Elaine Ford

Elaine has been nursing for 38 years and has enjoyed working in many acute and non-acute settings in general and mental health specialties. She holds many formal qualifications in nursing, sports psychology, counseling, and psychotherapy. She is a foundational fellow of the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, a fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, and a clinical member of the Counselling and Psychotherapist Association, the Psychotherapist and Counselling Federation of Australia, and the Cancer Council Professionals. Elaine has an extensive practice and experience in hospital and community settings and in consultation-liaison psychiatry. She is Australia’s first practicing Nurse Practitioner in mental health.

She has presented papers at national and international conferences on a broad range of topics and is passionate about the nursing profession. Elaine has her own practice where she predominantly practices psychotherapy, focusing on people with disorders of self and people affected by cancer, psychosomatic illness, and mood disorders. She has supervised training in existential and the conversational model of psychotherapy. Her work has been influenced by Hildegard Peplau, Dorothea Orem, and Sister Callista Roy.