Episode #32 – When the Professional becomes Personal, with Writer and Psychologist Dr Jodie Fleming

Dr Jodie Fleming is a Clinical and Health Psychologist.  She currently works at St John of God Health Care in Warrnambool, and runs her own small private practice.

Jodie completed her undergraduate degree through Deakin University whilst living in Spain, and completed her Professional Doctorate at the University of Newcastle in NSW.  Spending her early career in Newcastle, Jodie pursued a career in psycho-oncology, commencing with a role at CanTeen and later working with families at the John Hunter Children's Cancer Hospital.  Jodie also provided psychological services at the local Division of General Practice.

In 2010, after receiving her own cancer diagnosis, Jodie relocated back home, to Victoria to be closer to her family. She has never looked back. She thrives on the diversity her work provides her and finds herself working across a multitude of programs.  These include mental health, chronic pain management, diabetes management and oncology rehabilitation.

In addition to a number of stints in private practice in both NSW and Victoria, Jodie has also spent the past two years as a sessional lecturer at Deakin University.

Jodie uses a combination of therapies including her current favourites, schema therapy, EMDR and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

In her spare time, she writes. In March this year, she launched her blog The Psychology of It where she delivers psychological information in five different styles, with the view of connecting, human to human.

Jodie willingly share's her personal journey of balancing her work as a psycho-oncologist whilst managing and ultimately surviving her own illness.  Thank you Jodie for your generosity!

Recommended Resources

Books

Websites

Blogs (and more on Jodie)

Jodie's Best Self-Care Tip

  • Learning to say no.  This is one of the most important things.

This means, no to squeezing in an extra client and taking on more work than you have the capacity for.  No to working through your lunch break and to after hours work.  No to working with someone outside of your scope of practice, or someone you don't feel comfortable with – that's a big one!

  • Go for long runs, laugh a lot and do yoga.

 

Feedback

Please leave Jodie or myself a comment or some feedback, we’d love to hear from you and I’ll respond to everyone!

Amy Felman

12 Comments

  1. Jodie Greer on August 23, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    Great podcast and I remembered the movie Tin Cup!

    • Jodie Fleming on August 26, 2016 at 2:01 pm

      Thanks for listening Jodie and yes, that was it! Thank you! x

      • Amy Felman on August 26, 2016 at 6:30 pm

        Hmmm now I’m intrigued. Is this where you saw the pearls? 🙂

        • Jodie Fleming on August 30, 2016 at 4:47 pm

          Haha yes it was Amy!

  2. Camilla on August 26, 2016 at 6:47 pm

    Hi Amy, I listened to your interview with Jodie Fleming just now as I was driving – wow 🙂 I am doing my clinical registrar thing at the moment in Wollongong NSW and had been thinking recently I would love to scope out working in some kind of oncology/ health psych setting, at some stage. Over and above the relevance of Jodie’s work area to my recent interests – the interview was so intimate, special, real and inspiring. Thank you so much to both of you!

    • Jodie Fleming on August 30, 2016 at 4:53 pm

      I’ve already thanked you on Facebook Camilla, but thankyou again!! Xx

  3. Pree Benton on August 28, 2016 at 7:23 am

    Hi Jodie and Amy,
    Thanks for such a fantastic episode. Jodie – it was so wonderful of you to be so open and raw with your experiences, we need more of this authenticity in psychology!! I’m completing my health psychology registrar year (completed my doctorate at Deakin) and my final placement was in psycho-oncology (and I now work in chronic pain!), so it was really nice to hear your experiences in these areas as health psychologists are now a rare breed! The most important take home message for me was around responsibility. This has been a big struggle for me in recent months as I try to fight my way out of burn out. Although I know it logically, emotionally it’s very hard to let go of that belief (thanks self sacrifice schema!). So when I heard you say “I am not responsible” it was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you for validating my (and I’m sure many others!) struggles as a new psychologist, it’s nice to know we are not alone.
    Amy thanks for such an incredible and important podcast, these episodes are like mini supervision and always help me feel inspired and hopeful for my future!!
    Pree

    • Amy Felman on August 28, 2016 at 4:44 pm

      Hi Pree,
      Thanks so much for your insightful and reflective comment. I love your description of the episodes “like mini supervisions.” I totally agree with that and am always amazed by the wisdom shared by my guests. I love it too when what you need to hear presents itself 🙂 I think sometimes we hear what we “need” to, when we need to. I’m glad you had that experience here.
      Jodie is the epitome of authentic!!
      Thanks again for listening and commenting. Always welcomed!
      Ammy
      Amy

    • Jodie Fleming on August 30, 2016 at 4:49 pm

      Wow Pree, thankyou so much for listening and for your thoughtful comments. Damn that self sacrifice schema hahaha! Look after yourself and congratulations on choosing such a rewarding career path. All the best, Jodie x

  4. Jodi on August 29, 2016 at 10:23 pm

    What a beautiful interview. Thank you Amy and Jodie for allowing us to listen so such an inspiring story. I love Jodie’s sense of humour! I also appreciated the emphasis placed upon responsibility. I recently attended a workshop run by Tom Powell called Red Dust Healing and one of his tools called “bird and fish’, focuses on this very concept, a reminder that we cannot control other people, and when we try to we invite stress into our lives.

    • Jodie Fleming on August 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm

      Thank you so much Jodi – what a great name you have! Is there anywhere online to read about the bird and fish tool? I have to say, it took me years to get to this place but it’s made such a difference to my own health and wellbeing as well as how I practice. Best of luck! X

      • Tom Powell on December 19, 2016 at 3:47 am

        Hi Jodie,
        My name is Tom Powell and I am the Founder of Red Dust Healing. I have been running RDH for about 10yrs now. Red Dust Healing is about giving people tools to deal with the REJECTION in their Life. The tools deals with their hurt, anger, and stress and allows people to fix issues in their own lives. It comes from an Ancient Aboriginal perspective but the tools are for everyone. It puts everyone on the same page. Rejection knows no boundaries.
        I have recently delivered 2 workshops in NSW focussing on Suicide Safeguarding (my words to take it out of the pigeon hole of Suicide Prevention) that introduce people to new visual holistic tools that help understand and then deal with Anxiety/Fear and Depression. Google Red Dust Healing and have a look at the Website and if you are interested give me a call.
        Spread Out & Stick Together
        Tom
        0419 489 275

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