Meet Steve.
PSYCHOTHERAPY & COUNSELLING
About Steve Schwartz
Steve is a PACFA-certified integrative psychotherapist who brings both academic excellence and a deep commitment to human connection into his practice. He holds a degree in Psychotherapy and Counselling from the Ikon Institute of Australia and is a Certified Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist (CPAT) through Mind Medicine Australia.
Steve was honoured with the 2024 Rafael Locke Outstanding Student Award—recognising leadership, academic achievement, and embodiment of Ikon’s core values—as well as the Dean’s Scholar Award, presented to the national graduate with the highest GPA. He now contributes to the next generation of therapists as an assistant teacher under Dr. Tra-ill Dowie at the Ikon Institute.
Originally from the United States, Steve began his career in visual arts, earning a degree in graphic design in New York before transitioning into psychotherapy. His early professional years were spent working with disadvantaged youth in wilderness therapy programs across Alaska and California, and supporting children with chronic and terminal illnesses at therapeutic camps across North America and Europe. His own therapeutic journey led him to this work—driven by a desire to understand the architecture of the mind and the emotional threads that shape our relationships with ourselves and others.
Steve’s approach to therapy is humanistic, collaborative, and client-centred. He meets people where they are—emotionally and psychologically—and walks alongside them toward where they want to be. His work focuses on issues such as attachment repair, anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, emotional regulation, anger, self-esteem, relational difficulties, existential concerns, and psychedelic integration.
Outside the therapy room, Steve is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and believes strongly in the mind-body connection. He advocates for mindfulness, movement, and balanced living. When not practicing, you’ll likely find him surfing, meditating, or exploring the natural world..
SUPERVISION & SUPPORT
Meet Dr. Tra-ill Dowie PhD
Circa is supported and supervised by one of Australia’s finest minds and leading experts in the field of psychotherapy, philosophy and psychiatry – Dr. Tra-ill Dowie, PhD.
Tra-ill is an inter-disciplinary philosopher, academic and clinician. He holds dual PhDs in Philosophy and Psychiatry. Tra-ill is an associate professor of psychotherapy at Ikon Institute, a research fellow at La Trobe University in Philosophy, as well as a Research Fellow at Australian National University in the School of Medicine and Psychology. Tra-ill has also trained with the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and completed their clinician qualification.
As a philosopher and academic, Tra-ill holds degrees in philosophy, the history of ideas, sociology, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne supervised by Dr John Rundell and Dr Cornel West. He works primarily in the intersections between Philosophy and Clinical practice, integrating cognitive science, philosophy of mind and phenomenology.
Traill has a deep abiding interest in the history of psychological intervention and medicine more generally. Traill holds a PhD in Psychiatry from Monash University supervised by Professor Graham Smith, in which he explored the ontological and epistemological foundations of psychological practice in medicine.
As well as having a strong background in social theory and critical theory, Traill has interests in consciousness, imagination, creativity, expression in the body and particularly in the meeting of music and philosophy.
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”
— Rumi