Monique Toohey, Managing Director, Principal Psychologist & Keynote Speaker

Monique has been a registered Psychologist since 2003. 

She is a Level 2 Certified Gottman trained couples therapist and has expertise working with cross-cultural couples.

Monique is also a certified Sensorimotor Art therapist (Guided drawing for trauma & Clayfield therapies).

She is fluent in the use of the following therapies with clients from culturally and faith diverse backgrounds: Trauma-informed Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Strength-based therapy, Schema therapy, Interpersonal Therapy and Boundaries therapy.

Monique is also a certified Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Advisor (USA) and has trained staff from over 400 organisations promoting intercultural understanding.

For 6 years she was the Lead Lecturer for ‘Multicultural Counselling’ and ‘Culture and Psychology’ at the Australian Catholic University and is a regular guest lecturer at other universities.

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AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Trauma (Childhood, single incident, intimate partner violence, assault, workplace harassment & bullying, racism & Islamophobia)

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Stress Management

  • Relationship difficulties (Couples; Parent/ child; Parent/ teen; Adult child/older parent)

  • Relationship enrichment (Experienced Couples; Newlyweds; Pre-marriage counselling)

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Built across 28 years, Monique’s experience delivering psychological services with literally thousands of clients assists her to recognise what’s happening for you faster and get you the result you’re looking for.

Seeing a Psychologist can be a daunting process, but Monique guarantees she will help you to feel comfortable within 10 minutes of being in her consulting room.

Other than providing an empathic and non-judgemental ear, Monique is very strategy focussed and will offer you strategies from the first counselling session. 

A bit more about Monique’s career so far….

After working as a School Psychologist for 8 years, she founded Nasihah Consulting Group – Northern Psychology Clinic in 2005. For the past 28 years she has delivered Psychological services, mental health and family violence training, wellbeing and capacity building programs with CALM /CALD communities.

She has managed countless types of therapy and psycho-education programs for adolescents, parents and adults. She has delivered hundreds of presentations at conferences and seminars in the areas of mental health awareness, family violence & respectful relationships, Intercultural awareness & Cultural Intelligence (CQ). 

She is one of Australia’s leading cross-cultural psychologists and is a thought leader, trainer and policy adviser in the area of cultural intelligence to businesses, state and federal government departments and many not-for-profit organisations.

She has a special interest in the role of mental health, wellbeing and faith/spirituality and has delivered psychological services, project management and professional consulting services to over 40 Australian Muslim organisations, making her one of the highest profile Muslim Psychologists in Australia.

She has served on the board in the role of President of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia (JCMA), which coordinates a range of Interfaith conferences and anti-racism interfaith education initiatives in schools for students and teachers and has twice sat on the Board of the Islamic Council of Victoria. 

She is the Co-founder of the Centre for Muslim Wellbeing (CMW). She is the host of the CMW, ‘BE WELL’ Insta-series, where she interviews a variety of Mental health professionals and community mental health advocates. 

Monique delivered ‘Culture eats individuality for breakfast’ at TEDx Docklands (2019) and is a commentator on the psychological impact of exclusion, the psychological impact of lockdowns during the pandemic and racist bullying for ABC news.

She has been seen on the Amazon Prime docuseries ‘Unheard’ (2021), ABC News and Lateline, featured in The Australian, The Age, The Herald-Sun, ABC and 3AW radio. She was a speaker at the 2016 Melbourne Writer’s Festival and delivered the 2017 Tasmanian Annual Peace Trust Lecture.

Monique has a number of published works including her debut book, Without You: Rising above the impact of an abusive relationship (2014)

 
 

Nasihah Consulting Group provides you with a culturally safe, friendly and confidential service.

Nasihah staff are highly qualified and registered with the AHPRA and abide by the Code of Ethics as set out by the Australian Psychological Society.