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DrNatalie Hadiprodjo

Senior Lecturer

Faculty of Health/School of Health and Social Development

Orcid identifier0000-0001-6794-3706 (opens in a new tab)⁠
  • Senior Lecturer
    Faculty of Health/School of Health and Social Development
  • +61 3 522 73537 (Work)
  • Geelong Waterfront Campus, 1 Gheringhap Street Geelong, Victoria 3220

BIO

Dr Natalie Hadiprodjo is a Senior Lecturer and Course Director for the play therapy program at Deakin University, Australia. With a career spanning 25 years she draws on a broad range of clinical experience in mental health, paediatric, and school-based settings to inform her academic and teaching roles.

 

Natalie joined the play therapy team at Deakin in 2019 and has teaching and research interests in psychosocial development, attachment theory, childhood trauma, trauma play narratives, and the neuroscience of play therapy. She is also committed to advancing scholarship in play therapy, exploring teaching and learning practices, and addressing professional issues such as scope of practice, clinical supervision, and the development of play therapy as an emerging profession in Australia. 

 

Natalie has tertiary qualifications in play therapy, counselling and occupational therapy. She completed her MA and PhD in Play Therapy at the University of Roehampton, London. Natalie was awarded the Psychology Department Prize for outstanding achievement for her master's thesis and built on this work in her PhD research. Natalie's PhD thesis explored the innovative use of physiological monitoring in play therapy research, integrating insights from attachment and trauma theory and research.  

 

In her current role Natalie is dedicated to shaping the next generation of play therapists and provides both research and clinical supervision to emerging professionals. In 2025 Natalie and team were awarded the Deakin University Award for Teaching Excellence. This award recognised the play therapy team for their inspiring, person-centred teaching that fosters deep engagement, emotional connection, and transformative learning. 

 

Natalie is a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and individual member of the International Consortium of Play Therapy Associations.

 

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT

  • Senior Lecturer
    Deakin University, School of Health and Social Development

DEGREES

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Play Therapy
    University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom
  • Master of Arts Play Therapy
    University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom
  • Master of Counselling
    Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  • Bachelor of Occupational Therapy
    University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
  • Graduate Certificate of Higher Education Learning and Teaching
    Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

CERTIFICATIONS

  • AAI Interviewing Certificate
    Family Relations Institute1 May 2023 - present
    Provides authorisation to administer the DMM (Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation) AAI (Adult Attachment Interview) for clinical purposes. Work to earn this certificate included: • 18 days of instruction, in three segments • 18 days of practice between the three segments • Completion of 2 normative and one clinical Adult Attachment Interview that demonstrated competence as an interviewer.
  • Child Attachment and Play Assessment (CAPA)
    University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom4 Jun 2012 - present
    The Child Attachment and Play Assessment (CAPA) assesses attachment and complex trauma in children aged 3 – 11 years. This is a doll-play procedure which is filmed and usually takes about 25 minutes to administer. It uses the established narrative story stem procedure in which children are given the beginning of a story (the stem) and then asked to ‘show and tell me what happens next?’ The CAPA is designed for use with clinical and maltreated populations and has proved a reliable and non-intrusive method for examining young children’s mental representations of attachment and relationships. It is a particularly good procedure for assessing the impact of developmental trauma. The CAPA analysis combines Crittenden’s Dynamic Maturational Model of attachment and adaptation (DMM) with Winnicott’s ‘playing and reality’ and ‘potential space’ to assess attachment strategy, mentalising, unresolved loss, and trauma together with the DMM modifiers. The CAPA was devised by Dr Steve Farnfield who founded the MSc Attachment Studies programme at the University of Roehampton U.K.

AVAILABILITY FOR SUPERVISION

  • Masters by Research and PhD supervision

AREA/FACULTY

  • Faculty of Health

DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE/DISCIPLINE

  • School of Health and Social Development