Penelope Lovegrove

About

Penelope is an AHPRA-registered Clinical Psychologist and Director of South East Clinical Psychology in Melbourne, with a strong clinical focus on the assessment and treatment of adult ADHD. She works primarily with adults and young adults (17+), supporting individuals to better understand their neurodivergent profiles and develop practical, sustainable strategies for managing executive functioning, emotional regulation, relationships, work and study demands.

Penelope has a particular interest in working with late-diagnosed adults, including men and women who were previously misdiagnosed or whose neurodivergence was missed altogether. Many of her clients discover their ADHD in adulthood after years of struggling with anxiety, depression, burnout, or chronic self-criticism. Penelope is especially passionate about this stage of therapeutic work, helping clients not only to manage symptoms, but to rebuild identity, self-trust and self-compassion, and to learn how to live in ways that are more aligned with how their brains actually function.

A key area of special interest in Penelope’s practice is the intersection between ADHD and perimenopause/menopause in women. She regularly works with women who experience a sudden worsening of attention, memory, emotional regulation and coping capacity during hormonal transition, often leading to first-time diagnosis or reassessment of long-standing difficulties. Her work in this area integrates neuropsychological understanding, trauma-informed care, and psychoeducation around hormonal impacts on cognition and mood, helping women make sense of changes that are frequently misunderstood or minimised.

Penelope also brings lived experience to her work as a late-diagnosed woman with ADHD who experienced early menopause. This informs her compassionate, validating and practical therapeutic style, while remaining firmly grounded in evidence-based practice and professional boundaries. She is deeply committed to approaches that focus on strengths, adaptive differences, and realistic scaffolding rather than deficit-based models of functioning.

Her therapeutic approach is integrative and tailored, drawing on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and psychodynamic (ISTDP) frameworks, with a strong emphasis on translating insight into real-world behavioural change. She works collaboratively with clients to develop systems, routines and emotional skills that support long-term wellbeing, not just short-term symptom relief.

Penelope is a full member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the APS College of Clinical Psychologists, and the Australasian ADHD Professionals Association. She is passionate about ongoing professional development, clinical supervision, and contributing to improved understanding of adult ADHD — particularly in populations who have historically been under-recognised or misunderstood.