WA Mental Health

08/09/2026

We are happy to announce that Carrina Hampton's bookings are open again, after a small glitch had her booked out for the next year 🤨

CARRINA HAMPTON Accredited Mental Health Social Worker |Clinical Family Therapist | Hypnotherapist | Supervisor In-person and Online Consultations Level 2, 123 Spencer St,South Bunbury, WA 6230 Mondays to Fridays, 9:00 am – 5.00 pm In-Person Consultation Online Consultation Carrina Hampton is an A...

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

𝟑𝐁 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 & 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 (𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧)
at WA Mental Health, Bunbury.

Term 4 registrations are now open for 3B is our new Mental Health & Capacity-Building Program for children approximately 6–10 years who may be experiencing anxiety, low mood, big emotions, reduced confidence, friendship or relationship difficulties.

𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲 • 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 • 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

Through creative, practical and evidence-informed therapeutic activities, children build skills in emotional regulation, coping, communication, relationships, confidence and problem-solving.

Led by an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, Carrina Hampton and a therapeutic support team.

Tuesdays, 3.30pm | Term 4 2026
Other days/times available by request.

NDIS capacity-building, Medicare referrals and private places available. Eligibility criteria apply.

Register here: https://forms.gle/aUuQH6CvNucmDgVe7

WA Mental Health
Start with a Conversation

https://forms.gle/aUuQH6CvNucmDgVe7

08/09/2026

We have some exciting news to share 🎉

WA Mental Health has been named a Semi-Finalist in the Awards Australia Business for Good Award, as part of the 2026 7NEWS Community Achievement Awards for Regional Western Australia

For us, this recognition means so much more than an award. WAMH was built around a belief that quality mental health support should be accessible, responsive and connected to the communities we serve.

Over the past year, our work has continued to grow across counselling and therapy, workplace mental health and EAP support, student and graduate development, community programs, family support and partnerships across Western Australia.

To have that work recognised at a state level is something we are incredibly proud of.

A very big thank you to our practitioners, students, partners, clients, families, organisations and community members who continue to trust us, work alongside us and help shape what WA Mental Health is becoming.

The Semi-Finalists now progress to the final stage of judging, with the Top 5 Finalists to be selected following judging on 16 September.

For now, we are taking a moment to celebrate being named a Semi-Finalist and we are very grateful to be here!

04/09/2026

When memory is affected by repeated trauma

Australian forensic psychologist Associate Professor Helen Paterson has received a 2026 Eureka Prize for research that is changing how the memories of domestic and family violence victim-survivors are understood.

Importantly, this research does not suggest that victim-survivors are unreliable or should not be believed. It shows why someone can be telling the truth about repeated abuse while having difficulty recalling exactly which details occurred during a particular incident.

People who experience repeated abuse may clearly remember the overall pattern of what happened, while finding it difficult to separate one incident from another. Dates, sequences or individual details may overlap, even though the experiences themselves are remembered accurately.

Unfortunately, these differences in recall can be misinterpreted as dishonesty. The research found that people describing repeated events may be perceived as less credible than those describing a single incident, despite the details they report generally reflecting experiences that did occur.

This is important well beyond police interviews and court proceedings.

In our work, we regularly see how people who have experienced trauma can place enormous pressure on themselves to remember everything clearly, chronologically and consistently. When they cannot, they may question their own memory or fear that others will not believe them. When family members recall the same incident differently, those differences can also leave people feeling disbelieved, accused of dishonesty or invalidated. Different recollections do not necessarily mean that someone is lying. Memory can be influenced by trauma, perspective and what each person noticed or understood at the time.

Trauma memories are not always recalled as an orderly timeline. Repeated experiences can overlap, some details may remain very clear and others may be difficult to place. This is a recognised feature of memory for repeated events, not a reason to dismiss someone’s disclosure or assume they are being untruthful.

Our role is not to investigate or determine whether an event occurred. Our role is to listen respectfully and provide a safe, trauma-informed space where people can speak about their experiences without being pressured to produce a perfectly ordered account.

This research is an important reminder for practitioners, services and the broader community: inconsistencies in dates or sequencing should never be used on their own to discredit a victim-survivor. The way we listen matters.

Carrina Hampton
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker
WA Mental Health

Read about Associate Professor Paterson’s research and award through the Australian Museum’s 2026 Eureka Prize winners https://australian.museum/get-involved/eureka-prizes/2026-eureka-prize-winners/

If this topic raises concerns for you, support is available through 1800RESPECT https://www.1800respect.org.au/ on 1800 737 732. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.

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04/09/2026

When a family changes, children need support, not assumptions.

New Australian research has highlighted the mental health impact that parental loss can have on children. In this study, “parental loss” included the death of a parent, parental separation or having a parent in custody.

The study found that 20.2% of children whose parents had separated had a diagnosed mental health condition, compared with 11.9% of children whose parents had not separated.

This does not mean that separation will automatically cause mental health difficulties, or that remaining together is always better for children. Family circumstances are complex, and separation can sometimes provide greater safety, stability and emotional wellbeing.

What the findings do reinforce is that children need thoughtful support when their family structure changes. They need adults who can notice their behaviour, make space for their feelings, explain changes in an age-appropriate way and keep them out of adult conflict. They also need permission to continue loving and feeling connected to the important people in their lives.

In my work as a social worker and systemic family therapist, I often support families to look beyond the behaviour and consider what a child may be communicating through withdrawal, anger, anxiety, disrupted sleep or difficulties at school. Early support can help families understand those responses and create greater security around the child.

