Meet Marian Moloney, Senior Psychologist and Key Worker

“Working in outreach services, I get to meet new people in the comfort of their own setting. Every individual is different, and I enjoy the diversity.”

As a Senior Psychologist and Keyworker in the Early Intervention and Therapy Services (EITS) team, Marian helps children and parents cope with and manage wide-ranging issues that affect their everyday lives.

Marian will also extend her skills and experience to adult psychology services set to commence shortly at Windermere.

Marian pursued her education in psychology while being self-employed as a dog groomer. Majoring in psychology for her undergraduate studies, Marian advanced her academic portfolio with a graduate diploma, finally graduating with a Master of Professional Psychology from Monash University.

In April 2021, she joined Windermere to complete her internship, first as a provisional psychologist and keyworker in the EITS team.

“I’ve always wanted to be a psychologist, I like people and find them interesting, and enjoy the opportunity to help someone out.”

Marian works directly with children and their parents across school, kindergarten or home environments.

“We focus on building capacity with the long-term goal of developing their independence to reduce the need for support,” she says.

While Marian helps address day-to-day issues that children experience such as bullying, anxiety and low self-esteem, as a key worker, she takes a well-rounded approach. Within the EITS team, she draws on the support and skillsets of Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists or Physiotherapists as needed.

“As a key worker, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and education covering just about every aspect of life. The key worker model is greatly beneficial to families as it reduces the number of therapy sessions a week and as a result is far less disruptive to a child’s life.”

This model is especially useful as, often, other disabilities have an impact on mental well-being and Marian emphasises the importance of addressing the root cause.  

“As a key worker, I can address more than one issue. A child’s frustration and anger could be a result of speech impairment and not being able to communicate. A child who is not doing well in school due to below-par handwriting or reading skills may develop mental and emotional issues. While helping children work on emotional regulation, I also take recommendations from an OT or Speech Therapist as needed to help them upskill.”

Being part of this transdisciplinary team has been an enriching experience for Marian. “We can help each other by sharing ideas, resources and how to source them and thoughts on different presentations.”

As with EITS, Windermere’s new adult psychology services is covered under NDIS-funded supports. Although, the NDIS doesn’t typically cover mental health, the services that Marian offers fall under capacity building which serves to improve everyday life.

“Adult psychology services will help individuals with disabilities improve other aspects of their lives. Instead of solving problems for them, I will help them to gain the skills they need such as the motivation to seek employment or organisation techniques for tasks like taking medications,” says Marian on enhancing the functional capacity of adults.  

Other aspects covered under the service include developing resilience and knowledge and improving decision-making skills, social skills, problem-solving skills and more. These improvements would ultimately contribute toward becoming more independent in day-to-day life. 

Although an outreach service, there’s flexibility to offer support through telehealth or office visits as well, to meet individual needs.

“Working in outreach services, I get to meet new people in the comfort of their own setting. Every individual is different, and I enjoy the diversity.” 

When Marian is not out in the field transforming lives of others, she’s very much a homebody spending time with her son and pet dog. And she has a variety of interests to fill out any spare time. “At the top of my list is Xbox. I also enjoy building Lego structures, doing Taekwondo and swimming.” Adding to this eclectic list of interests, Marian is also a movie buff.

To find out more about our  Adult Psychology Services and Early Intervention and Therapy Services, call the team on 1300 946 337 or email info@windermere.org.au.