Mentoring & Supervision
Ruth offers mentoring, clinical supervision and training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals, allied health professionals and Aboriginal mental health workers.
She is a non-Indigenous woman with a life long passion for Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal wellbeing. Ruth is also a registered psychologist, having returned to study as a mature age student.
Consultancy
In 2013, Ruth was awarded Specialist endorsement as a member of the College of Community Psychology (one of seven specialist areas recognised by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Authority (AHPRA) and the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA).
Since registration as a psychologist, Ruth’s professional roles have included clinical roles, and also strategic roles brokering relationships between Indigenous organisations and mainstream agencies at the local, state and national levels.
In 2005 as a Liaison Officer with the National Centre in HIV Social Research, (UNSW) University of New South Wales, she won support for Indigenous inclusion in the Centre’s national consultations in major capital cities with communities affected by viral hepatitis and social researchers from the Centre.
In 2008, as a Program Manager and Policy Development Officer with Psychiatric Rehabilitation Australia, a state based non-government provider of mental health recovery services, she established the organisation’s first tailored recruitment and retention campaign to recruit, develop and retain Indigenous staff.
In 2009, Ruth established a private independent practice in psychology, focusing on providing accessible and culturally safe services for Indigenous populations in metropolitan Sydney NSW. Her professional work is now located mainly in the south western metropolitan Sydney.
In 2015, Ruth changed her business model to build her commercial practice to enable her to continue the pro-bono work with Aboriginal communities that she values.
Ruth considers herself privileged to have lived and worked with, alongside and under guidance from Indigenous peoples from many Nations across Australia over the past 30 years.
Ruth is also an active member (Associate) of the Australian Indigenous Allied Health Association (AIHA).
CONFERENCES
Braunstein, R. (2017) Continuing the conversation: Cultural Safety, EMDR and Treatment Collaborations with Aboriginal Mental Health Workers (AMHWs) : An Effective Mental Health and Wellbeing Intervention with Aboriginal Australian Community Members requesting voluntary (non-mandated) help recovering from ongoing neuro-bio-psycho-social impacts of trauma – or not? And Current State of Play. 2017 NSW Aboriginal Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Forum, Sydney.
Heard, T. R. and Braunstein, R. (2012) Improving the cultural appropriateness of a private Psychological service, in Urban NSW Australia. Inaugural National Conference, Australian Indigenous Allied Health Association, (IAHA 2012) Brisbane.
Heard, T. R. and Braunstein, R. (2010) Improving the provision of a culturally safe Psychological service, within an Urban Private Practice in NSW Australia. 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP 2010), Melbourne.
Clark, Y., Meredith, S., Braunstein, R. and Heard, T.R. (2009) ‘It’s not just a black and white issue’: What role can psychologists play in providing therapy to Aboriginal people and how can non-Aboriginal psychologists make a difference? 44th Annual National Australia and New Zealand Psychology Conference, Darwin, (Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association and APS Clinical College Forum)
Braunstein, R., & Llewellyn-Smith, D. (2005) Closing the loop: Models of research participation and knowledge transfer for hepatitis C communities and social research partnerships. 5th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference, Sydney
Contact Ruth:
If you are seeking mentoring, clinical supervision or training for yourself or your organisation’s Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers / Allied Health Professionals or Aboriginal Mental Health Workers, contact Ruth by phone or email (see Contact Us)