About

Dr Celia Conolly

Psychologist

BSc (Psychol) Hons. Class 1, PhD, MAPS

Dr Celia Conolly Consultant Psychologist

Dr Celia Conolly has over 30 years’ experience in the public and private sectors. She consults in private practice with adults, children and parents, and her work has an emphasis on examining some of the deeper issues which effect an individual’s relationships and ways of coping in the world. Celia has trained and supervised psychologists and counsellors for over twenty years. She is a founding member of Mandala Community Counselling Service, which offers free counselling for the disadvantaged in our community and was Manager of Clinical Supervision for that service from 2003-2018.

Qualifications

Dr Celia Conolly holds a PhD (Psychology) and a BSc (Psychol) Hons Class 1. She trained as a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with the Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (ICAPP), and hence has a special interest in working with children and parents.

Professional Affiliations

Dr Celia Conolly is a Registered Psychologist and a member of the Australian Psychological Society. She is also a member of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) and has attended and presented her research at their international conferences.

Celia has served on the Executive Committee of ICAPP (2009-2017), and on the Board of Mandala Community Counselling Service (2003-2018).

Research

Dr Conolly’s research examines the intergenerational transmission between parents and children. She has developed a theoretical model of intergenerational transmission and conducted clinical empirical investigations which support the model. Her research also examines the role of Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF) in intergenerational transmission.

Celia has published articles on intergenerational trauma in Aboriginal children, and presented her research at numerous conferences, including in New York, Amsterdam and London.

Teaching

Dr Conolly held the position of Training Manager at Mandala Community Counselling Service, which included writing a 50-hour Psychodynamic Counselling Training Course, which she presented for each intake of new counsellors from 2003-2018. In 1995 she established the Face-to-Face Counselling Service at Lifeline (Sydney) and devised an Advanced Counselling Skills training course for Lifeline’s Face-to-Face counsellors, which she conducted on multiple occasions from 1995 to 2003.

Celia has also taught at the University of NSW, Western Sydney University, and the University of S.A.

Publications

Conolly, C. & King, J. (2017)

“I Do Dots…”: Art therapy with an Australian Aboriginal preschool child. In Meyerowitz-Katz, J. & Reddick, D. (Eds), Art Therapy in the Early Years: Therapeutic Interventions with Infants, Toddlers and their Families. (London: Routledge)

Conolly, C. & King, J. (2015)

The Importance of Being Contained: Kylie, for whom nothing could be held. In Tracey, N. (Ed.) (2015). Transgenerational Trauma and the Aboriginal Preschool Child. Healing Through Intervention. pp. 153-172. Lanham, Maryland/London: Rowman & Littlefield.

King, J. & Conolly, C. (2015)

Mr Carrots counts the time. In Tracey, N. (Ed.) (2015). Transgenerational Trauma and the Aboriginal Preschool Child. Healing Through Intervention. pp. 175-196. Lanham, Maryland/London: Rowman & Littlefield.

Rigby, K., Slee, P. & Conolly, C. (1991)

Bullies and Victims in School Communities’. Journal of the Australasian Society of Victimology, Special Edition, p.25-31.

Conference and other Presentations

Conolly, C. (2020)

Projective Identification: From Parent & Child Work to Adult Therapy. Invited speaker, NSWIPP Scientific Meeting, (Sydney) March 23, 2020.

Conolly, C. (2019)

Intergenerational Transmission: Parental Defences and Reflective Functioning. Scientific Meeting, Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research, Anna Freud Centre, London. July 24, 2019.

Conolly, C. (2018)

Reflective Functioning and Parental Defences: A Pathway to Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Issues. Society for Psychotherapy Research 49^th Annual International Meeting. Amsterdam, Netherlands. June 27-30, 2018.

Conolly, C. (2017)

A New Approach to Working with Parents: Addressing the Cycle of Parental Projections. International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, 14^th Annual Conference. Sydney, 26 May 2017.

Conolly, C. (2017)

What’s Mine is Yours: Passing on Unwanted Feelings. Mental Health Professionals Network, St Leonards Network Meeting. 23 November, 2017.

King, J & Conolly, C. (2017)

Mr Carrots Counts the Time: A presentation of art therapy with an Aboriginal preschool child. Presented for Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Sydney, May 3, 2017.

Conolly, C. & King, J. (2017)

“I Do Dots…….”. Art Therapy with Australian Aboriginal Children. Co-presented at Book Launch of Meyerowitz-Katz, J. & Reddick, D. (Eds), Art Therapy in the Early Years: Therapeutic Interventions with Infants, Toddlers and their Families. Sydney 2017

Conolly, C. (2016)

“Intergenerational transmission of parental issues in child psychotherapy: Towards a new, coherent model of projective identification.” RANZCP Faculty of Psychotherapy Conference, Sydney, September 2, 2016.

Conolly, C. (2016)

“Projective Identification and Working with Parents.” Presented for Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Sydney, April 6, 2016.

Conolly, C. (2016)

The buck stops here: Intergenerational transmission of parental issues in child psychotherapy. American Psychoanalytic Association National Meeting 2016. New York, January 14, 2016.

Conolly, C. & King, J. (2015)

“The importance of being contained: Kylie, for whom nothing could be held”. Co-presented at book launch of “Transgenerational Trauma and the Aboriginal Pre-School Child. Healing Through Intervention.”, Sydney, March 13, 2015.

Conolly, C. (2014)

“Reconsidering Randomised Controlled Trials as the ‘Gold Standard’: A methodological journey through the design of a psychotherapy research project.” Conference presentation at ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference. University of Sydney, December 7-10, 2014.

Conolly, C. (2013)

“Working with parents in therapy: Make it or break it”. Presented at Child and Family Interest Group of the APS Gathering, April 2013, Katoomba NSW.

Conolly, C., Lennard, J. & Wesley, N. (2012)

“Mapping the terrain: The Assessment Process”. Seminar co-presented for Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Outreach Series.

Conolly, C. (2003 – Present)

Numerous workshops and seminars for counsellors for Mandala CCS and in private practice. Example topics include: ‘Boundaries Revisited” Oct 2012; “Klein: Our Adult World and its Roots in Infancy”, Nov 2005; “Eating Disorders: The ‘No Entry’ System of Defences”, July 2005.

Rigby, K., Slee, P. & Conolly, C. (1991)

“Bullying amongst school children”. Workshop presented at the 1991 National Conference of the Australian National Association for Mental Health. Adelaide, July 18-19, 1991.

Rigby, K., Slee, P. & Conolly, C. (1991)

Bullies and Victims in School Communities’. Co-presented at the Australasian Society of Victimology Seminar, Adelaide, December 1990.

Conolly, C. (1989)

“The Therapeutic Relationship: Personal or Impersonal?” Paper presented at 24th Annual Conference Australian Psychological Society, Hobart, Tasmania, September 25th to 29th, 1989.