Our Story
Our practice has been serving the Ryde and surrounding districts since 2010. Director, Dr Margo Orum, has more than 20 years experience as a psychologist. Her first 10 years were spent in private practice as a sole practitioner in Balmain/Rozelle, then in 2010 she started a multi-practitioner private psychology practice in Ryde.
The practice currently has 7 psychologists, and one psychotherapist specialising in relationship counselling. Two of our practitioners are fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. See more details on the Our Team page.
As the practice has grown in the years since 2010, it has been prompted to move location twice – each time by development and construction activities in the area. The first location was in Victoria Road, Gladesville, on the corner of Frank Street. Due to plans for the new Bunnings warehouse (which now occupies that site), the practice moved in November 2012 to a small business centre in Jordan Street, Gladesville, where it operated from 2012 to 2015.
The second move became necessary when construction of a multi-story building in close proximity to these rooms posed a potential noise problem. As often happens, what seemed at the time like an obstacle became an opportunity to change, expand and grow. This “obstacle” prompted a leap of faith to move, expand the practice, take on more staff, and relocate to our much more spacious home base now, in the Putney Village Medical Centre in Ryde, in December of 2015.
We are delighted that we now feel very much an integral part of the pleasant downtown Putney Village, a growing healing hub in the Ryde district, with plenty of surrounding cafes and coffee shops and easy parking. In November of 2019 we took a marquee in the inaugural Putney Village Street Fair, and enjoyed meeting some of the local people on the street, as they walked by, tasting the delicious food from our nearby cafes.
Our own growth as a practice has mirrored the kind of growth that a person sometimes goes through across their life span. What initially seems like a bad thing turns out to be just the impetus we need to examine our current way of doing things and to embrace change. Our brains actually love novelty and change. It is just the comfort zones of our habits that don’t! Change stimulates us to reach for and enjoy a higher, richer level of functioning that previously appeared impossible, when we were stuck in our old ways of thinking.
The people we see at our practice come from Ryde and many of the surrounding suburbs. They are dealing with problems that represent a wide range of the plethora of human condition issues that at some time in our lives, many of us will face. And these conditions make us ripe for change for the better, if we are willing.
Relationship problems happen to us all, from time to time. Most often, they overlap with concerns like anxiety, depression, trauma / PTSD, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and personality disorders. We see people with challenges due to drinking or drugs, and more general life direction concerns such as parenting, work stress and work/life balance challenges. Being human is a complex journey, and we all need a bit of help at some time along the way.
We want to be there at that time, to support, guide, and assist each person who visits the practice in a way that will enhance their quality of life, and hopefully, help them seize more opportunities to connect with their inner values. When we do this, we fortify our resilience and capabilities to embrace change, and to accept life’s challenges as part of our journey.
Click here for more details of all the various issues we treat.
You will find our rooms at:
Suite 9, Level 1, Medical Centre, 227 Morrison Road, Ryde NSW 2112
How We Work
After you book your first session with our friendly phone team, your psychologist will call you to introduce herself/himself, so that you will have a brief chance to touch base before the day.
On arrival at our rooms, you fill out a registration form and your psychologist will collect you from the waiting room.
In your first session we will be mainly getting to know you, asking what prompted you to come along, and what you want out of your sessions together. We are all good listeners and experienced at finding the best approach to suit your unique needs.
We all use a range of different therapeutic approaches, usually in combination, according to your needs. However our core understanding is that the therapeutic relationship is all-important, and vital to establish if we are to serve you best.
We usually work with people for 6 – 12 sessions, while some come for a year or two. Sessions may be weekly, fortnightly or sometimes in the later stages, monthly. It all depends on the level of complexity and what will be most helpful.
The decision about how many sessions is always made in collaboration with you, and is ultimately always your choice.
What Motivates Us To Do This Work?
Why do we do what we do? Because we love helping people change and grow to find a stronger, better version of themselves.
Most of the problems we all experience are variations of what we might call “the human condition” – life can be difficult!
We will listen to you and let you tell your story. And then we will join with you and walk alongside you in your journey of recovery, as a companion who can offer expert assistance along the way. Most importantly, we help you access and identify your most authentic inner values, and move towards living by them more directly.
When you are able to access and live by your authentic self and values, life just naturally becomes healthier and happier.
Let us help you discover the strength within yourself to get more enjoyment, passion and excitement out of life.
Our mission is to make a better world – one relationship at a time.
