My counselling ability and knowledge come from my personal experiences with mental health, wellbeing, education, parenting and formal study.  I have experience in helping individuals with a variety of mental health concerns such as:

• aging parents
• anger management
• anxiety
• being a carer
• being highly sensitive (hsp)
• burnout prevention
• burnout recovery
• depression
• family relationships
• grief and loss
• gender
• low confidence
• low self esteem
• identity
• motivation
• relationship concerns
• selfcare and wellbeing
• self harm (NSSI), suicidality
• sexuality
• stages of life
• stress
• sadness and depression
• social anxiety
• spirituality
• stress
• work/life balance

My values include; connection with self and others, acceptance of self and others, affirmation of  personal stories, valuing self and others, and knowing the need for a safe space and safe community; this is foundational to my counselling practice.

See the list of articles written in the interest of mental health and wellbeing – click on the title for the full articles.

Living with a Bully in Your Brain

Do you have a bully that lives in your brain? When I wrote Bully Resilience; changing the game, I had not anticipated its application beyond resilience against bullies. Others have since reported back on how it has helped them in relation to dealing with belittling and bullying thinking.

Do you Want Panic to be Your Default Response?

Do you experience frequent feelings of anxiety, stress or panic? What does it take to re-train our brain to respond differently and remain in control?

If Only I Had More Confidence

Do you lack confidence? Gain confidence by looking to others who have gone before you, start by taking small steps, listen to encouragement from others.

When to Live is Pain

When life is in deep despair with a sense of hopelessness; then to live is pain. The hardest decision is to live; this is when support is most needed.

I specialise in working with children and adolescents of all school ages. Due to my work across all school levels from Junior Primary through to Senior Secondary, and formal study in relation to child and adolescent development, I have understanding of the different challenges children and teens face.

Many young people experience concerns in relation to wellbeing and mental health. However, their personal experience may be quite different to that of another. I work with the individual according to their needs and their unique situations, personalities and needs.

Some common concerns include:

Anxiety, Anger/Tantrums/Rage, Accepting Responsibility, Being Highly Sensitive, Depression, Emotional Outbursts, Family Break-down, Fear of Failure, Grief, Impulsive Behaviour, Lack of Resilience, Perfectionism, Separation Anxiety, Sibling Rivalry, Social Concerns, Self Esteem, Self Harm, Trauma. 

The Initial Session.

In most cases the initial session includes the involvement of the adult who bought their young person to counselling. It is generally the case that a young person hasn’t chosen to go to counselling and it has been a decision made for them. With this in mind, there are three goals within the initial session: The most important goal is that the young person feels safe; whether the adult who came with them stays for the session or not, is entirely up to the young person. The other two goals are closely related, and that is for rapport to develop between the myself and the young person, and that the young person grows in their ability to trust me as their counsellor.

Using a process of story-telling, illustrations and a variety of other tools, children and teens are encouraged and assisted in identifying thoughts and emotions. Strategies are taught for helping to unhook from unhelpful thoughts and emotions, and for making decisions that are helpful to them. This process takes time, so one can generally expect a ‘go slow’ approach with potential concerns being addressed indirectly during the process of gaining and maintaining a positive rapport, a sense of safety and trust.

As a parent, I know the challenges of raising a family combined with career and education. I work with parents in assisting them to explore strategies for working with their children and to help create a positive family culture.

Some areas of need may include:

• Protecting your relationship as you parent
• Strategies for behaviour modification
• Keeping your cool in the face of a tantrum
• Values based parenting
• Understanding your child’s world
• Highly Sensitive Children

See the list of articles written for parents – click on the title for the full articles.

The Cost of Resilience

Resilience keeps appearing, be it workshops, books, or a blog like this one. It seems to be what people want, but do they know what they are wanting?

The Desire to Belong to the Peer Group

One of the toughest aspects of school is the peer group. Teaching children about the peer group, and making good choices is essential.

