Twenty-three years ago, a small seed was planted in the mind. It began as a dream for director, Louise Johnson, to create something unique and different in the approach to helping people seeking support.

​Throughout Louise's career, she was shocked by the environments that help and support operated from. The settings were clinical and sterile which was traumatic and scary for children. Adults found the experience overwhelming, cold, or de-personalised. 

Not only concentrating on the therapy itself, but incorporating the whole experience of going to a psychology practice. She wanted to create a place where people would feel calm and at peace when entering. A place that, when you enter through the door, would relax your body and mind and make you feel you were in the right place. 
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Louise wanted to create a practice and environment that honoured the vulnerability and sensitivity that is needed to those brave enough to face their problems and seek help.

​In 2006, Louise moved to 351 Nepean Highway and 4thought psychology came to be. Work started straight away on making the premise into a paradise and 4thought opened its new doors on the 14th January, 2007. Since then, the backyard has been transformed to create a haven for different people with different needs to relax and feel at ease. For instance, we have a vegetable patch that we use to facilitate therapy with individuals with food or eating aversions and phobias, or promote healthy eating and body image with children (putting a rainbow of colours in the body). It is amazing what people become open to eating when they grow and pick it from our little garden. 

Our bunnies, Benjamin and Creamy, support children and adults process traumatic experiences and learn to develop trusting attachments. Our furry friends are living metaphors for trust, unconditional love, and acceptance. Animal therapy has endless therapeutic opportunities to create live, non-threatening, experiential learning. These small creatures and their behaviours can teach us humans a lot!
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The enclosed outdoor area has chairs and a table to sit at and interact with the animals. It's also a great little spot for parents to sit and wait for their kids.

The trampoline and basketball court provide opportunities for clients to gain therapeutic insight without the intensity of a seated, face-to-face session. Our garden is used as a complementary instrument in our therapeutic work and includes a cubby house, soccer net, and secret fairy garden. 

4thought was created so that clients could have a safe place to access the best possible personal care. We like to assess each client's needs and match them with the most appropriate practitioner, not only therapeutically, but for rapport and style of therapy. We all know that the fundamental essence for therapy to work is that there must be trust between the client and therapist. Rapport is particularly important for practitioners to build with small children, adolescence, and highly vulnerable clients. Louise has spent a considerable amount of time finding the right practitioners who share her same passion, value, and consideration for clients.

Today, 4thought psychology is a practice second to none. It offers excellence in its practitioners and therapies. All practitioners use nature, technology, and theory to enhance therapeutic outcomes and reach a larger community of people. At 4thought, we believe that a person's journey to increased well-being should start as soon as they enter our gate.