About

Dr Ninawa Butrus, Clinical and Forensic Psychologist

Dr Ninawa Butrus is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and Board-Approved Clinical Supervisor from Melbourne, Australia. She has 15+ years of experience providing psychological services across a range of clinical and forensic settings including:

drug and alcohol treatment services
community-based psychological practice with Area Mental Health Services including inpatient, outpatient, and acute/crisis (CATT Team) work
consulting to job services agencies and disability employment services agencies, including conducting independent Disability Medical Assessments for Centrelink
working in community correctional services and prisons in Victoria, including providing offender assessment and offence-specific treatment to offenders and prisoners, with significant experience working with violent offenders and female offenders
performing psychological assessments and providing psychological reports for the criminal courts
senior clinical leadership roles within Corrections Victoria
reviewing research proposals as a member of a human research ethics committee
conducting parent/child/family assessments and reportable counselling services for family court matters
providing specialised clinical forensic psychological services to prisoners in a senior role at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare)
10+ years in private psychological practice involving conducting psychological assessments and providing psychological therapy, with significant experience in treating personality disorders, trauma, anxiety, avoidance, depression, substance use issues, and addictive/impulsive/compulsive behaviour problems.

Dr Butrus is known for her specific experience in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders.

With years of experience in senior leadership roles as a clinical services manager, Dr Butrus also has a diverse skillset and experience in designing clinical services programs, developing standardised operating procedures, quality and risk assurance and managing multidisciplinary teams in complex service delivery environments.

In addition to her clinical and forensic psychological practice, Dr Butrus is a researcher. She has authored various peer-reviewed publications including journal articles and book chapters, and has presented her research at international conferences. Her main areas of research include personality, personality disorders, and violence.

The main areas of practice for Dr Butrus include:

Performing clinical psychological assessments and providing psychological treatment, namely evidence-based psychological therapy and mental health interventions, particularly for personality disorders and complex/severe psychological disorders. (See Clinical Psychology).
Performing independent forensic psychological assessments and providing medico-legal reports for criminal court matters and civil legal matters, particularly pre-sentence psychological reports for courts that address issues relating to mental health and offending. (See Forensic Psychology).
Providing clinical supervision and consulting work for psychologists, registrars, students and organisations. (See Supervision & Consulting).

Qualifications

Bachelor of Psychology (First Class Honours)

Master of Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Master of Forensic Mental Health

Certificate IV Alcohol and Other Drugs

Graduate Diploma in Forensic Psychology

PhD (Psychology)

Professional Affiliations

Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS)

Fellow of the College of Clinical Psychologists (FCCLP)

Fellow of the College of Forensic Psychologists (FCFP)

Member of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association (MACPA)

Publications

Butrus, N. (2019). Understanding personality disorders using dimensional personality trait models. In L.I. Truslow, & J.M. Rahmaan (Eds.), Personality Disorders: What we know and future directions for research. New York: Nova.

Butrus, N. (2019). Psychopathy versus antisocial personality disorder: Implications for the treatment of criminal behaviour. In L.I. Truslow, & J.M. Rahmaan (Eds.), Personality Disorders: What we know and future directions for research. New York: Nova.

Butrus, N. (2018). Judicial sentencing considerations in cases of violent offenders versus sexual offenders. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 25, 653-674. doi:10.1080/13218719.2018.1473175

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13218719.2018.1473175

Butrus, N. (2018). Understanding and rehabilitating violent offenders. International Journal of Psychology Research, 12, 1-14.

https://www.proquest.com/openview/2c5516a9ba5c8c30537ced2660c5d739/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2034860

Butrus, N. & Witenberg, R.T. (2016). The Five-Factor Model of personality traits and early maladaptive schemas. In C. Valentine (Ed.), The Five-Factor Model: Recent developments and clinical applications. New York: Nova.

Butrus, N. & Witenberg, R.T. (2015). The relationships between Five-Factor Model personality traits and personality disorder features in an Australian non-clinical sample. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 37, 12-26. doi: 10.1007/s10862-0149445-y

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10862-014-9445-y

Butrus, N. & Witenberg, R.T. (2013). Some personality predictors of tolerance to human diversity: The roles of Openness, Agreeableness, and empathy. Australian Psychologist, 48, 290-298. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-9544.2012.00081.x

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1742-9544.2012.00081.x

Butrus, N., & Witenberg, R.T. (2007). The relationship between personality traits, dispositional empathy and racial tolerance in younger and older adults. Australian Journal of Psychology, 59(Supp), 155.

Conference Presentations

Butrus, N., & Witenberg, R.T. (2012, November). Incremental validity of early maladaptive schemas over Five-Factor Model facet traits in predicting personality disorder features. Paper session presented at the Australian Conference for Personality and Individual Differences, Melbourne, Australia.

Witenberg, R.T., & Butrus, N. (2011, October). The roles of Openness, Agreeableness and empathy as predictors of tolerance to human diversity. In J.C.-S. Wang (Chair), Tolerance in self and society. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Network for Moral Education, Nanjing, China.

Butrus, N., Witenberg, R.T., & Hammond, S.W. (2011, March). Re-conceptualising personality disorders as personality “types” that are comprised of combinations of key personality traits and early maladaptive schemas. Paper session presented at the meeting of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, Melbourne, Australia.

Butrus, N. (2011, March). Using personality traits and early maladaptive schemas in case conceptualisation: A case study. Poster session presented at the meeting of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, Melbourne, Australia.

Butrus, N. (2010, July). Relationship of core behavioural features of passive-aggressive personality disorder with the Big Five personality factors. Paper session presented at the meeting of the International Congress of Applied Psychology, Melbourne, Australia.

Butrus, N., Witenberg, R.T., & Hammond, S.W. (2010, July). Personality traits and schemas characteristic of avoidant and narcissistic personality disorders. Paper session presented at the meeting of the International Congress of Applied Psychology, Melbourne, Australia.

Butrus, N., Witenberg, R.T., & Hammond, S.W. (2010, April). Early maladaptive schema profiles of the personality disorders. In C. Hulbert (Chair), Complexity of personality disorder. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Australian Association of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Melbourne, Australia.