ABOUT

claire r. chang
BSc(Hons), MA(Psych), PACFA, CCTP-II, KYM
Contemplative Psychotherapist
claire r. chang
BSc(Hons), MA(Psych), PACFA, CCTP-II, KYM
Contemplative Psychotherapist
BACKGROUND
Claire is an Australian-born and -based psychotherapist, consultant, supervisor, educator, editor, writer and independent researcher. She has twenty years experience working in the mental health field in clinical, community, research, academic, education and training, administrative and advocacy roles in Australia and the United States. Her experiences range from mentoring youth refugees, to working as an equine therapy assistant, running hearing voices group, and writing mental health training programs for insurances companies to telephone crises lines and government bodies.
In Australia she spent 7 years working at the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW (now One Door), before she moved to the US to pursue clinical training. There she interned in a residential care facility for young adults with complex issues, worked as staff and faculty counsellor at the University of Colorado, and as administrator and Adjunct Faculty teaching graduate counselling and psychology students at the eminent, Buddhist-inspired Naropa University. Claire opened her private practice in 2014 with the aim of serving those with complex, chronic and extreme issues who had not found understanding or help (or experienced harm) from mainstream views or approaches.
Her extensive professional experience is only matched, if not surpassed, by her lived experience of complex, chronic and extreme mental health issues and the journey to traverse and transform them. Thus, she brings the acuity and deep compassion of an ‘insider’ to her work, as well as being informed by two decades as a Buddhist and yoga practitioner, the wisdom of the great outdoors, and the inspiring clients and colleagues she has had the great fortune to connect and work with.
Away from work, you can find Claire attempting to learn Portuguese and Sanskrit, lost down some random scholarly rabbit-hole, or on trail (preferably mountain trails, and preferably mountain trails, or backcountry, in the Colorado Rocky Mountains).
FORMAL EDUCATION
> MA(Psych)(Contemplative psychotherapy), Naropa University, Boulder, CO, USA
> MA(Applied Buddhist Studies), Nan Tien Institute, AUS (candidate)
> BSc(Hons)(Psychology), University of Sydney, AUS
> Advanced studies focus: complex trauma and dissociation, somatic trauma therapy, applications of Buddhism in psychotherapy.
CORE CERTIFICATIONS
> PACFA Clinical Registrant – Australia #25809
> Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (Level II Complex Trauma & Dissociation)
> Certified Kaiut Yoga Method Teacher – Kaiut Yoga International
> Certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor
> Licensed Professional Counselor – Colorado, USA (Expired)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP & ROLES
> PACFA College of Psychotherapy and Counselor Education
> International Society for the Study for Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD)
> Australian Association for Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists (AABCAP)
> Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR)
> Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR)
> Journal of Humanistic Psychology – Senior Editor (Expert-by-experience)
> MindFreedom International – Board member
PROFESSIONAL / CLINICAL INTERESTS
> Buddhism and psychotherapy
> Psychosis, dissociation, ‘madness’ and other extreme mental states
> Gifted and twice exceptional populations
> Mental health of therapists and academics
> Nature-based and alternative/complementary therapies
> Critical studies in mental health
> Complexity and systems theory