Services

Womens Counselling Australia specialises in relationship problems and assisting women to recover from a divorce or separation.

Relationship issues

Have you or are you going through a painful divorce or separation? Are you feeling alone and empty? Perhaps you are feeling angry, sad, guilty, withdrawn or are suffering from depression due to relationship problems? Are you a victim of domestic violence? I can help you through this difficult time in your life so you can move forward in your life.

Other areas you may be needing counselling for are:

Family problems

Perhaps you need help with parenting strategies or are facing a challenging situation at home?

Career Counselling

Do you feel ‘lost’ and seek career guidance? Perhaps you want to work out how you can combine motherhood and work so you feel calm instead of stressed?

Depression/Anxiety

Do you suffer mood swings? Are you struggling to do day to day activities or have you simply lost all enjoyment from the activities you once loved? I can help you discover the cause of your feelings and help you with strategies to overcome depression and/or anxiety, so your feel fulfilled and confident again.

Grief and Loss

Have you lost a loved one? Are you feeling sad and alone because of your loss? Is your grief resulting in depression and isolation? I want you to feel you are not alone, we will work together to heal your heart and spirit so you can smile again.

What techniques are used?

I utilise many counselling methods, but my preferred method is to simply ‘walk with you on your journey of self-discovery’. My approach is goal orientated. I believe that the client needs to see results in order for both the client and myself to know that we are moving forward. 

The methods that I do employ in my practice are as follows:

• Humanistic person-centred Therapy (talk therapy)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Expressive Therapies
• Existential Therapy
• Narrative Therapy

Person-centred therapy focuses on recognising human capabilities in areas such as creativity, personal growth and choice. The person-centred approach allows clients to move at their own pace and focuses on the clients’ own development. This approach enables the client to recognise that the counsellor believes in their capability to manage problems, which therefore encourages the client to believe in their own strengths and worth which facilitates the desired change to occur.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on a persons thought patterns and how their negative thoughts are impacting on their behaviour. The goal of CBT is to assist a person to change their thought patterns, which have contributed to their negative behaviour. By assisting a person to explore new ways of identifying and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying their thinking the counsellor assists the client to modify their thoughts and behaviours, which emerge.

Expressive therapies involve various techniques to assist a client to express their emotions. These methods concentrate on the clients thought processes and feelings. Expressive therapies help you to release any ‘hidden’ feelings or emotions and can often result in you feeling as though ‘a weight has been lifted from your shoulders’.

Existential therapy focuses on the present and the future. The counsellor assists the client to recognise that they are able to explore the possibilities for their future. This type of therapy is well suited in helping the client to make positive life choices.

Narrative therapy is based on the idea that people's lives and relationships are shaped by the "stories" which individuals and communities of people develop in order to give meaning to their experiences. The idea is that these "narratives" (or stories) of meaning do not just reflect or represent our lives, they actually shape and make up our lives.

For example, all of us have "family stories", stories about the time we did this and that, community and societal stories. These are the ways in which we define who we are.

There are many stories in all of our lives, all happening along side each other. Often we focus on one. Sometimes this can be a problem story - one in which problems dominate, or take over, leaving other stories about the person and their lives hidden, forgotten, or missed.

In Narrative Therapy the aim is to bring those "other" stories to the foreground, so that they can become more noticed and to richly describe and look at them, to make them stronger and thicker. This can allow a person to "step across" to a more preferred story of their lives, one in which they can move forwards, away from the problems.

My commitment to you

My promise to you is that I will act with integrity, I will keep everything you say strictly confidential within my practice, unless you have given me the written permission to speak to others; I need to speak to other helping professionals with whom you are working with; am required to do so by law, or if I believe you are at risk of harming yourself or others.

Please don't hesitate to contact me - simply click here for details