Hello! Thanks for taking a moment to learn a bit more about me.
Before pursuing a career in psychology, I worked in alternative educational settings, supporting children and young people with ADHD, learning difficulties, and complex trauma. My path into psychology began 12 years ago after participating in a yoga training and meditation course. I have since earned a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Swinburne University of Technology.
My clinical experience includes therapist roles at a low-cost community psychology clinic, a public hospital, and outpatient units of a private hospital, where I supported adults with mood disorders, cancer, autism, and personality disorders. My therapeutic approach combines cognitive behavioural techniques, which target unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, with experiential psychotherapy to work through deep-seated emotional pain and overcome responses to past trauma.
In addition to clinical practice, I have taught psychology at London South Bank University. My research interests focused on how our sense of self and personal identity affects our emotional wellbeing.
Associations and memberships
Clinical Psychology Registrar with AHPRA (Australian Regulator of Health Practitioners)
Clinical Psychologist with HCPC (the UK regulator of Health Practitioners)
Member of AAPI (Australian Association of Psychologists Inc)
Member of AIEFT (Australian Institute of Emotion Focused Therapy)
Former lecturer in Psychology at RMIT and London South Bank University
Publications
Yang, Y., Fletcher, K., & Murray, G. (2021). A narrative review of cross-sectional and prospective associations between self-schemas and bipolar disorder. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 262, 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2547
Yang, Y., Fletcher, K., Michalak, E.E., & Murray, G. (2020). An investigation of self-compassion and nonattachment to self in people with bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 262, 43-48. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.10.042
Yang Y, Fletcher K, Whitehead R, Murray G. Toward new therapeutic mechanisms in Bipolar Disorder: Analog investigation of self-compassion and nonattachment to self (2018). Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01848
Fletcher, K., Yang, Y., Johnson, S. L., Berk, M., Perich, T., Cotton, S., Jones, S., Lapsley, S., Michalak, E., & Murray, G. (2019). Buffering against maladaptive perfectionism in bipolar disorder: The role of self-compassion. Journal of Affective Disorders, 25, 132-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.03.003
Whitehead, R., Bates, G., Elphinstone, B., Yang, Y., & Murray, G. (2018). Letting go of self: The creation of the nonattachment to self scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02544
Whitehead, R., Bates, G., Elphinstone, B., Yang, Y., & Murray, G. (2018). Nonattachment mediates the relationship between mindfulness and psychological well-being, and depression, anxiety and stress. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0041-9