Counselling in Strathdale, VIC

Welcome to my profile! I've dedicated my life to helping people of all ages and backgrounds navigate their way through life's challenges, and I do so with compassion, care, and empathy. I was born in Borneo, identify as gay, and have experience living in different countries and cultures. I offer more than ten years of clinical experience in counselling and psychotherapy, specialising in loss and grief, gender and sexuality, complex trauma and abuse, attachment issues, ASD, ADHD, personality disorders, relationship and intimacy issues, anger management, family conflicts, workplace bullying, and intercultural adjustment issues.

I am passionate about amplifying voices and creating spaces for individuals to freely express themselves. This includes voices of people of colour, First Nations individuals, migrants, and other marginalised minority groups that experience greater systemic barriers. For some communities, there are expectations of how one should think and behave within their cultural context. However, this can often be misaligned with their true sense of self. Being stuck in between two cultural worlds can be challenging.

[Telehealth only. Fully booked for 2021] Annabel works with adolescents, couples, families, and adults who are sexuality and gender diverse, neurodiverse, alternative occupation and lifestyles, with attachment vulnerabilities, have forensic needs, or are a target of problem behaviour (stalking, family violence, online harassment, etc).

I work with people who are open to talking about their life and their journey, and are motivated to make a positive change, whether big or small. They could be seeing me for a broad spectrum of reasons; from something as simple as wanting a new face to talk to, to pursuing professional help for something they’ve been struggling with for a very long time. They are looking to feel heard and hopeful after a session—perhaps even excited to try new strategies that might be able to help them in their daily life. They understand that therapy isn’t a fix-all, but rather a process that could facilitate change

Managing difficult emotions, such as feeling down or depressed, sadness, anger, guilt, shame, feelings of emptiness or insecurity Managing mood swings and chronic mood disturbances Reducing stress and burnout Treatment of anxiety disorders including Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Health Anxiety, Phobias, and Panic Attacks Reducing harm from impulsive behaviours Adjustment to and management of major life events Coping with grief and bereavement Experience related to living with chronic illness Problems related to traumatic experience or abuse Managing distress related to body image concerns Experiences related to identifying as LGBTIQA Difficulties with identity, self-esteem or self-image

Ryan is a counsellor and sex therapist keen to work with LGBTIQA+ communities, migrants and refugees. He/they take an intersectional approach to supporting his clients. He/they have a Master of Counselling and Master of Law from Monash University, a Bachelor of Business and a Graduate Diploma in Education. Ryan has also completed their coursework at the University of Sydney for their Master of Science in Medicine (SRH) specialising in Psychosexual Therapy.

Dr Xavier is our Medicare & WorkSafe Clinical Psychologist. He is friendly and easy to talk to! He uses a psychodynamic and strengths based approach in his sessions. His areas of expertise include: - Anxiety - Depression - Personality Disorders - Stress Management - Trauma. He focuses on a holistic person centred approach and is - Neurodiverse friendly - Queer friendly - and overall, non judge-mental! Medicare Rebate accepted. The newly developed Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) is the marriage between the GP care and psychology practice for the best interest of our client populations.