The Fear of Failure

A fear of failure will have children being too afraid to attempt tasks. What is it that they are really afraid of? Is it just failure of a task or is there more at risk? What can we as adults do to help our children and young people to develop resilience to accept their failures and to continue on with determination.

Bully Resilience: Changing the Game – An Overview

A fear of failure will have children being too afraid to attempt tasks. What is it that they are really afraid of? Is it just failure of a task or is there more at risk? What can we as adults do to help our children and young people to develop resilience to accept their failures and to continue on with determination.

When Push Comes to Shove. How Much Should I Push My Child

What is the difference between Pushing your child that results in conflict, and Encouraging that serves to empower them. What do they look like?

 Back to School; What Does it Mean for Your Child?

 ‘Back to School’ can mean different things for different children; are they new at their school, going into prep or Year 7? They could excited or anxious.

My work as a counsellor follows on from a Full-Time teaching career where I taught across primary and secondary levels. I know the demands of education as a profession, as well as the personal toll of trying to do a job that is never completed. My teacher career changed significantly after experiencing a bad case of burn-out in 2012.

Following on from this experience, I trained in counselling to be able to provide the help to another, the help that I felt so desperate for in my own time of mental illness.

Some of the areas that I can assist in are:

• Classroom management
• Creativity in the classroom
• Self-Care and Wellbeing
• Stress/Anxiety reduction
• Teaching Bully Resilience to students
• Work/Life balance

See the list of articles written for teachers (some are also for parents) – click on the title for the full articles.

The Cost of Resilience

Resilience keeps appearing, be it workshops, books, or a blog like this one. It seems to be what people want, but do they know what they are wanting?

The Desire to Belong to the Peer Group

One of the toughest aspects of school is the peer group. Teaching children about the peer group, and making good choices is essential.

The Fear of Failure

A fear of failure will have children being too afraid to attempt tasks. What is it that they are really afraid of? Is it just failure of a task or is there more at risk? What can we as adults do to help our children and young people to develop resilience to accept their failures and to continue on with determination.

Bully Resilience: Changing the Game – An Overview

A fear of failure will have children being too afraid to attempt tasks. What is it that they are really afraid of? Is it just failure of a task or is there more at risk? What can we as adults do to help our children and young people to develop resilience to accept their failures and to continue on with determination.

The ACT of Writing: Using Mindfulness to Unlock Creativity

Mindfulness activities with students can help unlock their creativity, by providing them with an experience that is worth writing about.

3 Steps to Prevent Teacher-Burnout

Why is it, that teaching can be so rewarding and also so exhausting? What can you do to protect yourself from Burnout? What are 3 things that you can do?

Since 2011, I have been involved with the Christian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, (LGBTIQA+) communities. I have seen the damage that has resulted from conservative views, and I seek to assist individuals in reconciling their spirituality with their sexuality, with the goal of living authentically in community and wholeness.

Stages of Support for the LGBTIQ Community

There are 8 stages of support for the LGBTIQ community. Some positive, some negative, some intend to be positive, but result in negative.

Fees are set as below:

• Individual full fee:  $110/session
• Individual concession fee: $90/session

• Couple/family full fee: $120/session (includes working with more than one child, and/or with both parents present)
• Couple/family concession fee: $100/session

• Emergency Home visits: $150 /session to be paid at the time of the appointment

• Prepare/Enrich clients – a minimum of 3 sessions at $110 /session – ongoing session are maintained at this rate
• Professional Supervision: $120/session

Appointment duration:   Appointments are of 50 minute duration; extensions to this time must be arranged prior to appointment and will incur extra charges based on the session rate.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.

Can I use the Mental Health Plan – Medicare Rebate?

No.  The Medicare Rebate is available with psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors.  However, the fee you will pay to a counsellor, is comparable to the the gap you pay after the medicare rebate.

Do you do Christian counselling?

The topic and direction of counselling is strongly determined by the client.  If you would like to discuss matters of faith, then I am well equipped from experience and study, to assist in such discussions.  Spirituality is a valid aspect of our lives, with our expressions and experiences varying from one individual to another.