Services
Counselling
Semper Amore is a safe place for humans of all ages, cultural backgrounds, diverse sexual and gender identities and expressions, faith and lifestyle choices.
- individual therapy for adults via online sessions
- outdoor therapy (walk and talk) at various locations (see below for more details)
I truly believe seeking support from a qualified and skilled mental health professional can benefit everyone…for problems big and small (and everything in between).
Therapeutic support is available for a range of concerns:
- anxiety and depression
- disability
- grief and loss
- healthy mind habits and coping tools for life
- lack of direction, joy and/or spark in life
- limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviours
- loneliness and loss of connection
- making changes and transitions in life, health, career, study
- parent/child relationship struggles
- parenting support and understanding child behaviours
- perimenopause and menopause
- relationships and interpersonal connections
- self-awareness and understanding
- self-compassion and personal growth
- shame and guilt
- past traumatic experiences
- understanding repeating life patterns
What is Counselling
Counselling can be defined as a safe and confidential collaboration between a qualified counsellor and client, to promote mental health and wellbeing, enhance self-understanding and resolve identified concerns. A holistic approach to counselling considers every aspect of a person’s life because each piece is considered equally important to the whole.
From my training and my own therapeutic experiences, I am conscious of what factors help to make a person feel safe, secure and connected to fully engage in the therapeutic journey. Feeling safe allows the emotional brain (limbic system) to calm and we are then better able to use the part of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex or thinking brain, to fully engage in the process of therapy.
What to expect
Research tells us the likelihood of positive change occurring is supported by several important factors, including the quality of therapeutic relationship and the goals and tasks of therapy. Therefore, from the outset my priority is to establish a sense of safety for clients and begin building our relationship. Through the relationship we will then work collaboratively to identify goals and use several strategies and tools to work towards achieving your preferred outcome.
I aim to not book back-to-back sessions, which allows clients the space and time needed. This results in a session feeling paced and unhurried. This also allows me as a practitioner to reset between sessions, so I am in the best possible emotional, psychological and physical state to support each and every client. I prioritise my wellbeing to provide the necessary holding space for you as the client.
Our lives are made up of stories. The stories of what has happened to us. Stories others have about us. I am interested in the story you have about your experiences and what your preferred story is.
The content of our life is often out of our control, but how it is written can be up to us. There are multiple perspectives of any one situation. As your practitioner, I am interested in learning about your version, your experience and ultimately how I can support you to write the remaining chapters… and perhaps rewrite some of the previous ones. Best sellers are not written alone – a team of editors and co-creators are essential in creating a well-rounded piece of work… seeking counselling can support you in the same way.
Overall, I am committed to providing you with experiences of:
- walking away feeling stronger
- build a picture of your hopes for coming to counselling
- acknowledge your existing skills, capacity and resiliencies
- assist in the development of new skills
- assist in the movement toward new possibilities
- you will receive genuine care, support and a holistic approach to therapy which is grounded in evidence-based interventions
Sessions & Cost
Session Length: 50 mins
Cost: $165 (individual)/$200 (couples) (GST included). NDIS participants are charged as per NDIS price guide.
Please note, that all appointments charge 50% of the booking fee to secure your appointment. This amount is taken off the full cost of your session and refundable if you cancel within the 48 hours of your appointment time. Telehealth and outdoor therapy sessions require full payment prior to the session.
The remaining appointment fee can be made via EFTPOS (Square), direct deposit or cash. Health fund rebates may apply.
Appointments: Currently Mondays; Thursdays and Fridays 09:15am-4pm. After hours may be available through negotiation.
Looking for support for perimenopause or menopause?
If you are looking for perimenopause counselling or support through menopause and hormonal transitions, you do not have to move through this alone. You may be noticing that something does not feel quite like it used to—emotionally, physically, or in how you relate to yourself and others.
