Mickey Skidmore is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker per the guidelines of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). He has expertise in Ericksonian Approaches to hypnosis & psychotherapy and has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and independent practitioner in private practice in the USA for more than 25 years before coming to Australia.

He has received extensive post graduate training from several members of the Ericksonian tradition, as well as other internationally recognised teachers of clinical hypnosis. He has held Certification with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and is a past Board member of the North Carolina Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He has also been a presenter at several workshops and offers teaching and training Seminars for mental health professions.

Mickey received his BSW in 1984 and his MSW in 1986 from East Carolina University. In addition to being a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in two states he also was a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (NASW-USA). In addition to maintaining his own private practice for more than 25 years, he has also served as a Professor with several private and community colleges, highlighted by his appointment as Visiting Lecturer with UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work graduate program in the summer of 2000.

Mickey has nearly 30 years of clinical experience in both public & privates sectors of service delivery; in both in-patient & out-patient levels of care; as a professor at the bachelors and graduate level for more than 10 years; as an administrator/manager in acute care psychiatric hospital setting; as a teacher/trainer of mental health professionals; and as a private practice consultant. His clinical training as an Advanced Generalist has fostered competence and abilities in many therapeutic modalities (i.e. individual or casework; group work; couples work; family system's; agencies; organisations; & communities), and proficiency in working with people across the life span (children; teens/adolescents; young adults; adults; and geriatrics). During this time he has also become knowledgeable with a variety of therapeutic approaches, including:

• Behavioural Therapies: (RET; CBT; DBT)
• Brief/Solution-Focused Therapies
• Developmental Therapy
• Gestalt Therapy
• Hypnosis
• Interpersonal Therapy
• Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)
• Play Therapies
• Psychodynamic Therapy
• Relational Therapy
• Strategic/Structural Family Therapies
• Supportive Therapy
• System’s Theory
• Transactional Analysis (TA)

Mickey’s practice will emphasise service delivery in the following focus areas:

• private consultations with individuals & families.
• clinical supervision.
• professional training programs (workshop/seminar presentation for CPD).
• contractual service & consulting for agencies/organisations.

Other areas of professional interest include:

• Cultural diversity / Languages
• Ethics
• Leadership & Management
• Writing