Hi, I’m Tamara, founder of CounsellingCo
Since I can remember, I have been obsessed with understanding the human experience and what drives our behaviour. I spent many years in the corporate sector in a “successful” marketing career, adding multiple millions in value to the companies I worked for, all the while working harder and harder, and acting out in many different unhealthy ways to chase recognition of my own value.
After years of operating from a place of insecurity, I made the conscious decision to do something more fulfilling with my life and I took a role at South Pacific Private, Australia’s leading treatment centre for addiction and mental health issues. It was a career move that changed my life.
It was here I learned that my own “less than nurturing” childhood experiences had shaped the insecurities, unhealthy patterns and behaviours in my life. My problems all came from within. It was the start of an education in what really influences our choices and behaviour and what we need for a balanced and healthy sense of being.
After doing my own internal work, I determined to understand as much as I could to practice the science and art of psychology, counselling and psychotherapy. I completed post-graduate qualifications in the field, and gained experience working in drug and alcohol rehabs. I am now devoted to empowering my private clients to connect with their inner world, restore their vitality and move forward with purpose.
A modern approach
CounsellingCo was conceived to look at the field of mental health (or more accurately mental illness) with fresh eyes.
In recent times, mental health issues have been categorised and labelled in an attempt to find an explanation, prescribe a medication, and devise a standardised treatment for a range of human conditions.
However, the truth is the human condition is extremely complex and each person's experience is different.
Recent advances in the understanding of epigenetics, neuroscience and the body's nervous and endocrine systems are providing new pathways to healing. We take a biopsychosocial approach to therapy, considering attachment styles and family systems, early childhood experiences (ACEs), shock trauma, relational trauma, and the client’s trauma responses, developmental psychology, environmental factors, relational patterns, modern-day stressors and more. We work with whatever the client wants to discover about themselves.
Integrative therapy, using evidence-based modalities
At CounsellingCo we use a balance of counselling (looking forward) to manage symptoms and psychotherapy (looking backward) to reach into the core reasons underlying problematic issues, for lasting change.
Therapy at CounsellingCo takes a person-centred and trauma-informed integrative approach. This means that you steer the direction of your treatment and therapy at a pace to suit your needs. We use techniques from several different evidence-based modalities according to what’s most appropriate for you.
For example, we use some cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT), for stabilisation and to investigate a client’s adaptive thinking styles. We use schema therapy (ST) to help to explain common maladaptive beliefs. We also use techniques for self-regulation and coping strategies from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT).
We like to keep our clients informed throughout treatment, using the ground-breaking, neuroscientific knowledge of polyvagal theory to inform our work on self-regulation and somatic healing, using breathwork and mindfulness.
When a client is ready, we like to get to the heart of the issue, which is where lasting change can happen. We use psychodynamic interpersonal therapy (PI) and the gently effective process of memory reconsolidation (MR), which helps to reframe and contextualise past traumas so that you can move forward.
Our rates
Face-to-face Session 1 - Discounted to $80
If you have never tried counselling before, our introductory offer is just $80.
It’s a low-cost opportunity to find out if counselling is for you, and if there is a good therapeutic connection.
60 mins | $80
Face-to-face Individual Counselling $130
Our fixed-fee service for private face-to-face counselling.is often more cost-effective than the ‘gap’ for psychology services.
And rather than simply providing symptomatic relief, our psychotherapeutic approach offers a deeply personal investigation of source issues for lasting change.
60 mins | $130
Online Counselling via Zoom $100
Available Australia-wide CounsellingCo provides online counselling via Zoom
Counselling via Zoom is available at your own comfort and convenience, at a convenient time for just $100.
60 mins | $100
Face-to-face Couples Counselling $150
Understanding what drives each individual in a relationship and focusing on co-regulation and communication, we help couples to relate to one another with care and compassion.
60 mins | $150