Bio

Lynne Datnow is a Registered Psychologist with over 45 years of experience in child, adolescent, couples and family therapy. Lynne integrates aspects of psychoanalytic thinking, including object relations and ego-supportive psychotherapy, with system thinking approaches such as Narrative, Bowen, Gottman, and solution-focused therapy.

Lynne is known for her incisive yet compassionate ability to identify her clients' core issues. She articulates her observations carefully, helping clients understand the underlying processes driving their problems. This insight is invaluable for clients seeking to understand themselves and their relationships better, enabling them to uncover and create new healthy patterns. 

Understanding is supported through the use of carefully selected metaphors and other reflective tools that lead to key moments of insight and self knowledge. 

Her tailored interventions are based on each client’s specific needs, combining clinical practice with academic and research knowledge. Lynne's areas of expertise include:

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Mood Disorders
  • Management of Daily Life Stressors
  • Workplace Challenges (incl. Bullying, Retrenchment & Restructures)
  • Personal and Career Growth & Development
  • Relationship Counselling
  • Family Therapy 
  • Parent child conflict at all life stages
  • Couples Therapy 
  • Support for New Parents
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Adjustment to Chronic Illness
  • Grief and Loss
  • Fertility issues

For the past 30 years, Lynne has dedicated her private practice to helping individuals and families navigate pivotal moments in their lives. Lynne values long-term relationships with clients where she understands their history and life experience, hence often working with multiple generations of the same family. Clients are able to return for further therapy at crucial times in their life when they may need further professional help.

Professional Experience and Teaching:

  • Over 30 years in private practice
  • Plus 25 years of public sector practice, including Team Leader in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Monash Medical Centre and Director of a Specialised Non-Profit Clinical Family Therapy and Research Centre
  • Teaching positions at Melbourne, Monash, and La Trobe Universities, The Bouverie Centre, and Cairnmiller Institute; Department of Psychological Medicine

Special Interests:

  • Creating Healthy Parent-Child Relationships: Providing programs for enhancing parent infant relationship development through parenting groups; support for parents struggling with behavioural and psychological problems 
  • Supervision and Mentorship: Providing individual and group supervision and training workshops for mental health professionals
  • Social Justice: Consultation with First Nations organisations on culturally sensitive family assessment and intervention practices

Lynne is dedicated to creating a warm and welcoming environment where clients feel safe and understood.

Whether navigating critical life stages or seeking to resolve persistent issues, Lynne’s approach empowers clients through insight, reflection, and understanding of emotional patterns and responses. Her goal is to help clients achieve meaningful change and lead increasingly fulfilling lives.

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