Counselling with Essena

A trauma-informed space for those returning to themselves

Online sessions – $90/hr AUD

Contact: essena@withessena.com

Unsure if we would be a good fit? I offer a free 15 minute phone call or facetime, a relaxed hello to see if the connection feels right for you

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Rooted in approaches that honour lived experience, the whole-body system and context:

  • Narrative therapy meets your story with respect, care, and curiosity. It resists pathologising sensitivity, suffering or divergence, and works against the internalisation of blame. Problems are understood within a wide web of influences, relational dynamics and life circumstances, with values and strengths always present

  • Somatic and nervous system practices support the body in finding safety and attunement. I draw on polyvagal theory, whole-body regulation practices and emerging research in female-specific somatics, a field still profoundly under-researched. Many earth-based cultures have long viewed the body as holding innate intelligence, always communicating and working to protect us. Emerging whole-systems research echoes this ancient knowing, restoring perspectives that honour the body as a source of wisdom and guidance

  • I also draw from humanistic, feminist and relational perspectives that recognise how broader systems such as family, culture, gender roles and class shape our sense of self, rather than placing all the weight on the individual. I strive to meet every moment with authenticity, deep empathy and unconditional care

For teens and adults navigating

  • Body relationship, self worth and identity struggles

  • Creative self-expression, blocks, desires, dreams

  • Addiction, numbing or shame spirals

  • Emotional overwhelm, mental anguish or sleep troubles

  • Relational or family tension, inner child grief, ancestral echoes

  • Life transitions, complex loss and grief, crisis situations

  • People pleasing, perfectionism or the pressure to be fine

  • Cycles of abuse, coercive control, patriarchal conditioning

  • Exposure online, digital intensity, the weight of high-profile life


✧ Supervisor supported
✧ Final counselling placement in progress: Bachelor of Counselling (USC, 2026)

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The opposite of depression is not neutrality, it is the body breaking silence, the heart insisting on expression

In presence, the heart remembers