About Rachel
Dr. Rachel Briggs
BPsych, BSc (hons), DCP/MSC
Clinical Psychologist
I am a clinical psychologist who is passionate about seeing people and communities thrive.
I am the founding director of Arise Health & Wellness, which is a specialist clinical psychology practice located in the Hunter New England region that offers in-person and online clinical psychology services.
I have a background in community health, acute-care, private health-care, rehabilitation, and academic settings, and have a special interest and extensive expertise in working with children and their families. I work with this cohort across a range of presentations including anxiety, low mood, emotion dysregulation, anger management, trauma, issues of attachment as well as learning and behavioural difficulties.
I hold a 1st-class honours degree in Science from the University of Sydney and was awarded the Dick Thomson Prize for best empirical thesis in Social Psychology. I also hold a Master of Science by research from the University of Sydney in the area of paediatric neuropsychological rehabilitation meaning I bring unique knowledge and experience in neuropsychological testing in the assessment of learning, memory, and cognition and am particularly interest in students’ performance on these measures and its relationship with mental health presentations. I also have a doctorate in clinical psychology and have been in professional practice within psychology research and therapy for over 10 years.
I have worked in human resources in large organisations, have qualifications in vocational training and assessment, and have worked as a teacher at the University of Sydney. I love learning and consider it a privilege to be part of other people’s learning and development.
Rachel is a highly experienced therapist with more than 10-years of experience in mental health. Rachel has a unique interest and passion for the relationship between learning and mental health. As a therapist, she works primarily from an attachment-based and systems-based approach to childhood mental illness, with a firm belief that relationships and connection are at the core of good mental health. This means that she is highly relational and authentic as a therapist and educator.
Rachel is passionate about building healthy communities of individuals rooted in connection, belonging, and purpose and believes families and schools are the foundational communities in which children develop their identity, their sense of worth, and their own sense of purpose. Rachel hopes to empower parents and educators to feel confident in their approach to building children up to become happy, healthy, confident, and effective individuals.
Rachel is highly personable and would always love an email from you if you have any specific questions or concerns about how to support a child.