In my work as a counsellor, I have supported people across many life stages, and this has shaped a deep appreciation for how transitions—especially those that affect our bodies, relationships, and identity—can impact overall wellbeing. I have developed a strong interest in supporting women navigating perimenopause and menopause, informed by both professional experience and lived insight.
This stage of life can bring changes in mood, anxiety, energy, identity and relationships. It can feel confusing, isolating, or at times minimised—particularly when symptoms begin to affect your quality of life. I understand how significant, and often overlooked, this experience can be.
While perimenopause and menopause can be challenging, they can also offer an opportunity for reflection, growth, and reconnection with what matters most to you. My role is to support you to feel more informed, empowered and resourced as you move through this transition. Together, we make sense of what you are experiencing—exploring the biological, emotional, and social factors involved—while building practical, supportive strategies for everyday life.
I take an integrative and personalised approach, drawing on attachment theory, neuroscience, trauma-informed practice, and collaborative therapies. Our work may explore shifts in mood, increased anxiety, overwhelm, or a changing sense of identity, always at a pace that feels right for you.
A central focus of this work is developing self-compassion—supporting you to respond to yourself with greater kindness and understanding during times of change. Where helpful, we may also incorporate gentle, body-based (somatic) practices to support nervous system regulation, helping you feel more grounded and connected.
If needed, I can also support you in advocating for yourself in the systems around you, so you feel confident accessing the care and support you deserve.
Above all, I offer a space grounded in validation and understanding—where your experience is taken seriously, and where we can make sense of what is happening in the context of your whole life.
Professional supervision for helping professionals (individual and group)
The role of a helping professional exposes the practitioner to situations that impose a great demand on their emotional and professional well-being. Practitioners cannot in all cases be objective about their own abilities, agendas and practice. A supervisor can be objective and help the helping professional grow and learn. Supervision can help ensure the practitioner is meeting the needs of clients and keeping to ethical and professional standards, as well as helping relate practice to theory, and vice versa.
My supervision framework is influenced by my professional knowledge and experience in a variety of case management, therapeutic and counselling roles. Like my therapeutic practice, I draw on a variety of models and theories to make up an integrative practice framework. I am passionate about supporting all helping professionals through providing effective supervision and continued learning opportunities.
What is Professional supervision?
Professional supervision is an essential safeguard for clients, a support for helping professionals and a process in which practitioners can develop skill and competence. The process allows for the supervisee to reflect on their own practice, discuss workplace and professional issues in a safe environment.
Supervision exists for three reasons – fundamentally to protect clients; to improve the ability of practitioners to provide value to their clients, patients and/or students, and to monitor the self-care of the practitioner.
Professional experience and qualifications include:
- private counselling practice
- public sector (corrections, disability services)
- non-government sector (foster carer assessments; working with separated parents)
- sessional academic
- Bachelor of Social Science (Counselling); Masters of Counselling
- training and practicums in Theraplay; Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) and Yoga teacher training
What to expect
A supervision session can vary depending on your needs and preferences, however there are generally six major areas of inquiry in a typical supervision session:
- clarifying hopes and priorities for the session;
- reflection and discussion in a relaxed conversational and collaborative style;
- opportunity to debrief on core issues, review cases and develop skills (learn from work);
- independent and impartial perspective;
- discussing future possibilities; and
- reflecting on the session.
Sessions & Cost
Individual Session Length: 30 mins; 60 mins or 90 mins
Cost: $220 per hour (plus GST)
Group Session (minimum four supervisees). Please enquire for quote.
Please note, all appointments charge 50% of the booking fee to secure your appointment. This amount is taken off the full cost of your session and refundable if you cancel within the 48 hours of your appointment time. Telehealth and outdoor therapy sessions require full payment prior to the session.
The remaining appointment fee can be made via EFTPOS (Square), direct deposit or cash.
Appointments: Monday – Friday 09:15am-4pm.
Telehealth
I have chosen Zoom to conduct counselling sessions as it meets extensive encryption criteria. This provides the safest and most private space for your session that I can manage online. Video is always the preferred method for the conduct of the sessions.
