Meet the Team

Dr Carly Cameron is the Director at Bend Consulting.  She has worked for over twenty years as a psychologist in Australia and the UK in community-based settings, secure psychiatric services, child protection, foster and kinship care and in private practice providing consultation to individuals and agencies regarding trauma-informed practice. 

Carly has a passion for delivering high quality evidence-based training and workshops, and has extensive experience working in, and managing teams that work with traumatised children, young people and adults.

Her research is in the area of Attachment and Psychopathology, with a specific interest in exploring the link between childhood adversity and the development of psychiatric disorders. Carly specialises in the protective factors that build resilience, enabling people who have experienced early developmental trauma to have better quality relationships and mental health outcomes.

Annie Dennis is a family therapist with a strong professional interest in working with families who have experienced trauma, specifically where family violence has had an impact on children. In private practice, Annie works with couples and families and has a particular interest in supporting practitioners to develop their skills through reflective practice processes. Annie conducts reflective processes with individuals and groups in a range of settings including family violence, AOD and general counselling services.

Prior to becoming a family therapist, Annie has significant experience working in the field of organisational development in health agencies in the public, private and community sectors using social systems approach, a career which prepared her well for working in family systems therapy.

Laura Petrie is a clinical social worker and psychoanalytic psychotherapist with over 20 years’ experience supporting individuals, groups, and families with a range of complex and varied developmental and psychosocial presentations. Laura’s clinical breadth has also seen her work with diverse populations including Aboriginal families, those with drug-use histories, gender diverse clients, LGBTIQA+ and young people, among others. Laura has also spent the last 15 years supporting Non-Government Organisations to develop trauma informed frameworks and organisational cultures.

Laura’s work history includes leading a range of therapeutic programs and staff teams across some of Victoria’s preeminent community service agencies including Lighthouse Foundation, Odyssey House Victoria, Bridgehaven Women and Women with Children Residential Program and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), as a Senior Practitioner in the Aboriginal Children’s Healing Team. This practice experience is underpinned by a Psychology degree, a Master of Clinical Social Work, and her qualification in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from the Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (VAPP).

Central to Laura’s focus is building a safe trusting relationship which becomes the basis for exploration and understanding in clinical supervision. Exploration of our thoughts and feelings generates insights about the sources of our own, and our clients’ struggles. Generating insights open new opportunities which we can draw on to improve our practice.