About Us

Phoenix family Therapy Academy

A Connected, Supported Experience of Developing Systemic Thinking and Practice

Phoenix Family Therapy Academy was founded in 2024 by Dr Leonie White to advance family therapy in Queensland.

Phoenix Academy was established to further family therapy and systemic practice by inspiring professionals through the sharing of resources in a central hub and through provision of high quality training.

The vision and mission of the Phoenix Family Therapy Academy is to provide exceptional quality, contemporary training and professional development in family therapy and systemic practice that integrates both theory and practice, and classic and contemporary approaches to meet a variety of Professional Development needs.

The training and professional development offered by Phoenix Academy is grounded solidly upon a foundation of systemic principles and thinking, making it widely applicable across disciplines and work contexts. Phoenix Academy takes a multi-positioned perspective, drawing on theory and practice from across the evolution of family therapy including first, second and third generation approaches, and contemporary practice including considerations of Neuroscience, Evidence-Based Practice, Trauma Informed Care and Integrative Practice.

At Phoenix Academy a core value is the delivery of a personalized experience in training, providing a supportive and collaborative adult learning experience within which relationships and unique individual needs are prioritized. It is a privilege to walk alongside Professionals as they engage with systemic thinking and develop an understanding of which aspects of Family Therapy fit for their Systemic Practice framework, and how they integrate Systemic Family Therapy and Practice with their other therapeutic modalities.

Phoenix Family Therapy Academy Director

Dr Leonie White

Dr Leonie White is a Psychologist and Clinical Family Therapist

Bachelor of Behavioural Science, Bachelor of Psychology (Hons), Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology.
Registered Psychologist - Psychology Board of Australia AHPRA
Member - Australian Association of Psychologists (AAPi)
Clinical Member and Accredited Supervisor - Australian Association of Family Therapy

Leonie is a Psychologist and Clinical Family Therapist with nearly three decades of experience in the counseling and mental health field, and a passion for supporting individuals, families, communities, professionals, and organizations through an integrative systemic family therapy lens.

Prior to founding Phoenix Family Therapy Academy, Leonie was a founding director of the Queensland Institute of Family Therapy, and her experience includes work with children, teenagers, adults, couples, families, foster families, residential care providers, teachers and other helping professionals, in Queensland Health (Child and Youth Mental Health Service & Evolve Therapeutic Service), as well as Australian and Canadian Education and Child Protection Systems. Leonie has a special interest in supporting the Wellbeing, Mental Health and Family Relationships of children, teenagers, adults, couples and families.

Leonie established a Systemic Family Therapy and Psychology private practice in 2013 providing counselling and family therapy. In addition to clinical services Leonie supports the wellbeing, growth and practice of other helping professionals through mentorship, individual and group supervision, consultancy, and professional development training, and she is also a recognized supervisor of Psychologists with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and of Family Therapists with the Australian Association of Family Therapy.

Leonie is committed to making Family Therapy accessible and useful and provides a range of free quality resources to the community through her website blogs, eBooks, worksheets and infographics, as well as through her YouTube channel, and online courses.

In April 2021 Leonie launched her passion project - the Helping Families Thrive Cards. A deck of 36 cards covering key ingredients of growing healthy, thriving families. These cards were inspired by the struggles families faced in 2020 and designed to make Leonie's clinical practice, and family therapy research and practice available and accessible to families.

Leonie's commitment to supporting wellbeing on a larger scale has also led her to contribute to the community by providing training events for the general public and in the Education sector.

Leonie enjoys ongoing teaching providing guest lectures in the Master of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern Queensland and guest lectures in the Advanced Certificate of Psychotherapy for the RANCP Queensland Branch, and has has valued her past contribution to the Master of Mental Health (Family Therapy) program at the University of Queensland teaching and supervising across the program as well as being the Family Therapy field of study coordinator, and supervising final year students in a Reflecting Team live supervision clinic in the Masters of Counselling program at the Queensland University of Technology.

Leonie is passionate about connecting with other helping professionals and sharing systemic family therapy theory and practice, and has presented at multiple national conferences in relation to Systemic Family Therapy ideas in Mental Health, Child Protection, Collaborative Practice, Clinical Supervision and Integration of Therapeutic approaches. These include multiple Australian Association of Family Therapy National Conferences, an Australian College for Child and Family Protection Practitioners Conference, a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference (Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association), multiple presentations at the International Family Therapy Association Congress, and she was an invited keynote speaker at the 2023 Association of Counsellors in Catholic Secondary Schools Queensland Conference.

Leonie's contributions to the profession also include publications in academic journals, and the role of Guest Editor for a special edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy on the topic of Integrative Practice in Family Therapy.

As an integrative systemic family therapist Leonie's practice is grounded in systemic therapy with a focus on collaboration, strengths based practice, attachment understandings, creative therapy approaches, cutting-edge neuroscience, understandings of trauma informed care, and somatic approaches.

Find out more about Leonie's comprehensive private practice services for the public, for communities, and for professionals here

www.drleoniewhite.com

Publications:

White, L. & Owen, K. (2022). Systemic integrative practice: A meta-framework. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 43, 33 - 53.
White, L. (2022). Integrative practice in family therapy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 43, 3 - 8.
White, L. (2020). What can contemporary family therapy offer in a pandemic? Psychotherapy and Counselling Today, November 2020, 26 - 33.
Shum, D., Short, L., Tunstall, J., O’Gorman, J., Wallace, G., Shephard, K. & Murray, R. (2000). Performance of children with traumatic brain injury on a 4-disc version of the tower of London and the Porteus Maze. Brain and Cognition, 44, 54 – 62. (NB Leonie White nee Leonie Short)

Conference Presentations:

White, L. & Owen K. (2024). Integrative Practice in Systemic Group Supervision: Growing Competence, Confidence and Adaptability. The International Family Therapy Association (IFTA) Congress.
Owen, K. & White, L. (2024). Systemic Meta-Framework for Integrative Practice: Clinical and Teaching Tool. The International Family Therapy Association (IFTA) Congress.
White, L. & Munro, L. (2024). Reflecting Team Supervision: From the Mirrored Room to the Digital Zoom. The International Family Therapy Association (IFTA) Congress.
White, L. (2021). Working safely with families and trauma: Integrating neurobiology, stabilization and family therapy. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference - Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association.
White, L. & Owen, K. (2019) What Matters in Contemporary Family Therapy: Things our Students have Taught Us. . Annual Australian Family Therapy Conference.
White, L. (2017) Systemic Interventions for Children in Care: What Works in the Context of Trauma and what do our Clients Notice Works?. Annual Australian Family Therapy Conference.
White, L. & Owen, K. (2014) It Takes a System to Raise a Family Therapist (especially one working with relational trauma): How Systemic Group Supervision Can Grow Competent and Confident Family Therapists. Annual Australian Family Therapy Conference.
White, L & Pettit, L. (2009) Lessons Learned from Working Systemically with Children and Young People in Foster Care: Resilience and resourcefulness through Relationships. Annual Australian Family Therapy Conference.
White, L. & Pettit, L. (2008) Evolutions in Family Therapy: Working Systemically with Children in Care. Annual Australian Family Therapy Conference.
Pettit, L. & White, L. (2008) Evolutions in Partnerships: Meaningfully Engaging Young People in Collaboration. Australian College for Child and Family Protection Practitioners.
White, L. (2004) Social Rules for Conflict Escalation in response to pushy behaviour in the Workplace. British Psychological Society Annual Conference.

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