On Smith Therapists
On Smith Traumatology is a dedicated psychotraumatology space on Smith Street, thoughtfully designed to support and nourish the professional needs of therapists and their clients.
Katerina Nemcova
Founder and Clinical Psychologist
Katerina is a Clinical Psychologist, Board Approved Supervisor, EMDRAA Accredited Practitioner and EMDR Consultant in Training. She works with adults and couples, with a particular focus on trauma, complex trauma, attachment, dissociation and grief, as well as the ways difficult experiences continue to be held in the mind, body and relationships.
Katerina practises attachment-informed EMDR, integrating trauma processing with a careful understanding of early relationships, protective adaptations and the different parts of the self. Her approach is embodied and depth-oriented, drawing on EMDR therapy, parts work, Polyvagal Theory, somatic awareness and existential psychotherapy. Therapy may involve processing traumatic memories, working compassionately with protective parts, attending to the body and nervous system, and exploring deeper questions of identity, meaning, freedom, loss and connection.
Alongside her individual and couples work, Katerina facilitates Polyvagal-informed groups that help participants develop greater awareness of their bodies, nervous systems and patterns of protection. These groups bring together psychoeducation, embodied practices and shared reflection, supporting participants to understand their responses to stress and trauma with greater curiosity and compassion.
Katerina also facilitates an art therapy group, creating space for experiences that may be difficult to express through words alone. Through imagery, metaphor and creative expression, participants can explore their internal worlds, connect with different parts of themselves and engage with questions of identity, meaning and personal experience.
Katerina also provides psychological support to Ukrainian soldiers serving on the front lines. This work focuses on processing acute stress experiences, supporting nervous-system regulation and helping soldiers maintain their psychological capacity to continue serving.
At the centre of Katerina’s approach is the belief that healing involves more than managing symptoms. It can also involve reconnecting with the body, developing a different relationship with protective parts of the self, making sense of relational patterns, finding meaning in what has happened, and creating greater freedom in how a person relates to themselves and others.
Dr Sarah Herniman
Clinical Psychologist & Board Approved Supervisor
Sarah is a Clinical Psychologist with a PhD and Master of Clinical Psychology from the University of Melbourne, alongside extra training in EMDR and schema therapy. She has extensive experience in both private practice and public mental health settings, including specialist mood and psychosis programs.
She works with adults who are neurodivergent, who’ve been through tough stuff, or who are feeling anxious or down, or experiencing memories, thoughts, images, or voices that pop up uninvited. This can include dissociation, a tendency to space out or feel foggy when things get heavy. She also supports people stuck in the same patterns, within themselves or their relationships, such as rejection sensitivity, never quite feeling good enough, perfectionism, people-pleasing, or difficulty trusting others and letting them in.
Her approach is neuroaffirming, and trauma- and attachment-informed, respecting that your brain, identity, and story are uniquely yours. Therapy with Sarah often starts by understanding what’s happening now and the patterns keeping things stuck, and finding the circuit breakers. When difficulties have been around for a while, or keep popping up, therapy can also involve making sense of how past experiences continue to drive these patterns, getting to the root of things rather than just managing symptoms.
While we can’t change the past, we can change how it sits with us, using approaches that go beyond just talking, including EMDR, imagery rescripting, schema therapy, and parts work. This can look like gently working through memories of earlier experiences to take the sting out, and updating the beliefs that came from them. That way, the parts of you still operating from the past can finally get the memo that things are different now, supporting you to shift out of old patterns and live from what’s true and best for you today.
For those wanting to build momentum, Sarah also offers longer, deep-dive EMDR and imagery rescripting sessions, held over half or full days, either as a one-off or across consecutive days.
Clients often describe Sarah as approachable, warm, safe, and down to earth, bringing a healthy dose of silliness and humour to the space. Outside the clinic, she’s usually hunting for Melbourne’s next best coffee, or greeting every dog she passes.
You don’t need to know what’s wrong or have your goals perfectly mapped out to begin. If you’d like to explore whether working together feels right, Sarah would love to hear from you.
Edward Pascoe
Clinical Psychologist
Edward is a Clinical Psychologist with experience working across a broad range of private and public mental health settings, including inpatient and community-based services. He is passionate about helping individuals and couples develop greater emotional awareness, insight, and practical skills to create meaningful and lasting change in their lives and relationships.
Edward aims to provide a warm, personable, and productive therapeutic environment where clients feel comfortable discussing their concerns openly. He values transparency and collaboration throughout the therapeutic process and works closely with each client to understand their individual experiences, needs, and goals.
Edward draws upon a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Gottman Method-informed approaches. Therapy is tailored to the individual, with an emphasis on developing greater self-understanding alongside practical strategies that can be applied outside the therapy room.
Edward works with adults, adolescents, and couples experiencing a broad range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, stress, attention difficulties, autism spectrum presentations, loneliness and social difficulties, trauma, anger, relationship difficulties, self-esteem concerns, grief and loss, significant life transitions, addiction, LGBTQIA+ concerns, and sexual health. He has a particular interest in men’s mental health and supporting men to better understand and communicate their emotions, strengthen their relationships, and navigate periods of change or difficulty.
Edward offers both in-person and telehealth psychology appointments. Medicare rebates may be available for eligible clients with a Mental Health Treatment Plan.
If you are considering therapy and would like to discuss your needs, therapy preferences, or the Mental Health Treatment Plan process, you are welcome to contact Edward by email.
Christine Peng
Mental Health Social Worker
Christine completed her counselling psychology training (Master's level) in the US and holds a Master of Social Work in Australia. She has worked across a range of mental health settings, including forensic services, community mental health, inpatient psychiatric rehabilitation, and private practice both in US and Australia, supporting individuals experiencing complex and long-standing psychological difficulties, including those with higher-risk presentations and multiple life stressors.
Christine provides evidence-based therapy for concerns such as anxiety, depression, trauma-related difficulties, grief and loss, adjustment challenges, and interpersonal or relationship concerns. Her approach integrates therapeutic modalities including Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), solution-focused therapy, mindfulness, neuroscience-informed practice, strength-based approaches, and trauma-informed care, tailored to each person’s individual needs and goals.
Christine values working collaboratively with clients at their own pace. Her practice is grounded in empathy, respect, and transparency, with a focus on helping individuals trauma reprocessing, develop a deeper understanding of their inner experiences, relationships and life context, explore identity and possibilities for change, strengthen coping skills, and move toward meaningful and sustainable wellbeing.
Christine speaks both English and Mandarin (中文).
Eleanor Roche PACFA Registered Clinical Counsellor & Psychotherapist
Eleanor is a PACFA Registered Clinical Counsellor and psychotherapist who holds a Masters of Counselling at Monash University. She works with adults, children, parents and families. Her practice is grounded in trauma-informed and relational approaches, with particular interests in trauma, attachment, relationships, shame, identity, insomnia and personal development. As a South Indian woman who has grown up across different cultural contexts, Eleanor has a particular interest in cross-cultural experiences, including the ways culture, family, migration and belonging shape our sense of self and relationships.
Eleanor's interventions include Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I), Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Parts Work. Her practice is also informed by family systems frameworks and creative approaches, adapting therapy to the individual and the context of their lives. She is interested in the ways our experiences, particularly those shaped in early relationships, family systems and significant life transitions, can influence how we understand ourselves, relate to others and move through the world. Her work creates space to explore these patterns with curiosity and compassion, while developing greater choice, connection and a sense of agency.
Eleanor also tutors in counselling at Monash University, supporting the development of emerging counsellors and contributing to the teaching and assessment of contemporary counselling approaches. Alongside her clinical work, Eleanor is an artist whose practice is closely connected to her therapeutic enquiries. Through performance, writing and ephemeral works using materials from the natural world, she explores embodiment, cultural heritage and ancestry, place, impermanence and human relationships. Her creative practice informs her interest in experiential and embodied ways of working, and in the questions that sit beneath psychological distress: how we are shaped by what we encounter, what we carry forward, and what becomes possible when we encounter ourselves differently.
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