Counseling Services

Kookaburra Community offers virtual counseling services which are designed to provide individuals with a safe and supportive environment to explore their emotions and work through their challenges. These services are provided by trained mental health professionals who specialize in various therapeutic approaches, including those grounded in evidence-based practices such as attachment theory, and emotion-focused therapy. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to work through their struggles and that a caring and supportive environment is essential for personal growth and healing.

Counseling for parents

The beginning of healthy development in children starts with a parent who isn’t perfect, but is good enough. We provide individual counseling for parents of children under the age of 5 as well as run parenting classes, groups and child-parent psychotherapy for parents with children experiencing challenges to their psychological, social and emotional development. We specialize in supporting parents in the perinatal period (pregnancy through to age 1).

We also run groups (currently online) for parents of infants and toddlers. Our most popular group is The Circle of Security group. This is an 8 week group programme for parents of pre-school children. Parents usually come to this group when there is a concern about the child's emotional and/or behavioural development, or where the bond between the parent and child has been disrupted in some way.

The group helps parents to:

• Understand their child's emotional world by learning to read emotional needs;

• Support their child's ability to manage emotions;

• Enhance their child's self-esteem;

• Understand their child's desire to be in a secure relationship with their parents.

There will usually be up to 8 parents in the group, both mothers and fathers can attend. The group lasts for 1.5 hours. The group uses videos to explain some concepts, and there is plenty of time for talking and reflecting too. The group is run by a Licensed Professional Counselor and a trained co-facilitator.

Couples Counseling

When problems arise in a romantic relationship, it can be the cause of great distress. Most of us wish to have committed and fulfilling relationships and when a relationship breaks down, it can create feelings of anger, sadness, grief, and isolation. People going through a relationship breakdown are more likely to experience mental health problems (especially in the form of anxiety or depression), poor physical health, and reduced productivity at work.

Each of us are unique. We have learned how to be who we are through the particular circumstances of our family, and the society in which we live. Unfortunately, some of our early conditioning may result in us having feelings and behaviours that no longer serve us well, reduce our capacity for spontaneity and individuality, and our ability to relate well. Low self-esteem, poor personal boundaries, difficulties with intimacy, and feelings of shame and guilt impede our capacity to relate.

Letting go of this negative conditioning is possible. We tend to hang on fondly to old patterns of being and relating, fearing change or of being confronted with aspects of our personalities we prefer to keep at the blurry edges of our awareness. Whilst dipping into the unknown can be anxiety-provoking, it can also be exciting and enlivening, opening up possibilities only previously dreamed of.

If you are concerned about your relationship and want to improve it, or wish to learn how not to repeat the mistakes of the past in a new relationship, you may consider reaching out today. For more on the approach we use to address couples, see this post about Emotion Focused Therapy for couples.

Infants and toddlers

One of the ways in which we help children is through Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). CPP is an intervention model for children aged 0-5 who have experienced at least one traumatic event and/or are experiencing mental health, attachment, and/or behavioral problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Therapeutic sessions include the child and parent or primary caregiver. The primary goal of CPP is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver as a vehicle for restoring the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning.

Individual Counseling