Kirsty Sloan, Clinical Psychologist and Director at Oceanside Clinical Psychology

Kirsty Sloan, Clinical Psychologist and Director of Oceanside Clinical Psychology

Kirsty is a Registered Psychologist with endorsement as a Clinical Psychologist by the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Agency (AHPRA) and Medicare. Kirsty is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the APS Clinical College. 

Kirsty Sloan is a Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, families, and perinatal clients. She holds a Master of Clinical Psychology and was awarded the University Medal for academic excellence at Griffith University.

Her clinical focus includes:

  • Perinatal mental health: antenatal/postnatal anxiety and depression, birth trauma, grief and loss, transition to parenthood, and postpartum adjustment.

  • Child and adolescent psychology: emotional regulation, behavioural challenges, trauma, and developmental concerns

  • Family support: parenting strategies, attachment-based interventions, and relational therapy

Kirsty has a broad range of clinical experience, with expertise in helping perinatal clients, parents, children and young people with Mental Health, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Kirsty has over 15 years of experience working in a number of different settings, including private practice, the public health sector, and several child-based non-government organisations.

Kirsty’s therapeutic style is warm, empathetic, and strengths-based. She is deeply committed to creating a safe and nurturing space where clients feel heard, supported, and empowered. Her work is informed by the latest research and clinical best practices.

Her therapeutic style is:

  • Warm and empathetic: Kirsty creates a nurturing space where clients feel safe to explore vulnerability.

  • Strengths-based and relational: She focuses on building secure therapeutic relationships and empowering clients through their innate capacities.

  • Attachment-informed: Kirsty integrates attachment theory to support emotional development and relational healing.

  • Tailored and integrative: She draws from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Neurobiology, and mindfulness and compassion based approaches to meet each client’s unique needs.

Kirsty is highly committed to establishing and building a strong therapeutic relationship, which is essential to and designed to enhance the therapeutic outcome. 

Kirsty’s primary therapy approach is from an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) perspective. Emotionally Focused Therapy is a powerful, research-backed approach that helps individuals and couples reconnect with their core emotions and build secure, meaningful relationships. EFT is grounded in attachment theory and views emotional responsiveness as the cornerstone of psychological health and relational harmony.

Key principles of EFT:

  • Emotions are central to identity and decision-making.

  • Emotional distress often stems from unmet needs for connection and safety.

  • Healing occurs when clients learn to access, express, and transform their emotional experiences.

EFT helps clients:

  • Recognize and regulate intense emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and shame.

  • Reframe negative interaction patterns as bids for connection.

  • Develop emotional resilience and secure attachments.

  • Heal from trauma, anxiety, depression, and relational wounds.

Kirsty uses EFT in both individual (EFiT) and family contexts, helping clients explore their emotional worlds in a safe, structured, and deeply validating way.

Kirsty is also available to conduct workshops and professional development for groups, schools, day cares and organisations regarding issues of child development, parenting, perinatal psychology and child and adolescent psychology.

Kirsty’s main area of research interest has been focused on looking at how parents and families cope when they have a baby born prematurely or a baby in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or Special Care Unit. Kirsty has worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the Mater Mothers Hospital as part of this work. Her research in this area has helped hospitals develop better resources and programs to help support parents and families during this often difficult time.

In her free time Kirsty can be found relaxing at the beach, skiing, travelling and engrossed in a good book.