For Online or Face-to-face

Individual, Couple, or Family Counselling, Treatment of Diagnosed Depression/Anxiety, Trauma and

other Conditions,

and/or Prayer/Spiritual Support with

Owen Robinson

MAASW (Adv. Accr)

BSW (Curtin) MA (Counselling)

BEd (Science) Grad. Dip. Management


Counsellor

Accredited Mental Heath Social Worker/Medicare Provider

Supervisor and Training Consultant

Open Arms (formerly Veterans & Veterans Families Counselling Service) Outreach Programme Counsellor

Department of Veterans Affairs Provider

Insurance Commission of WA Provider

Able to see members of Bupa, HCF and Teachers Health (plus UniHealth and Nurses and Midwives Health)

who have the appropriate level of cover


Listed as a Blue Knot Foundation Trauma-informed Service



For info Phone: 0408 890 887

(please allow one day for replies to messages)


NB Medicare rebates are available if you see a GP for a mental healthcare plan



Online options available

Signal (preferred secure phone app), Skype or Zoom   options are available for online sessions.






Canning Vale Serviced Offices

Unit 15, 64 Bannister Road,

Canning Vale

Western Australia  6155

Medicare Provider 442250DX

Mondays/Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Fridays 7.30am-5:00pm (online or face to face)

Thursdays

7.30-11.30am (online only)

11.30am-5.00pm (face to face)


For Appointments Phone/SMS 0408 890 887














To mail: PO Box 260

Maddington

WA 6989


To email: morehope@iinet.net.au







This is NOT an emergency service.  For Western Australian mental health emergencies please contact the Mental Health Emergency Response Line on 1300 555 788


or


attend the nearest Emergency Department of a hospital.


Alternatively contact Lifeline on

13 11 14.





Helplines:  (click here)


Other support services:


Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 - for 24/7 telephone counselling for young people 5-25 years


Suicide Callback Service: 1300 659 467 - for 24/7 telephone crisis support for people at-risk of suicide, carers and bereaved


MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78 - for 24/7 telephone and online support, information and referral services for men


Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 - for 24/7 telephone support and online chat 4pm - 10pm (AEST)


Meth Helpline :  1800 874 878 - The Meth Helpline is a free confidential telephone counselling, information and referral service for anyone concerned about their own or another person's meth use.  



1800RESPECT - 1800 737 732 - 24 hour 7 days a week, confidential telephone and online support - 1800RESPECT is not only a support service for people affected by sexual assault, domestic and family violence. It is also an information and support service for family, friends, and frontline workers.


WA COVID-19 Hotline - Phone 13 COVID


Lifeline - Phone 13 11 14


MensLine - Phone 1300 789 978


Jobseekers Contact Line - Phone 132 850


Small business advice – Phone 133 140



Acknowledgement of sources of graphics used on this web site:



Permission given on 27 Nov 2016 by Danny Silk for #KYLO (Keep Your Love On) and lovingonpurpose.com;


Permission given on 27 Nov 2016 by Kris Vallotton for #KVM (Kris Vallotton Ministries).


EverWeb public domain images


Brett Jones Online Free Stock Photos: http://brentjonesonline.com/blog/blogging/where-to-find-free-stock-photos/


Marriage Counselling in Perth

Trauma Counselling in Perth

Family Counselling in Perth

Christian Counselling in Perth

Counselling for depression  in Perth

Counselling for anxiety in Perth


Counsellor is sometimes misspelled as counselor, councelor, councellor or councillor and Counselling is sometimes spelled as counselin.,  

Suburbs serviced include Shelley, Rossmoyne, Willetton, Parkwood, Ferndale, Bull Creek, Lynwood, Wilson, Cannington, Canning Vale, Leeming, Salter Point, Waterford, Karawara, Brentwood, Murdoch, Welshpool, Huntingdale, Victoria Park, Gosnells, Martin,  Jandakot, Bibra Lake, Cockburn Central, South Perth, Melville, Samson, North Lake, Myaree, Alfred Cove, Rivervale, Burswood,Orange Grove, Belmont, Ascot, South Guildford, Guildford, Hazelmere, Woodbridge, Midvale, Swan View, Greenmount, Helena Valley, Maida Vale, Gooseberry Hill, Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Walliston, Carmel, Bickley, Forrestfield, O'Connor,  Piara Waters, Forrestdale, Treeby, Banjup, Seville Grove, Armadale, Camillo, Kelmscott, Mt Nasura, Mount Richon, Brookdale, Wuyong, Hilbert, Darling Downs, Wandi, Aubin Grove,  Atwell, Success, Hamond Park, Oakford, Byford,Individual counselling anger management counselling marriage counselling couple counselling child counselling parenting counselling sexual abuse counselling, self-harma nd suicide counselling trauma counselling relationship counselling stress management Self esteem and personal development adolescent counselling  