For Zoom a unique code will be emailed to you for each session. To use Zoom the program will need to be downloaded to your device. And if you have not used Zoom before, do not worry, I will support you through the process.
Walk and Talk Therapy
What is outdoor therapy, or walk and talk?
Basically, it means walking and talking during your therapy session, rather than being enclosed in a clinic room, sitting in designated chairs. We know sunshine, green spaces and regular movement are all linked to improvements in mood and mental health. Walk and talk therapy aims to harness the benefits of physical movement and the outdoors, within the context of an intentional therapeutic relationship. Several studies have supported the restorative effects of nature including positive physiological effects, such as decreased heart rate and blood pressure; positive impacts on managing emotional and psychological states by reducing tension, confusion, anger and depression and how just looking at nature results in positive effects on mood, stress, concentration and self-esteem.
What are the benefits
Being in natural environments helps our nervous systems unwind – we know that being in nature helps to quell anxiety and rumination, is grounding and can soothe the mind.
Exposure to natural light and fresh air combined with light exercise carries opportunities for mood benefits through increasing release of endorphins (feel good hormones) and decreasing cortisol (stress hormone).
Being outdoors with a therapist is also a fantastic place to practice refining your mindfulness skills, as there is ample opportunity to tune into sensory information from all of your senses.
Being outside and moving while talking about your difficulties can help create distance between yourself and your problems and this can build hope and confidence knowing you are a person first, not the problem
Movement can help shift your emotions both physically and emotionally through integrating the mind and body
Increased cognitive abilities (helpful for talk therapy) is increased during movement, such as light walking. Sitting for prolonged periods decreases our cerebral blood flow.
Gentle walking promotes better sleep cycles and improves circulation
Walk and talk therapy can feel less confronting and overwhelming, compared to traditional clinic setting
Increased emotional and physical connection between client and therapist because of rhythmic, in-sync physical movements of walking side by side.
Who does it suit
Walk and talk sessions may not suit every situation, but it can provide you with the opportunity to meet and speak comfortably, while being immersed in a natural surrounding that appeals to you. Whilst walk and talk therapy is generally considered as a low intensity activity, and the pace is always set by the client, assessments are undertaken to ensure you are physically and psychologically suitable to engage in outdoor therapy.
Secondly, clients who have an attraction to natural spaces, perhaps having a memory or experience of the healing power of nature are often better suited to this approach. Walk and talk therapy is particularly useful for people who feel they can become blocked or overwhelmed by the intimacy of therapy in an office setting. It can also be a good way to practice Mindfulness skills with your therapist.
What to expect
Sessions are typically facilitated within the traditional ‘therapy hour’, 50 minute sessions. Whilst nature is an active ingredient to change, or merely a beautiful backdrop, talk therapy remains at the forefront. Clients set the pace of the walk which enables you to feel more in control of the session. Whilst the relationship between the therapist and client is less formal, all elements of the therapeutic relationship remain, including me as the therapist being solely focussed on bringing about positive change for you.
Given the unpredictability of external factors such as weather, walk and talk therapy is truly a collaborative process where client preference and autonomy are at the heart of the process. Other important factors such as location, confidentiality, timing and your fitness levels are explicitly discussed and negotiated through initial and continuous contracting processes. The therapeutic space therefore collaboratively emerges, is constantly negotiated and is unique to each client. We generally engage via in-person or telehealth (video) consultation prior to engaging in our first outdoor session to make sure it is the right approach for you.
Please note, that all appointments charge 50% of the booking fee to secure your appointment. This amount is taken off the full cost of your session and refundable if you cancelled within the 48 hours of your appointment time. Telehealth sessions require full payment prior to the session.
The remaining appointment fee can be made via EFTPOS (Square), direct deposit or cash. Health fund rebates may apply.
Appointments: Mondays; Thursdays and Friday 09:15am-4pm.