At WA Mental Health, we work with children, parents and families through separation, grief and other significant family transitions. Support can include individual counselling, parent consultation, family therapy and joint sessions where appropriate.

Carrina Hampton
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker
WA Mental Health

Read about the Curtin University research:

A new, large-scale Curtin University study has found children who experience parental loss are twice as likely to develop a mental health disorder, compared ...

03/09/2026

ADHD, epigenetics and human adaptation

There are so many posts saying ADHD is “just trauma”, that “everyone has it now”, or that because it is genetic, environment has little to do with it.
So here is my take on it, because I don’t think any of those explanations are big enough.

ADHD is real, neurodevelopmental and strongly heritable. It is also highly polygenic, meaning many genetic variants contribute to how the ADHD brain develops and functions (Demontis et al., 2023). But genetic does not mean untouched by environment.

Epigenetics influences how genes are expressed. We also know that stress, including prenatal stress, can become biologically embedded and affect developing stress-response, endocrine, immune and nervous systems (Dieckmann & Czamara, 2024). That does NOT mean stressed parents cause ADHD. It means biology is responsive.

This next part is my hypothesis, not established fact.

I wonder whether neurodivergence is part of a much bigger story of human adaptation. Some ADHD-associated traits - exploration, novelty seeking, energy, rapid responding, hyperfocus and noticing many things at once - may be advantageous in some environments and disabling in others.

A 2024 foraging study found that people with higher ADHD traits explored differently and, in that task, those screening positively for ADHD achieved higher reward rates (Barack et al., 2024). That doesn’t prove ADHD evolved because humans needed hunters or explorers. But it does reinforce something important: Context matters.

I also wonder what generations of war, migration, violence, scarcity and uncertainty have meant for human development. Were some neurological traits more useful for survival? If those traits were partly genetic, natural selection could help maintain them. At the same time, repeated high-stress environments may influence pregnancy, development, stress physiology and gene expression.

We cannot currently say ancestral stress “created” ADHD or autism. But I think it is reasonable to ask whether genetics, evolutionary selection, developmental adaptation, epigenetics and environment are all pieces of the same story.

You may have heard me refer to neurodivergence a superpower for many people. It is a trait in many of the world's most creative, driven and amazing minds. But, ADHD can be genuinely disabling, especially under stress.

Importantly though difference does not automatically equal defect.

For me, neuroaffirming support asks both:

What is making life hard?
and
What is strong here?

That is very much the approach we take at WA Mental Health.
Perhaps neurodivergence is not only a story about what went “wrong” with the human brain. Perhaps part of it is a story about how extraordinarily adaptable human beings are. So therefore, our supports and therapies need to adapt as well, to support, nurture and grow the person with the 'condition' and not the condition itself.

Carrina Hampton
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker | WA Mental Health

Refs:
Demontis et al. (2023), *Nature Genetics*. doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01285-8
Dieckmann & Czamara (2024), *Clinical Epigenetics*. doi:10.1186/s13148-024-01635-9
Barack et al. (2024), *Proc. R. Soc. B*. doi:10.1098/rspb.2022.2584

01/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FAupMQZtJ/

31/08/2026

TALK: Conversations That Matter

Sometimes the most important workplace conversations are also the simplest.

Noticing when someone seems different. Asking a little more. Listening properly. Following up afterwards.

That is the thinking behind our TALK framework:

T — Tune In
A — Ask More
L — Listen Actively
K — Keep Going

This month, TALK is also the focus of our WA Mental Health EAP Wellbeing Pack, provided to our EAP organisations as part of their ongoing wellbeing support.

Each month, our EAP organisations receive practical, ready-to-use resources that can be shared across their workplace, including team newsletter content, discussion prompts, leader scripts, toolbox talk material and wellbeing resources.

It is one of the ways we help organisations move beyond simply having an EAP available, and instead keep wellbeing visible, practical and part of everyday workplace culture.

If your organisation is looking for an EAP that includes ongoing wellbeing support, not just counselling when something goes wrong, we’d be happy to talk.

WA Mental Health
wamentalhealth.com.au/eap

31/08/2026

The Doula Training Academy 7-Day Birth Doula Training in Bunbury is an immersive, hands-on experience designed for those who want to confidently support women and families throughout pregnancy, labour, birth, and the postpartum period. Whether you’re starting a new career or expanding your existing skills, you’ll learn practical comfort measures, birth physiology, communication, advocacy, informed decision-making, positioning techniques, rebozo, acupressure, massage, postpartum support, business essentials, and so much more. Training is delivered in a warm, supportive environment with a small group of students, allowing plenty of individual guidance, hands-on practice, and meaningful connections that often continue long after the course ends. Become part of a growing community of professional, dedicated and knowledgeable doulas committed to providing respectful, evidence-based support to women and their families. Email [email protected] for more details.

Our 7-Day Birth Doula Training in Bunbury is an immersive, hands-on experience designed for those who want to confidently support women and families throughout pregnancy, labour, birth, and the postpartum period. Whether you’re starting a new career or expanding your existing skills, you’ll learn practical comfort measures, birth physiology, communication, advocacy, informed decision-making, positioning techniques, rebozo, acupressure, massage, postpartum support, business essentials, and so much more. Training is delivered in a warm, supportive environment with a small group of students, allowing plenty of individual guidance, hands-on practice, and meaningful connections that often continue long after the course ends. Become part of a growing community of professional, dedicated and knowledgeable doulas committed to providing respectful, evidence-based support to women and their families. Email [email protected] for more details.