While both psychologists and mental health social workers provide valuable counselling services, their training and approach differ in meaningful ways.
Psychologists typically focus on understanding and treating mental health conditions through the lens of psychological theory, often examining internal processes like thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Their work centres on diagnosing and treating psychological disorders, conducting assessments, and applying therapeutic interventions.
Mental health social workers take a broader, more holistic view. We are trained to see the person not in isolation, but within their entire life context - their relationships, family dynamics, work environment, community, culture, financial circumstances, and social supports. This "person-in-environment" or systems perspective is fundamental to social work practice. Rather than focusing solely on what's happening inside the person's mind, social workers examine how all the systems surrounding someone interact to impact their wellbeing.
This systems-oriented approach means mental health social workers consider questions like: How do your family relationships affect your mental health? What role does work stress play? Are there community resources you're not accessing? How do cultural factors shape your experience? They work to strengthen the connections between people and the resources, relationships, and opportunities available to them.
The social work perspective emphasises empowerment, social justice, and addressing the broader circumstances that contribute to mental health challenges, alongside providing direct therapeutic support.
Counselling is a collaborative space where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a trained professional who is there to listen, support, and guide you. It's not about being told what to do or having someone fix your problems for you - instead, it's about creating a safe, confidential environment where you can be truly heard and understood without judgement.
Through counselling, you'll have the opportunity to gain new perspectives on your challenges, understand patterns that might be holding you back, develop coping strategies, and discover your own strengths and resources.
Taking the step to seek counselling requires courage - it means acknowledging that you deserve support and that you're willing to invest in your own wellbeing. That decision alone is powerful. In our sessions together, you'll be met with compassion, respect, and a genuine commitment to helping you move forward in ways that feel right for you.
People come to counselling for many different reasons, and each person's journey is unique and valid. You might be struggling with anxiety, depression, or overwhelming stress that makes daily life feel harder than it should.
Perhaps you're navigating a difficult life transition - a relationship breakdown, becoming a parent, grief and loss, changes in your career, or adjusting to a new stage of life. Many people seek support when dealing with low self-esteem, perfectionism, or the exhausting weight of trying to meet everyone else's expectations.
You might be working through challenges in your relationships, whether with a partner, family members, or friends, or finding it difficult to set boundaries and prioritise your own needs. Some people come to counselling to better understand patterns in their lives, to heal from past experiences, or simply because they feel stuck, lost, or disconnected from themselves.
Whatever brings you here, there's no problem too small or too large for counselling. Seeking support is an act of courage and self-care, and you deserve a safe space where you can be heard, understood, and supported without judgement as you work towards the changes you want to see in your life.
Mental health social workers are trained in various evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including:
It is likely I will use a combination of all these approaches to assist you to achieve your mental health goals.
Undertaking therapy is often scary and it is incredibly brave to talk to a stranger about how you feel and things you want to change. I will try my best to be there with you in this and I acknowledge your strength in coming to counselling.
The relationship between a counsellor and client is the foundation of effective therapy, and trust is absolutely essential to this connection. Research consistently shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of positive outcomes - often more important than the specific techniques used. This means that finding a counsellor you feel safe with, understood by, and able to trust is crucial to your healing journey.
Not every counsellor will be the right fit for every person, and that's perfectly normal and okay. If you don't feel comfortable with your counsellor, if something feels off in the relationship, or if you simply don't sense that you're making progress together, you should feel completely empowered to seek a different counsellor. This isn't about failure on anyone's part - it's about honouring your needs and recognising that therapeutic relationships, like all relationships, depend on compatibility, rapport, and mutual respect. A good counsellor will understand this and support your decision to find someone who's a better match for you. There are many skilled, compassionate counsellors out there with different personalities, approaches, and areas of expertise. The right counsellor for you exists, and you deserve to find someone with whom you feel genuinely heard, respected, and safe enough to do the vulnerable work of healing. So please do not be afraid to say if it is not working with us - it is more important that you find the right counsellor for you.
It is my strong recommendation that if you have experienced trauma (sexual assault, childhood abuse) please request a counselling session in the morning. Talking about trauma or having traumatic memories in counselling can be draining and unsettling. It is best to ensure that you have the afternoon to settle and to have supportive people, hobbies, self care in place after a therapy session in which you speak about or recall the trauma incidents.
Trauma occurs when we experience or witness events that overwhelm our ability to cope, leaving us feeling frightened, helpless, or deeply distressed. For many women, traumatic experiences can include childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, sexual assault, traumatic childbirth, or the sudden loss of a loved one. Trauma can also result from ongoing experiences such as living with an abusive partner, being stalked, or enduring discrimination and harassment. What makes an event traumatic is not just what happened, but how it affected you personally - the same event might be traumatic for one person but not for another. It's important to understand that having a strong reaction to a traumatic event is a normal response to an abnormal situation, and it doesn't mean you're weak or broken.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. While it's normal to feel distressed after trauma, PTSD occurs when these reactions don't ease over time and begin to interfere with daily life. Common symptoms include repeatedly re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares; avoiding people, places, or situations that remind you of the trauma; feeling constantly on edge, hypervigilant, or easily startled; and experiencing negative changes in thoughts and mood, such as feeling numb, disconnected from others, or blaming yourself for what happened. You might also notice changes in sleep, concentration, or emotional responses. PTSD is a treatable condition, and with appropriate support and therapy, many women find significant relief from their symptoms and are able to reclaim their sense of safety and wellbeing.