More Hope                More Calm              Get on Better


ABN 80 483 081 209

What to Expect in Counselling


What you will be offered:


A counselling session of about 50 minutes  

Confidentiality (as defined by professional ethics)  

Compassionate support

Support for your responsibility to keep yourself comfortable and safe

Liaison with your treating doctor/s if you have a mental health care plan or if you request it in writing

Support to challenge yourself and grow

Respect for your skills/experience

The training and skills of an experienced counselling professional

A service based on Christian values.



If you are not quite sure how to say what you want from counselling you will get assistance to help you decide your goals



If a client is a current client at the time of request, and alerts the therapist in the first visit that a letter of support might be needed Owen  will describe what can be offered and the cost.















Counselling (What does it do?):



Counselling will aim to:


help clarify desired changes you want


raise self-understanding and reduce confusion


increase understanding about what is going on, what really happened to you, and its effects


generate ideas and explore options to pursue


encourgage individual choice about what to change and how to make a change stick


• give support and encouragement, and increase awareness about how to get back up after a lapse during a change journey (learning from the lapse).


































Some things keep us from pursuing counselling and to risk the exquisite vulnerability that produces growth.  These things are often what the 'work' of treatment will explore:

1. Perfectionism

2. Numbing

3. Foreboding joy

4. Cynicism

5. Criticism

6. Using a 'cool' persona to hide what I really feel




Part of what counselling does is to invite a person to risk vulnerability and uncertainty, to reduce the risk of exposure while doing so, while exploring better routes to getting wanted outcomes. Examples of outcomes might include:

plan for better sleep

risk more social connection

do better reaction management

communicate less harshly

improve quality of sexual experiences

increase closeness in relationships

increase calmness and manage anxiety spikes

regain a fuller emotional spectrum

understand and validate sadness

understand and recover from trauma

reduce or stop addiction habits




Counselling may offer you strategies to ground yourself when you are not doing so well or offer you brain-based strategies to keep you calm and healthy more often. Here are 35 tips and healthy brain strategies that you might like to try (others are availabe from the counsellor):


1. Grounding with the 5 senses, one at a time for 30 seconds or more to notice things in the immediate surroundings; just notice, that's all; eyes could notice tiny things that are usually overlooked for 30 seconds, e.g. shades of colour, lines (straight or otherwise); ears might zero in on every close up and distant sound for 30 seconds; the nose could detect hints of odour, mustiness or causes of odour; the mouth might notice moisture or dryness, tastes left over from an earlier meal, distasteful things or even the absence of any tastes; skin might detect touch-pressure, temperature, texture and hardness; it shifts the focus out of the past and future-worry to the present moment.


2. Controlled breathing - e.g. inhale to a count of 4; hold for a count of 7; slowly exhale to a count of 8 (vary the numbers to what suits you best).


3. Thought capture and editing (SNAP) - Spot the thought; say 'Nup that's a dumb thought'; Activate a better thought; Pause to notice how the body reacts to the better thought.


4. Write it - to slow the thoughts down to the speed of our handwriting.


5. Put on music (the type that calms me down).


6. Foot stomping or firming up the connection to the ground gives the body something to do other than spin with the anxious sensations.


7. Cross your arms and subtly turn what you feel into a supportive 'holding' of yourself, and pause for as long as this gives a comfort sensation.


8. Call or better still catch up with a friend, share as much as you feel comfortable while daring to take at least one 'vulnerability-stretch' about something that's hurt recently or is not going well.  See how it goes being that real.


9. Find a place on your body where you can feel your pulse and just focus on the sensation (unless you absolutely can't resist the temptation to count the beats; it will still slow you down and focus/ground you).


10. Change where you are sittting for a minute or two with deliberate focus on the new seat, what you like about the sensation of sitting in it, and what sensations you don't like.


11. Stand up if sitting just for 15 seconds and notice the ways you care for yourself and manage any possible discomfort as you rise; sit if standing and just for 15 seconds contemplate the ways you cared for yourself to avoid soreness or that you looked after yourself while sitting. (See? You can care for yourself).


12. Pat your palms against any part of yourself in a way you enjoy; notice the sensations that you enjoy and make a rhythm out of it (alternate between left-body and right-body).  See if it affects your mood/feeling state?


