Our Team
Dr Joe Tighe
Sandbank principal psychologist Joe Tighe is a registered psychologist originally from Ireland but almost Australian now. He has experience from the Kimberley, Western Australia where he co-founded the award-winning Alive & Kicking Goals! Suicide prevention project in 2008. After moving to NSW Joe has worked on the Central Coast and Sydney in both the not-for-profit and private hospital settings in many areas including trauma, addiction, mood disorders and as a suicide prevention trainer (ASIST). He completed his PhD at UNSW/Black Dog Institute based on the trial of the world’s first app for suicide prevention (ibobbly) and is a member of the Reachout.com Clinical Advisory Group.
He has a respectful and trauma-informed approach to working with client’s that is centred on their immediate needs and priorities. Joe views a lot of his work as simply education. He takes a practical, solution-focused approach to help people learn about what is most important to them (values) and how to deal with the challenges that life brings for us all. He utilises a range of therapeutic techniques depending on the client’s needs however does enjoy the value-based work and mindfulness teachings within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy