About this journal
Emotional Health Clinic is an independent Australian publication about anxiety, families, therapy and the quieter work of staying well. We publish long-form essays. We do not take bookings, run a waiting room, or offer psychological treatment.
Where the name comes from
For several years from 2009, emotionalhealthclinic.com.au was the public face of the Emotional Health Clinic at Macquarie University — then also known as the Centre for Emotional Health, and before that as the Macquarie University Anxiety Research Unit. The archived homepage greeted families by age: 0–6, 7–13, 14–18, Adult, 60+. It promised “state of the art assessment and treatment for anxiety and related disorders across the life span,” and it spoke in a calm, practical voice about research, training and treatment.
That university clinic still exists, elsewhere, under the university’s own name. This journal is not that clinic, is not run by Macquarie University, and does not speak for Professor Ron Rapee or the Centre for Emotional Health. We kept the domain’s subject because the subject still matters: emotional disorders across a life, explained without panic and without slogans.
What we publish
Each essay is original, written in Australian English, and long enough to be useful — usually well over a thousand words. We organise the archive into topic hubs that echo the old site’s lifespan map: anxiety, children and families, adolescents, adult life, later life, therapy and everyday wellbeing.
We write as journalists and editors, not as your treating practitioners. Where we describe cognitive behavioural therapy, Medicare, or a Mental Health Treatment Plan, we describe the public system as it is commonly used. We do not invent diagnoses. If a piece is out of date, we correct it under our editorial standards.
The masthead
Elise Hart, Editor
Elise edits the journal and writes about anxiety, evidence-based care, and how Australian families actually find help. She lives on Gadigal land in Sydney.
Nathan Cole, Features writer
Nathan writes long-form features on work, sleep, and the quieter corners of adult emotional life. He is based in Naarm / Melbourne.
Priya Raman, Families editor
Priya covers children, adolescents and the adults who care for them. She writes from Meanjin / Brisbane.
Margaret Liu, Later life editor
Margaret writes about ageing, retirement, loneliness and the emotional work of a long life. She lives in Adelaide.
Write, correct, or get in touch
Guest essays are welcome when they meet the write for us guidelines. Corrections and questions go to the contact page. Photographs are Creative Commons or public domain and are listed on the image credits page.