Erin Bulluss
PhD (Clinical Psychology)
Clinical Psychologist
Erin is an Autistic clinical psychologist who feels strongly about honouring neurodiversity in the pursuit of wellbeing. Her clinical practice is currently focused on providing disability-specific psychological services to Autistic adults, rather than offering general mental health intervention to the wider public. Erin provides psychological services solely through an online telehealth platform, which may include a combination of video and text-based chat.
Erin has a great deal of experience working in areas specific to Autistic clients, such as identifying and managing Autistic burnout, differentiating between Autistic burnout and depression, exploring client experiences of masking/ camouflaging, and exploration of Autistic identity and culture, particularly following late-identification of autism.
Erin places the needs of the individual at the centre of her approach so the experience is different for each and every individual. She brings together both professional knowledge and lived experience of autism in her approach, while aiming to build a strong, collaborative relationship based upon understanding and acceptance. Sessions honour the Autistic mind by welcoming tangents, sudden
connections between apparently unrelated topics, and jumping back and forth between topics as they are processed. She aims to guide people to better understand themselves and their needs which naturally segues into building capacity and increasing wellbeing, rather than prescribing strategies or following structured treatment protocols.
While Erin's focus is on supporting Autistic adults to build their capacity and maximise wellbeing in their every-day lives, at times this includes identifying and treating co-occurring mental health conditions. When treating co-occurring mental health conditions, she draws from a number of treatment approaches including schema therapy, attachment-based therapies, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), psycho-education, positive psychology, and other skill building approaches.
Erin was awarded both first class honours in psychology and a PhD in clinical psychology by Flinders University (Adelaide, South Australia). She has been registered to practice as a psychologist since 2009 and gained endorsement in the area of clinical psychology in 2011. She has presented her work at international conferences and been published in peer reviewed journals, including this article on differentiating autism from trauma in adults, and this article on modifiying schema therapy for Autistic clients.
Erin co-authors a Psychology Today blog called “Insights about Autism” which aims to provide information from the perspective of late-diagnosed autistic professionals. At times, Erin is invited to write articles for magazines, such as this article on cultural humility published in the Science of Psychotherapy Magazine and this article on Autistic friendship, co-authored with Abby Sesterka and published in Psyche magazine.