Trauma-informed counselling recognises that traumatic experiences - whether from childhood adversity, abuse, violence, loss, or systemic oppression - profoundly shape how people see themselves, relate to others, and move through the world. Rather than asking "What's wrong with you?", trauma-informed practitioners ask "What happened to you?" This shift reframes many behaviours that might appear as symptoms or resistance as actually being adaptive survival responses that once served to protect the person. Trauma-informed approaches prioritise safety (both physical and emotional), trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural sensitivity.
Counsellors using these principles understand that trauma can be re-triggered in therapeutic settings, so they work to create predictable, transparent relationships where clients maintain choice and control. They recognise that healing isn't about "fixing" someone but about restoring a sense of agency and reconnecting people with their inherent strengths and resilience. The importance of trauma-informed practice cannot be overstated - research shows that trauma is far more common than once believed, and without this awareness, well-intentioned interventions can inadvertently re-traumatise clients, damage trust, or reinforce feelings of powerlessness. By embedding trauma-informed principles into my work, I seek to create the conditions where genuine healing, growth, and recovery become possible.
Taking the First Step
Reaching out for support takes real courage, and if you're reading this, you've already taken an important step towards caring for yourself. It's completely normal to feel nervous or uncertain about starting therapy - many people wonder whether their problems are 'serious enough', worry about being judged, or feel vulnerable at the thought of opening up to someone new. Please know that these feelings are valid, and you're not alone in having them.
Therapy is a place where you can bring your whole self without fear of judgement or rejection. This is a safe and affirming space for everyone, including people from LGBTQI+ communities, and you will be welcomed, respected, and supported exactly as you are. Whatever your background, identity, or experiences, you deserve compassionate care and the opportunity to be heard. Taking this step is an act of strength and self-compassion, and I'm here to walk alongside you at whatever pace feels right for you.
Sessions usually last for 50 minutes. The cost is $200 per session. Payment is made in full at the end of each session.
If you have a mental health treatment plan from your GP, the medicare rebate for this session will be $87.24. A mental health treatment plan gives you up to 10 sessions per calendar year in which you are eligible for the rebate.
Please email Sue@SPTCounselling.com.au to arrange an appointment. Currently I only have Thursdays free. I apologise if you have to wait a few weeks for an appointment - I will do my best to fit you in.
If I do not have appointment times right away, you will have the option to go on a wait list. If you are on the wait list, I will keep you informed as to the waiting time so you can make decisions about seeking other therapists.
Whilst my current office hours are 0800 - 1700, if there is a particular reason for meeting outside those hours, please let me know and it may be possible to arrange this.
If you need to cancel an appointment, please give me 48 hours notice by email. This will give me time to re-allocate the appointment time. Less than 48 hours notice may incur a charge which may be added to your next session costs. I do understand that emergencies happen but I have limited spaces for appointments and not attending means that time cannot be given to someone else who may need support.
Social workers and other mental health professionals in Australia are legally required to keep most client information confidential. This confidentiality is protected by:
What this means is everything you tell me in our counselling sessions is confidential.
There are important caveats to me holding that confidentiality however which you should be aware of. If you tell me something or I have a reasonable belief, which is reasonably held, that you could harm yourself or others, or you have given me information which indicates there is a potential harm to you or others, I have an obligation to disclose this information to an appropriate authority who can help prevent or cease that harm. To clarify this - I can only release enough information necessary to prevent or cease the harm. I cannot and will not, for example release information about you which is superfluous to assuring your safety. I cannot release this information without having a very real reason to believe you or someone else could suffer harm.
You will be given a copy of your rights and confidentiality when we first meet, and I will ask you to sign a copy of the confidentiality agreement so that I can be reassured you understand your rights and my obligations.
There are some instances where the law can intervene to access therapy notes.
Therapy notes can be forced to be released in these situations:
1. Court Orders and Subpoenas Australian common law does not recognise a general privilege protecting clinical records from disclosure in court proceedings. This means:
2. Mandatory Reporting Social workers must report:
3. Legal Authorisation Disclosure is permitted with proper client consent or legal authorisation. This means you can ask for your own notes to be given to you.
Recent amendments to the Family Law Act (effective June 2025) have introduced new protections:
Courts now have statutory power to protect certain sensitive information from being disclosed in family law proceedings, particularly therapeutic counseling records. The court must weigh:
If risk of harm outweighs the benefit, courts may direct that a person or organisation doesn't need to comply with a subpoena, or only needs to produce part of the requested documents.
Noting the importance of your privacy, I will make every effort to record important aspects of your sessions, but maintain your privacy and confidentiality in those notes, as far as I am able.
Psychology and therapy files are legally held, securely, for seven years and then destroyed.
Please ask me in our first session, if there is anything about this you wish me to clarify.
As a client receiving mental health services, you have important rights that are protected under Australian law.
You have the right to be treated with respect and dignity, and to receive services that are culturally safe and appropriate to your needs.
You are entitled to clear information about your treatment, including the qualifications of your social worker, the services being provided, and any costs involved.
Your privacy is protected under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), meaning your personal information and counselling records must be kept confidential except in specific circumstances, such as if there is a serious threat to your safety or the safety of others.
You have the right to access your records, to provide informed consent before treatment begins, and to withdraw consent or cease treatment at any time.
You also have the right to make a complaint if you're unhappy with your service, either directly to your provider, to the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), or to the ACT Human Rights Commission.
If you have questions about your rights or concerns about your treatment, please don't hesitate to discuss these with me.
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