David Jones
David had the desire to establish a centre for Family Therapy for several years before he founded the Karuna Centre with Chris Higgisson in 2003. Since that time the practice has expanded and in 2005 Beth Seddon joined David as Co-Director of the Karuna Centre. David is committed to developing the Karuna Centre as a centre of excellence for Family, Systemic and Narrative Therapies.
David has worked for the most part in Canberra where he grew up. His first employment in the field was as a social therapy aid at Watson Hostel, a psychiatric unit in Canberra. This work inspired David to undertake a BASc in Health Education in the 1980’s, and it was through this degree that he began training in Family Therapy. Over the last sixteen years David has continued to school himself in the theory and practice of Family, Systemic and Narrative Therapies, undertaking training in Australia, North America, and more recently in Auckland, NZ. His interest in the field also led him to take up post-graduate research in critical psychology and gender studies, which he hopes to finish in the near future.
In 1989 David worked in Cooma for a short while in a crisis accommodation service before returning to Canberra to take up a position with a small mental health community agency. At the end of 1989 David commenced work at the Canberra Marriage Counselling Service, which later became Relationships Australia. David has worked for Relationships Australia for fourteen years. He also worked as the Coordinator of the Service Assisting Male Survivors of Sexual Assault and as the Coordinator of the Violence Prevention Program for the Department of Corrective Services ACT.
David has a commitment to working with people (clients) to address their concerns within the context of their personal history, significant relationships, family and working life. And where appropriate and relevant this work may take up themes such as gender, cultural differences and discrimination. David holds the belief that it is important to consult with people (clients) about what they experience as useful for them in each conversation, and how they can carry the realisations they have discovered into their day-to-day lives in a meaningful and practical way.
Clinical Member of the Australian Association of Relationship Counsellors, Clinical Member of the Australian Counselling Association and Service Provider for the Victim Services Scheme.