Dr Rebecca Bargenquast
Clinical Psychologist | Supervisor
Meet Rebecca
I am currently in Private Practice and a Co-Convenor of the Insight Program. Prior to establishing my private practice, I worked as a Clinical Services Coordinator at both Queensland University of Technology and Western Sydney University, where I was involved in the supervision and training of psychology students. I also held senior clinical positions within Queensland Health and NSW Health, working with adults experiencing complex and severe mental health difficulties. These experiences continue to inform my appreciation of the diverse contexts in which psychological work occurs and the importance of thoughtful, reflective clinical practice.
In my private practice in Brisbane, I provide long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for adults and older adolescents, together with clinical supervision for psychologists seeking to deepen their clinical thinking and capacity to work with complexity. I am particularly interested in how early relational experiences shape identity, internal worlds, and patterns of relating throughout life.
Within Insight, I teach and supervise psychologists as they develop confidence in thinking psychodynamically about complex clinical presentations. While my earlier clinical and research work focused on psychosis, recovery-oriented psychotherapy, and metacognition, my teaching and supervision now centre on contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy, personality organisation, trauma, and the therapeutic relationship.
At the heart of my teaching is a commitment to helping clinicians cultivate a psychoanalytic way of thinking. While theory provides an essential foundation, the deeper task is the gradual development of a mind that can tolerate uncertainty, remain open to unconscious communication, and think in the presence of intense emotional experience rather than retreat into certainty or technique. I believe this reflective capacity—more than the accumulation of knowledge or the mastery of concepts— enables therapists to remain genuinely engaged with the complexity of their patients' inner worlds and facilitates meaningful psychological change.
Professional Interests
Contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Clinical supervision and therapist development
Psychoanalytic assessment and formulation
Personality organisation and trauma
Narcissism and disorders of the self
Transference and countertransference
Psychosis, recovery, and metacognition (MERIT)
Publications
Bargenquast, R., Schweitzer, R., & Drake, S. (2015). Reawakening reflective capacity in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia: A case study. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71(2), 136–145. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/81645/
Bargenquast, R., & Schweitzer, R. (2014). Enhancing sense of recovery and self-reflectivity in people with schizophrenia: A pilot study of Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 87(3), 338–356. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77686/
Bargenquast, R., & Schweitzer, R. (2014). Metacognitive Narrative Psychotherapy for people diagnosed with schizophrenia: An outline of a principle-based treatment manual. Psychosis, 6(2), 155–165. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/56178/
Bargenquast, R., Schweitzer, R., & O’Connor, K. (2021). Transference and countertransference in the recovery of self in metacognitively-oriented therapies for psychosis. In I. Hasson-Ohayon & P. H. Lysaker (Eds.), The recovery of the self in psychosis (pp. 84–100). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/211728/
"My interest in psychoanalytic psychotherapy grew from a fascination with the complexity of emotional life and the ways early relationships continue to shape our experience of ourselves and others."
– Rebecca Bargenquast
Invitation
If you are looking for more than a pathway to endorsement — if you are looking for a community committed to thoughtful supervision, scholarship, and lifelong professional development — we would be delighted to welcome you to Insight.