About Tamar

Dr Tamar Black is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, who has worked as a psychologist with children, adolescents, and adults for sixteen years. She has worked at private schools as a School Psychologist for fifteen years, and has extensive experience conducting cognitive and educational assessments, and providing counselling to children, adolescents and parents.

Tamar has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) from Monash University, which she completed through the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, under the supervision of Dr Glenn Melvin, Dr Louise Hayes, and Associate Professor Kylie Gray. Her research compared the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for preventing depression, anxiety, stress and enhancing mental health in adolescents. Participants were year nine students in two schools in Melbourne, Australia, who were randomly allocated to either an ACT or CBT eight-week group intervention during regular class time as part of the school curriculum, using regular class sizes. This is the first study to compare ACT to CBT in schools. She also has a Master of Educational and Developmental Psychology from Monash University.

Tamar is an approved supervisor with the Psychology Board of Australia, and the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Educational and Developmental Psychology. She is a member of the Australian Psychological Society, a fellow of the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Educational and Developmental Psychology, and a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. She has extensive experience providing supervision to probationary psychologists and experienced registered psychologists, including those undertaking Psychology Board of Australia approved programs for registration and for endorsement in Educational and Developmental Psychology, and is a visiting fellow of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Tamar is experienced in providing supervision focusing on using ACT with children and adolescents, conducting and interpreting psychological assessments of children and adolescents, and issues pertaining to school psychology.

Tamar has been described as a passionate and enthusiastic presenter. She presented her Ph.D research in 2013 at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science’s World Conference, in 2014 at the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists National Conference, and in 2015 at the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science South Eastern Chapter Conference in the US.

Tamar’s Approach

Deciding to seek assistance for you or your child/adolescent from a psychologist might have been a difficult decision. You might have hesitated about it, or put it off. It can take strength and courage to seek help from someone that you have not met before, and to talk to them about the way that you or your child/adolescent copes with life’s ups and downs. Tamar understands this, and has a warm and relaxed manner, and a natural flair for connecting with people. She is passionate about helping people, and committed to assisting them to develop more effective coping strategies and achieve their goals. Tamar approaches every issue from a caring and respectful viewpoint, and aims to assist her clients quickly to improve their lives and do the things that are important to them.

Tamar takes great pride in her work and approaches it with much enthusiasm. Whether you are seeking therapy for yourself or your child/adolescent, supervision as a psychologist or probationary psychologist, or training in using ACT with children and adolescents, Tamar looks forward to helping you.

Tamar has extensive experience working with:

• Cognitive (intelligence) and Educational Assessments
• Learning Difficulties
• Giftedness
• Anxiety Disorders (including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Phobias)
• Depression
• Childhood/Adolescent Behavioural Issues
• Social Difficulties
• Bullying
• School Refusal
• Bedwetting
• Sleep Difficulties
• Autism Spectrum Disorders (Asperger Disorder is now included under this category)
• Parenting Issues
• Grief and Loss
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Health Conditions