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A professional counsellor helps you identify your strengths, gain insight into your ways of thinking, feeling and behaving to begin a process of change and growth.

Counselling is a collaborative effort between the counsellor and client.

Trained professionals can make a profound impact by helping people navigate difficult life situations, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, moving house, natural disasters, school stress and the loss of a job.

Professional counsellors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote behaviour change and optimal mental health.

From time to time we have additional Counsellors, Mental Health Care Nurses, and Child/ Adolescent/ Adult Psychologists who we have not added to the website yet. Feel free to check if we do offer a practitioner service that’s not listed.

Our Team

Dr Marie Anderson

Dr Marie Anderson

Clinical and Health
Psychologist
Strategic Coach

Nadia Addabbo

Holistic Counsellor

Jodie Johnson

Registered Counsellor
(Individual & Relationships)

Cass Knight

Gestalt Psychotherapist
Credentialed Mental Health Nurse

Frequently Asked Questions

A survey on stress and wellbeing (2015, Australian Psychological Society) showed that a major cause of stress is problems with maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The same survey showed that focusing on the positives, undertaking healthy activities, and seeking support are all important factors that help manage stress and, therefore, wellbeing.

Key areas our practitioners address include mood problems, self-esteem concerns, chronic health issues, and lifestyle changes.

Theoretically, emotional growth is about evolving into a sense of ourselves. A simple way to look at it is like physical growth. We know, and can see, ourselves and others growing from a child into an adolescent into an adult and then into age-hood.

Emotional development is similar, yet different.

As humans, we have evolved with some basic needs that require satisfying for optimal emotional fitness. For example, shelter, safety, companionship, intimacy, creativity, etc.

There are various human needs theories proposed but the one most popularised is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow (1943, 1954, 1969) devised a model to describe people’s motivation to achieve emotional growth. Essentially, it gives us a pretty good picture as to why sometimes we struggle emotionally, to cope, or to feel good about ourselves.

Emotional growth relies on:

• Becoming more aware and more conscious of who we are in the world.

• The conscious unravelling of self-limiting, self-defeating, and self-sabotaging patterns (Self esteem Stealers) and replacing them with a positive sense of self (Worthy Words) and self affirming beliefs (Constructive Cognitions).

• The effort we put in through self-development, attending workshops, reading books and therapy.

Despite the fact that Counselling, Psychology, Psychotherapy and Life-Wellbeing / Strategic Coaching overlap, there are some main differences.

Common elements:
• To help people overcome difficulties or problems.
• To talk things through.
• Discuss possibilities for change.
• Explore different points of view.
• Relationship of trust and confidentiality.
• Facilitate positive change.
• Ethics are important.

Main differences:
• Training, where employed, who they work with, and focus of support.
• Counsellors and Psychologists tend to work with people whose functioning is compromised, whereas Coaches aim to work with well functioning people who need help moving forward.

Counselling 
• To process emotional difficulties and feelings.
• Client to feel validated and heard.
• Deal with the here and now.
• Help clients come to terms with the difficulties they are going through.

Psychology
• The same as counselling. Discuss how and why people do what they do and how these patterns emotionally impact the individual.
• Education and therapeutic strategies to help people resolve their emotional problems.

Coaching
• Help people achieve their goals by exploring motivational strategies, obstacles to change, and creating action plans.
•  Helping people bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
•  Help move people forward.

Psychotherapy
• Long-term therapy. To process emotional difficulties and feelings.
• Client to feel validated and heard.
• Focus is on discussing how the past has impacted personality development and generating insights for change.

Psychiatry
• The medical and pharmacological management of mental health, particularly for severe challenges.

See FAQ page for general questions.