meet Dr Manisha Massey
she/her
Psychologist (Clinical Registrar) | MAPS | PhD
Meet Manisha, a trauma-focused and informed psychologist supporting adults navigating the impacts of relational trauma, cultural identity, and life transitions. With a background spanning India and Australia, Manisha brings a culturally responsive and neuroaffirming approach to therapy that honours the complex ways culture, family systems, and lived experience shape mental health.
Her work is especially grounded in supporting individuals from multicultural and South Asian backgrounds, including those navigating the intersections of migration, identity, family and societal expectations, and trauma. Manisha has a particular interest in understanding how culture, silence, shame, and systemic responses shape the experiences of survivors of interpersonal and childhood traumatic experiences.
She offers a compassionate and collaborative therapeutic space where clients can explore their experiences with curiosity, care, and cultural safety, and work toward rebuilding a sense of agency, meaning, and connection.
Manisha Provides:
1:1 Therapy (online & in person)
Trauma-informed and culturally responsive therapy
Can see those covered by Medicare, Self-funded clients and Self-managed NDIS
Manisha uses a combination of CPT, CBT, ACT, TF-CBT and DBT alongside person-centred and schema-informed frameworks.
Areas of Experience:
Trauma and complex trauma
Childhood abuse and neglect
Sexual violence and recovery
Relational trauma and attachment patterns
Shame, identity, and self-concept
Anxiety and mood difficulties
Migration, culture, and identity
South Asian and diaspora mental health
Family dynamics and intergenerational patterns
Life transitions and adjustment
Grief and loss
Therapies
CPT
CBT
ACT
TF-CBT
DBT
QUALIFICATIONS:
B.A (Hons) Psychology, M.A Counselling Psychology, PhD (MAPS)
Manisha is a registered psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and has been practising since 2017. She is also a registered counselling psychologist in India, where she began her clinical career supporting survivors of sexual violence, human trafficking, and other forms of interpersonal trauma.
She recently completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Flinders University. Her doctoral research explored how culture, migration, family systems, and institutional responses shape the experiences of South Asian women survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This work continues to inform her commitment to culturally responsive and decolonial approaches to trauma care. Through both her research and clinical practice, Manisha is particularly interested in how trauma is experienced and expressed within cultural and relational contexts, and in creating therapeutic spaces where survivors feel seen beyond diagnostic labels.
Prior to gaining registration in Australia, Manisha worked across community and statutory settings including Child Protection Services with SA Health, where she supported children, young people, and families navigating experiences of abuse and trauma.
Alongside clinical practice, Manisha is actively involved in higher education and teaches topics related to violence, abuse, trauma, and decolonising psychological therapies. Her work across therapy, research, and teaching reflects a shared commitment to creating mental health spaces that are culturally safe, inclusive, and grounded in lived experience.
At the heart of Manisha’s practice is the belief that distress does not exist in isolation. Instead, it is shaped by relationships, culture, history, and systems. Her therapeutic approach invites clients to explore these contexts with care and compassion, while building pathways toward healing, agency, and meaningful change.