Your Clinical Supervisor & Counsellor
PROVIDING REFLECTIVE CLINICAL SUPERVISION, COUNSELLING, MENTORING & COACHING
Daphne Middleton
BSW (Hons), Grad.Dip.Ed, BA (Fine Arts)
I started my career working with young people who were living on the streets and being taken into detention centres, with adults in prison and with those at risk for mental health concerns who were transitioning into employment and training, as well as with women of all ages seeking employment. I created freelance empowering art and creativity groups to explore personal values, personal wellbeing and professional skills development as well as groups about how to use art and creativity to help others.
Living ‘artfully’ is the term I use to open up all personal change work to the artistry we can bring to our life and work when we focus on our signature character strengths whilst developing our skills and knowledges.
I work from beautiful Fremantle, a historical setting delivering a range of supervision and counselling services for both metro and regional areas in Australia. Access to these individual supports are delivered via the online platform, video conferencing and by telephone.
Specialities: social worker professional development and supervision, supervision for helping practitioners, doctors and other healthcare staff and clinical counsellors, general counselling and mental health care.
Expertise: Mental health, Wellbeing & self care education, Multi-disciplinary work, Focussed psychological strategies, Psycho-social approaches to address Professional Burn-out & Compassion Fatigue, Complex Case Management Supervision.
Areas of Interest: Creativity focussed counselling for wellbeing and good mental health, Narrative Therapy, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, Resilience Building, Systemic Therapies, Queer Theory, Professional Burn-out prevention, Climate Change, Sustainability, First Nations Peoples.
OUTSIDE OF WORK
I am lucky to live on the rich and ancient lands of Aboriginal Australia and travel as much as I can enjoying rugged coastlines, oceans, forests and bush lands of the south west and those on the east coast and inland. The year 2023 took me far away from the country to California enjoying it’s monumental coastline and historical alternative culture. My love of nature grew toward their sea lions, sea otters and mountainous forest. Other interests back home include visiting our excellent Australian art galleries, making art, watching Scandinavian noir and crime dramas as well as reading non-fiction.
History
Daphne Middleton has predominantly worked in clinical and medical settings for the Health Department of Western Australia in Mental Health with specialty experience in Child Development and Child and Adolescent Mental Health services. She has provided Clinical Supervision in a dedicated Professional Excellence team supervising over 40 counselling, clinical and qualified support staff. She has facilitated a wide range of reflective groups for various populations of all age ranges for many years. As a trainer she has successfully provided experiential art based therapeutic teaching groups with Narrative Therapy approaches for professionals and for staff of human, 
social and community based services. Since 2007 she has been focussing her work on providing Reflective Clinical Supervision to all helping professionals and has supported the growth and development of over 500 graduates and helping professionals, from support workers, allied health staff to senior social workers, qualified counsellors, advocates, doctors, clinical leads, middle and upper managers and heads of departments.
Daphne Middleton has completed many years of training in various psychotherapies and clinical supervision approaches before focussing on resilience building, Narrative Therapy and Trauma Informed Restorative and Rejuvenating approaches. She brings energy, passion and enthusiasm offering creative tools for change and dedication to make sure that empowerment and personal agency is aimed for in each helping or teaching interaction.
Daphne Middleton maintained a part-time private practice in Fremantle and Claremont since 2007. She provided Medicare Australia provision of psychological strategies through the Better Access mental health program and shared treatment service with primary care in the chronic disease management program. Her counselling role now focusses solely on supporting people with workplace concerns and provides employee assistance counselling for agencies. With a demonstrated academic background in writing and teaching university training programs for Masters of Counselling, Health Sciences and Social Work degree programs, Daphne has contributed her knowledge and expertise in the engagement of children, young people and families with mental health concerns in various in and out patient assessment and intervention services, complex case study review for theory into practice and best practice field supervision for social work trainees.
Daphne Middleton has speciality training in Child & Adolescent Mental Health, Art Therapy & Creativity focussed counselling, Trauma Informed and Mindfully Informed Positive Psychology approaches, Post Traumatic Growth work and the therapeutic management of compassion fatigue within the clinical supervision space. She held accredition as a Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) with the Australian Association of Social Workers from 2007-2023.
TESTIMONIALS
“I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated Daphne. I have found her to be a great support over the past 18 months and far and away the best supervision experience I have ever had in my professional life. Daphne really excelled at simultaneously supporting and empathising while challenging me to think deeper and broader. Daphne has been a fantastic asset and credit to our agency and she will be sorely missed”. Social Worker, Out of Home Care
“I have really appreciated your capacity to support and hold when things have been difficult. You have been a good sounding board for reflecting upon case material as well as being supportive and respectful regarding the therapeutic modality I use. I have found you to be empathic, genuine, open and flexible and supporting me with your expertise where appropriate and helpful with guidance with respect to policies where necessary” Child Counsellor, Out of Home Care
“I have found your input and perspective very helpful in my role and your ability to build rapport and hear what it being said. I have appreciated your sensitivity to difficulties I have disclosed and your willingness to ensure that supervision was a safe space for me as a person and as a counsellor” Play Therapist, Out of Home Care
Daphne really included me in the process and is extremely flexible and adaptive in the session structure. She works with me to unpack my questions so I can come to my own answers. Family and Domestic Violence Outreach Worker
Thank you for being not only so professional in your role, but also for your warmth and engaging manner, which made it so easy for me to trust you. Housing Support Worker
Daphne as an accredited mental health social worker, has been the mentor to me. Supervision with her enabled me to upgrade my mental health clinical knowledge and practice skills by reflections and validation. It has been the invaluable professional support and guidance. Social Worker, Integrated Care Manager, Child Mental Health Service
Daphne is an experienced practitioner with great therapeutic alliance qualities. She matched my needs and skills enhancing my expertise using strategic listening to construct questions which helped demonstrate techniques and simplicity of client work. Clinical Team Leader-Counselling Programs
With Daphne I was able to develop my practice particularly benefiting from the process and conception of a sense of teamwork in supervision – empathetic affirmation, understanding acceptance and a non-judgemental outlook held by her. Daphne promotes standards of self- care vital for good clinical practice.
Team Leader, Counselling Programs
Self compassion is a practice:
Recognise what’s going on.
Allow the experience to be there-just as it is.
Investigate it with interest and care.
Nurture with self compassion.
Tara Brach