Biographical Notes

Wendy Castleden: Born with a paintbrush in my mouth, leading to art studies in London, France, Claremont and Fremantle. Since living in Margaret River, delight in own studio overlooking water. Six solo exhibitions between 1993–2013, including ceramic onglaze works which I taught in Fremantle, here, and in Aboriginal communities. Up cycling old pieces of furniture and discarded objects and turning them into works of art had always fascinated me. [Text adapted from the Open Studio Free Guide and Catalogue, with permission].

Paul Coombe is a psychiatrist and individual and group psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice and at the Glen Nevis low cost clinic. Formerly Consultant Child Psychiatrist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. He was the Overseas Senior Registrar in Psychotherapy at the Cassel Hospital, London 1990 to 1993. Immediate Past President of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists and member of the VAPP. He has published widely in local and international journals including in the areas of family therapy (also as a Masters thesis), psychoanalytic aspects of eating disorders, small and large analytic groups, Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy (also included as a chapter in a book) and the works of William Shakespeare.

Marilyn Gross is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who works in private practice with individuals, couples and groups. She is a member of the VAPP, the AAGP and the AAFT and is influenced in her thinking by each of these organisations.

Dr Barry Jones is a UK dual trained psychiatrist in psychotherapy and child & adolescent psychiatrist. He is also a psychoanalyst. Before taking up position, in child and adolescent mental health, as head of service at Pathways, he designed and implemented an award winning psychotherapy day service for adults in the UK. He holds an interest in personality disorder and applied psychotherapeutic approaches for children, families and adults.

Neil Maizels is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in Melbourne, and also a composer. He has a particular interest in the relationship between psychoanalysis and the Arts.

Dr Allan Shafer (Clinical Psychologist) has over 35 years experience as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and a socio-analyst. Originally trained in South Africa, he has worked primarily in private practice in Johannesburg, Perth & since 2011 in Melbourne. He is a senior associate of Innovative Practice Pty Ltd, organisation consultants. He was President of the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Western Australia and is a member of the Victorian Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy where he serves as a member of the Training Committee. He was an executive member of the Psychotherapy Association of Australasia (2011–13). He is President of Group Relations Australia. He has consulted to mental health, educational, religious & other NGO and private sector organisations in Australia, South Africa, Singapore and the USA and directed or consulted on the staff of group relations conferences in Australia, India, Israel and the UK.

Dr Bruce A Stevens (PhD Boston University 1987) is associate professor in clinical psychology at the University of Canberra. He convenes the program with over 60 graduate students. He was national convenor of the psychoanalytic interest group of the Australian Psychological Society for a couple of years and more recently ACT convenor of the Clinical College of the APS. He has written six books and most recently Schema Therapy for Couples: A Practitioner’s Guide to Healing Relationships with two international authors. It is in press with Wiley.

Estela Welldon is a psychoanalytical psychotherapist who worked for three decades at the Tavistock Portman Clinics NHS Trust. Presently she works in private practice and lectures worldwide. She is the founder of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy at Tavistock-Portman Portman NHS Clinics, a Senior Member of the British Association for Psychotherapy, a member of the American Group Analysis, of the British Psychoanalytic Council, of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy and of the Confederation of British Psychotherapists. She is an honorary member of the Institute of Group Analysis and of the Society of Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists, Tavistock Clinic. She is a teaching staff member of many national and international institutes. She is written extensively about group analytical psychotherapy as the essential tool in Forensic Psychotherapy. She is most famous for her book Mother, Madonna Whore: The Idealization and Denigration of Motherhood (1988) which quashed the myth that ‘perversion’ was largely a male preserve and opened up a whole new field of therapeutic enquiry. In 1997 Oxford Brookes University awarded Dr. Welldon a D.Sc. Honorary Doctorate of Science degree for her contributions to the field of forensic psychotherapy, and in 2014, she was invited to become an Honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is principal editor of A Practical Guide to Forensic Psychotherapy (1997) and author of Sadomasochism (2002). Her latest publication is Playing with Dynamite: A Personal Approach to the Understanding of Perversions, Violence and Criminality (Karnac, 2011).