‘The bravery of stepping into the world of healing opens up the path to your authentic self’. -MZ
Mariya Zubaryeva
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW)
My mission is to empower clients to navigate life's tumultuous seas with grace and resilience, finding calm amidst the chaos. I am passionate about helping others to discover the richness of their inner worlds through powerful use of therapy. This can aid with understanding, embracing, and accepting why we are the way we are and how we can create a life that is meaningful and fulfilling. I am an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with 12 years of experience in the fields of disability, child development and mental health. Throughout my career journey I became proficient in my ability to utilise a range of evidence-based mental health assessment methodologies to provide holistic and comprehensive diagnostic clarification and treatment. I have had the opportunity to work with children, youth, adults, and families from diverse cultural backgrounds, and with varied clinical presentations including neurodivergence, depression, anxiety, trauma, attachment concerns and personality disorders. I am humbled to have been able to contribute to positive outcomes for my clients.
AMHSWs are mental health specialists who work with people in the community across the full continuum of mental health issues, including prevention, early intervention and treatment. AMHSWs are qualified social workers who have specialist mental health expertise. We have been assessed and accredited by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This assessment and accreditation process is recognised by the Australian Government.
AMHSWs work from a whole-of-person perspective, recognising the broader support requirements for an individual experiencing mental health challenges and the impact on friends, family, work and education. AMHSWs are experienced in building relationships and working collaboratively with other health professionals to maintain multidisciplinary and high quality care for clients.
Qualifications
Mental Health Accreditation with an Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) since April, 2024.
Bachelor of Psychological Sciences, Flinders University, graduated in 2016.
Master of Social Work, Flinders University, graduated in 2019.
Who is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW)?
My therapeutic work is informed by evidence-based modalities such as:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT is a talking therapy that can help clients manage their problems by changing the way they think and behave. CBT is based on the concept that our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap us in a negative cycle. In addition to depression or anxiety disorders, CBT can also help clients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, phobias, sleep disturbances and problems related to substance misuse.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a talking therapy, and it is designed to support people who may struggle with an impulse control, unhelpful ways of thinking, interpersonal relationships and self-harming behaviours. This is a suitable treatment for someone who has been diagnosed with a Borderline Personality Disorder or is experiencing low self-esteem, intense mood swings, emotional dysregulation, risk-taking and impulsive behaviour, unstable relationships, self-harm, suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts, alcohol and drug problems.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a structured somatic therapy that encourages the client to focus briefly on trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memory. EMDR therapy does not require talking in detail about the distressing issue or completing homework between sessions. EMDR therapy allows the brain to resume its natural healing process in sessions. EMDR is used to address post traumatic stress and other trauma , stress-related issues, anxiety and depression, panic attacks, phobias, grief and loss, pain, performance anxiety, personality disorders, sexual assault, sleep disturbance, substance addiction, violence and abuse.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT)
TF-CBT is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy. It stems from the idea that thoughts, emotions, and behaviour all affect one another, and that this interaction can be helpful or unhelpful. TF-CBT adapts these principles specifically to trauma, which is an emotional and physical response to a shocking or dangerous event. This could be a single incident, multiple incidents, or an ongoing experience. TF-CBT is created for children and adolescents aged 3–18 who have trauma-related symptoms, such as nightmares, difficulty sleeping, hypervigilance, being easily startled or scared, irritability, anger, or unpredictable emotions, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, which can be emotional or visual, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, overthinking, relationship, and behavioural difficulties.
Schema Therapy (ST)
ST is a type of talking therapy, teaching us that when our emotional needs are not met as children, it can lead us to adopt and develop ‘schemas’. These schemas, comprised of memories, emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations, are often untrue or unhelpful self-characteristics that cause emotional distress. There are four main concepts of ST: childhood emotional needs, early maladaptive schemas, maladaptive coping styles and schema modes. Clients are guided through each of these concepts, improving ways to get their needs met as an adult and learning more helpful coping strategies when those needs are not met.
Generalised Psychiatric Management (GPM)
General psychiatric management (GPM), also known as good psychiatric management, is a treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a complex condition that can make everything about a person’s life feel unstable, including their emotions, sense of self, and relationships. GPM therapy focuses on client’s hypersensitivity to what happens in their relationships and focuses on teaching the client ways of understanding and managing their symptoms through the lens of the interpersonal hypersensitivity model. In GPM, BPD symptoms are understood as arising from experiences of connection or disconnection regarding others. GPM assists the client with understanding these patterns and guides them towards approaching relationships and interactions more effectively.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)
DDP can help children and adolescents (5-17 years of age) who have experienced trauma within their families. In DDP, the therapist helps to repair a relationship between the child and their parent by talking with the child using an affective-reflective (a-r) dialogue that involves feeling as well as thinking. The therapist explores all aspects of the child’s life; safe and traumatic; present and past. In this way the child experiences healing of past trauma and achieves safety within current relationships. The conversations and interactions (verbal and non-verbal) within the therapy room are all based upon PACE. This means that the therapist will be playful, accepting, curious and empathic. DDP involves the child and parents working together with the therapist to develop healthy patterns of relating and communicating.
Theraplay
Theraplay is based on the natural patterns of playful, healthy interaction between parent and child and is personal, physical, and fun. Theraplay modality may be suitable to children who are neurodiverse, withdrawn, passive, overactive or those who are afraid of relating or attaching to others due to disrupted attachment, losses, or trauma. The active playfulness of Theraplay often engages children who have not responded to more traditional therapy approaches. Theraplay’s appealing activities help children engage into the therapeutic process and bring about change without the need for cognitive processing.
A little bit about me
Outside of the therapy room, I am a woman on her own journey of self-discovery and healing. I have been integrating the tools I teach in therapy into my own life and it has truly transformed every aspect of it. I am now able to identify what lights up my spirit, maintain good boundaries, put myself first and to be brave. I love learning, evolving, and encouraging everyone around me to step on path of authentic empowerment and self-assurance. I like to spend my time connecting with likeminded people and immersing in nature as I am forever humbled by its beauty and power. I have a golden retriever Billie who teaches me to slow down and embrace each and every moment this life has to offer. The journey of self-discovery is ongoing as we continue to be forever students of life lessons.
Areas of expertise
My areas of special interest include the treatment of personality disorders and trauma, whether it is a single incident of trauma or repeated traumas such as abuse, neglect, exposure to domestic violence, and attachment wounding. I also enjoy supporting clients with understanding and navigating through a diagnosis of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or Autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
In addition, I am passionate about supporting clients that are struggling in navigating their relationships, low self-esteem, distorted body image and disordered eating, gender identity issues, stress and burnout, anxiety and depression, as well as more complex presentations.