13. Hold something (no I didn't say someone) that you enjoy and create a sensation that is comfortable in some way.


14. Put a small piece of food in your mouth and don't chew yet; let it sit and investigate the shape and texture as well as the taste with your tongue; take only one bite and repeat your observations with your tongue; chew some more and pause to notice all you want to notice before you swallow your food.


15. If you have a pet or you visit someone who has one pat the animal in a way that lets you enjoy the animal but also soothes your inner tensions. If you want to talk to the animal and use its name.


16. If you are comfortable to go to a mirror, make yourself smile and notice what your body's reaction is to your own smile; the things you like and the things you don't;  make some meaning about what you just did.


17. Visualise a red traffic light or a red STOP sign when you are feeling a panicy sensation to help you stop the sensation, flashback or memory that was upsetting.


18. Pray - it might go something like this: "God you have permission to come into this memory/fear/reaction/ugly thought/feeling state that I don't like and You are authorised to fix it in me, really soon!"  Then just be still for a minute.


19. Step outside, and see what there is to like about the weather conditions.  Is it the breeze or the stillness, the warmth or the freshness, the rain or the absence of it.  Stop and actively generate gratitude for the thing you liked and linger in that enjoyment a few seconds.


20. During a non-crisis time add to a gratitude diary.  Reread the old list, and for bonus points do it out loud.  (Gratitude is proven by research to generate un upward spiral in the mind).


21. During a non-crisis time add to a list of good-things-others-have-said-about-me.  Reread the old list silently or out loud (which ever produces the most positive effect).


22. During a non-crisis time add to a list of some-of-my-good-qualities.  Reread the old list silently or out loud (which ever produces the most positive effect).  Sometimes updating a CV can do the same thing.


23. Listen to some familiar music and sing (neuroscientists say the brain lights up during scans when we sing a bit like a Christmas tree).  Blood flow rises in lots of places in the brain at once.


24. When upset by a thought do some kind of rhythmic movement to your own beat; chooose your own speed; but alternate between left body and right body movement.  The alternating left to right activates the left brain then the right brain and keeps the activating going.  Only then try to think about the thought you were just struggling over and look for a more reasonable meaning than you had before the rhythmic movement.  


25. Move to music; conduct if you like; call it hand-dancing if you want; make up your own name for what you do if you prefer to have fun with that.


26. Compile a list of known triggers and bring it to a counselling session to see if you and the counsellor can sleuth your way to the sources of the triggers and to make new meaning about it.  Ask the counsellor for tools to manage BIG emotion when the triggers fire.


27. Meditate if that is your thing.  It slows us down.


28. Move.  Exercise triggers the release of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which promotes neuron growth and survival and reduces inflammation (linked to depression). Physical exercise regulates mood and acts as an anti-depressant.  A simple walk gets you away from digital devices and into the sunlight (for vitamin D production which fights depression; but do watch out for UV risk).  Neuroscientists say the best exercise for your brain is physical exercise; it also increases blood flow to your brain.     


29. Short afternoon naps consolidate memory, spark creativity, and smooth emotional edges (no professional, course or app required).


30. A healthy brain requires a healthy well-nourished body.  Research points towards a Mediterranean-based diet of mostly plants (vegetables, fruit and legumes), fish, some meat, olive oil and nuts as optimal for brain health.  


31. Find calming activities.  Not all stress is bad but chronic stress especially life events that are out of our control can change the wiring of the brain.  Too much cortisol (a stress hormone) prevents the birth of new neurons and causes the hippocampus to shrink, (the brain structure needed in fresh learning and memory) reducing your learning and recall powers.  To de-stress seek something that calms you and is pleasurable (most things we are good at produce pleasure and a degree of challenge).


32. Connect.  Loneliness and isolation have comparable effect on health and survival as smoking. Seek human warmth and connection.  Socialising reduces harmful effects of stress.  Having supportive family, friends and social connections helps you live longer, happier and healthier.  


33. Challenge.  Keep your brain mentally active and challenged and your brain will be healthier, and it will be less likely to develop dementia.  Ongoing education and mentally challenging work build our capacity to cope better and keep working properly if any brain cells are damaged or die.  Look for things that take you out of your cognitive comfort zone.  Try activities with mental, physical and social challenges.


34. Believe. Seek out your purpose in life.  Find your passion, your bliss, your inner voice, your wisdom, your calling.  Researchers have found that people who score high on life purpose live longer healthier and more fulfilling years.


35. Do extraordinary things.  Set fantastic, passionate goals and work like crazy to achieve them.  Find your place of flow, that sweet spot where you so intensely and completely focus on the present moment and the task at hand that time passes effortlessly.  Some say flow is the point to life.    


Acknowledgements:

7 Habits of Highly Healthy Brains, Dr Sarah McKay