please contact us at the Hawthorn East Clinic.

Get involved

There are many ways you can be involved in our Anxiety and Depression Clinic, from participating in a research study to becoming a research assistant, staff member or fellow!

If you have an interest in any of the areas below, email your resume to [email protected].

Sorry, we have no paid research assistant positions in the lab at this time. Any future paid Research Assistant opportunities will be posted here.

If you are interested in volunteering as a Research Assistant, please click here.

We are interested in hardworking and dedicated research assistants joining the research team at the Anxiety and Depression Clinic. Research Assistants will have many opportunities to get involved in multiple aspects of our research, and to develop the skills and experiences that are often helpful for admission into postgraduate studies in psychology.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer research assistant in the Anxiety and Depression Clinic, please send a brief cover letter, your CV and an unofficial transcript to Prof. Peter Norton ([email protected]).

Prof. Norton will be reviewing applications for admission to Cairnmillar Institute’s Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Psychology) and Masters of Psychology (Clinical Psychology) Programs.

More information about applying to our postgraduate programs is available on our How to Apply page

If you are interested in being an honours student in the Anxiety and Depression Clinic, please send your CV and an unofficial transcript to Prof. Peter Norton ([email protected]).

Visit the course page for more information on Cairnmillar Institute’s Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) program.

Prof. Norton will be reviewing applications for admission to Cairnmillar Institute’s PhD Program. Applicants with existing clinical psychology qualifications and AHPRA registration are especially encouraged to apply. More information about applying to our PhD program will be available on the Doctor of Philosophy course page here

If you are interested in applying for external agencies (e.g., NHMRC, ARC) to fund a postdoctoral fellowship in the Anxiety and Depression Clinic, please send a cover letter and CV to Prof. Peter Norton ([email protected]) to explore the possibilities.

We currently have no paid psychologist positions in the lab at this time. Possibilities may exist in the future for registered and endorsed clinical psychologists to provide billed services through the Anxiety and Depression Clinic.

Any future paid psychologist opportunities will be posted here. Please contact Prof. Peter Norton ([email protected]) to explore the possibilities.

No laboratory studies are currently recruiting participants.

All laboratory and survey research studies requiring participants will be listed here.

If you believe you have an anxiety or related emotional disorder and are interested in participating in our Treatment Research, please see above to learn about our treatment studies.

Crisis Numbers

Emergency Services 000 24 hours/7 days a week. Call this number in emergency situations when immediate police, fire or ambulance assistance is required.
Lifeline 13 11 14 Lifeline is available 24 hours a day to listen, without judgement to any person in Australia who is feeling overwhelmed, experiencing crisis or longs to be heard.
SuicideLine Victoria 1300 651 251 SuicideLine Victoria is a 24/7 telehealth provider that offers free professional phone and online counselling for people living in Victoria.
MensLine Australia 1300 789 978 24 hours/7 days a week. MensLine Australia is a telephone and online counselling service offering support for Australian men anywhere, anytime..
Sexual Assault Crisis Line 1800 806 292 5 pm–9 am/7 days. Victims/survivors of past and recent sexual assault.
Kids Helpline 1800 551 800 24/7 Telephone counselling service for people aged between 5 and 25.
BeyondBlue 1300 224 636 24 hours/7 days a week. Call, online chat and online forums.
Safe Steps 1800 015 188 Safe Steps is Victoria’s 24/7 family violence response centre. Providing specialist support services for anyone in Victoria who is experiencing or afraid of family violence.