About Us

Dr Amy Talbot & Associates is a leading provider of psychological services for individuals and families in the Hills District, the broader Sydney area and throughout Australia. We are a team of clinically trained psychologists who provide therapy, skill development, consultation and mental health education for individuals, families, health practitioners and communities within a warm, supportive and respectful environment.

We have a genuine interest in understanding and assisting you with the difficulties you are facing and will work collaboratively with you to achieve practical and creative solutions to assist you to live your best life.

Dr Amy Talbot & Associates was established by Dr Talbot in February 2015 to provide best-practice evidence-based psychological services for individuals of all ages with a full range of mental health concerns. The practice also provides expert mental health services for individuals and families with eating and feeding disorders as well as obsessive compulsive and related disorders.

Our Story

How Collaborative Care was Established

Having started her training and career in hospital based and government funded services Dr Talbot quickly became frustrated with the limitations of these services in providing the highest quality of patient care.

“Unfortunately, public services in Australia for mental health difficulties are underfunded such that the demand heavily outweighs the availability of services. This leads to long wait times to access services, strict inclusion criteria for who can access the services and limits to the number of sessions or length of service that is available.”

This unfortunately means that many people with mental health difficulties are only able to access services in the acute stages of being unwell, while research suggests that early intervention is key.

It can also mean that once initial symptom improvement occurs patients are no longer able to access these services, while clinical research and our experience suggests that supporting patients beyond symptom reduction is key to long term health and wellbeing.

“I wanted to be able to build a service that would translate the positive aspects of hospital based and public services such as the multidisciplinary, collaborative nature of the service and the focus on research driven practice into a private outpatient setting, to allow greater accessibility at the time of greatest need.” “The service had to be accessible both during the acute stage of mental health difficulties and when symptoms first present, allowing for early intervention, support and prevention. It also had to be able to integrate effectively with existing government and hospital based services to ensure smooth transition between services and an overall best practice model of care.”

These observations and experiences led to the development of the Collaborative Care model of practice. This is not only the underlying framework and philosophy that drives all services provided at Dr Amy Talbot & Associates, it is also what sets us apart from other private practice services. Learn more about how our Collaborative Care philosophy can assist you.

Lack of Expert Services Available

Dr Talbot has always been interested in eating and feeding disorders, having seen the devastating impact that these difficulties can have not only on the individual, but on families, friends and communities as well.

Early during her training, she also sparked an interest in tic disorders and Trichotillomania after working with children experiencing these difficulties and seeing the positive impact that treatment and support could have in reducing not only their symptoms but their shame and embarrassment as well.

“As I worked closely with my patients, witnessing their story and experience of help seeking, I became acutely aware of how little support existed for them and how few services were available to support them.” Their stories were consistent: “I knew more than my psychologist about my condition…” “They told me my child was healthy and that I should stop worrying but my child continues to eat only a small range of foods…” “I had to tell them my diagnosis and then they had to look it up on google…” “It wasn’t helpful because we didn’t address the key issues…” “They told me I couldn’t have an eating disorder because I wasn’t underweight…” “It can be so difficult for those who are suffering to take that first step to seek assistance and so to hear that seeking help had increased their sense of hopelessness, further contributed to their shame and prevented them from accessing expert care in the early stages of their illness was both aggravating and disheartening.”

Dr Amy Talbot & Associates was established to provide expert services in the area of feeding and eating disorders, anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive and related disorders, and to provide an opportunity for like-minded professionals to develop their skills in these areas to ensure that this expertise remains accessible when you need it the most.

Our aim is also to educate professionals and the broader community to reduce the stigma associated with these difficulties and support an improved help seeking experience that fosters hope, reduces shame and provides the practical, individualised support that assists you to live your best life.

Calling The Hills District Home

Dr Talbot grew up in North West Sydney, making The Hills District a natural choice for the location of the practice.

“I was working at a service in the North Sydney area and I noticed that many of the people I was working with were travelling over an hour from The Hills and surrounding suburbs to see me, and I realised that there was a high need for expert services in my local community.

Dr Talbot wanted to open a practice that would make accessing expert psychological services as easy as possible for those in her local community so they wouldn’t have to travel so far to get the support they needed.

“As a focus of the practice was always going to be on a community based approach to mental health intervention, education and prevention, I also thought that there was no better place to support a positive attitude to mental health than in my local community.” Under the Cherry Blossom Trees… Hope Resides, Safety Embraces

You don’t have to look too far through our website or when attending our office to notice our cherry blossom theme and logo.

“When selecting a logo and brand for the practice I wanted something that aligned with the reasons why I started the practice in the first place, a symbol of hope and the start of a new beginning towards long term health and wellbeing, and living your best life.”

Many of our patients have had multiple unsuccessful and/or unhelpful help-seeking experiences prior to engaging with our service. Working with our service represents the end of a revolving door of treatment and a move towards lasting health improvement with a focus on health beyond symptom reduction and this is what the cherry blossom represents.

“The cherry blossom symbolises the arrival of Spring, the end of hard times and the beginning of a new journey, making it the perfect choice for the practice logo.” Interested to know more?

Learn more about how our Collaborative Care Philosophy can assist you

Meet our Team of highly qualified and experienced psychologists

Read about Our Approach to treatment