Evonne Ruis

With a career spanning over ten years, my journey began as an early years educator, and then as the Head of School of an International School, and subsequently pursued Counselling. During my years as an educator, I spent ample time observing the many challenges and pressures that children and families were facing. I observed the impacts of how childhood trauma, family dynamics, and life transitions (divorce/relocation), moulded the way for people to become the way they are from a very young age. I placed a lot of emphasis on holding supportive intervention workshops for parents and educators to support them in understanding developmental psychology. Some of the workshops that I would hold were, “Understanding Mental Health in Children”, "Building Resilience”, “Impact from Covid”, and “Mindfulness Techniques”.

I also pursued my Masters of Counselling with Monash University at the same time to be able to work with individual clients, as well as family counselling. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, ACT and Mindfulness were some of the techniques that I would apply to collaborate with clients and to tailor the sessions for each individual to reach their goals and gain the inner healing they need.

After being promoted to the Head of School, I was then exposed to the challenges, stress, and burnout that educators or working people were feeling. Every stakeholder had a different story, and this inspired me to learn more about coping strategies and resilience to share with others. I’ve taken interest in learning about the strengths-based approach and positive psychology to expand my scope to use the client’s strengths in reaching their therapy goals. Currently, I am also under training for Gottman’s Couple Therapy Level 2, working towards a Level 3 to better understand relationship dynamics.

My professional career has always had a strong influence on my academic journey where I look for opportunities to continually learn and supplement my roles. I envision touching as many lives as I can, offering them a warm and safe space for them to hone their awareness and understanding of themselves, to be equipped with tools for challenges, to lead a more meaningful life and to find their purpose. I hope I can work alongside your organisation in reaching this goal. I would be happy to share more about my contributions in the interview. Thank you!

My professional experience is in the Education industry, where I began my journey as and educator and then pursued a Leadership role, as well as counselling 

Master of Counselling