Atenta Counselling

25/05/2026

Do you have private health insurance that covers mental health? Atenta Counselling is registered as a provider with most of the private health funds, including Medibank, BUPA, AHM, HCF, and regional and industry health funds. Clients who have insurance policy that covers mental health and counselling can claim a rebate directly from their insurer. When submitting your claim, use the receipt and provider number corresponding to the location of your appointment, as stated on your invoice. Read more on our website.

28/03/2026

If you were thinking of couples counselling but feel too nervous to start, you are not alone. Signing up for couples therapy or relationship counselling may make you feel nervous. But then again, a lot of my clients who do start their couples therapy process soon regret not having started sooner.... Let’s demystify couples counselling in a brief “couples therapy Q and A”, based on the questions I often receive from clients. Read the questions and answers at Latest from atenta at my website. Link in bio and in the comments.

23/03/2026

A relationship "premortem"? That sounds gloomy! But "premortem" is a technique that allows you to prevent your relationship from failing by taking early assessment and intervention. Unlike a postmortem, which analyses the causes of something that already has died or ended, a premortem is looking to identify and address those issues which already exist in your relationship before they become so severe that they will make it beyond repair. How to do a relationship "premortem"? Read more at Latest from Atenta. Link in comment!

13/01/2026

Are you feeling like your interactions with your partner are following a choreography written by someone who does not care about your relationship? Is your conflict cycle making you feel exhausted and hopeless? It is not unusual. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy can help you deal with those unhelpful interactions, de-escalate your conflict and support you as you bond in a softer way, without sending "scary signals" to your partner. Check Atenta for more information.

05/12/2025

Settling into my new, spacious, fresh and calm new office at 12 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne. A welcome, long-outstanding upgrade for my clients, offering comfort, privacy, and consistency. Enjoying my prime view over old trees! I am here most of the week and will continue seeing clients in the Macedon Ranges on Fridays and Saturdays.

23/11/2025

Hello Melbourne clients! I am about to move to a new location: 12 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne. This new office is fresh, quiet, discreet and makes a safe and cozy place for all the important counselling conversations. All Melbourne appointments on or after 1 December will be held in this space. I will continue seeing clients in Gisborne on the usual days in the usual place :).

18/11/2025

What is Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy?

EFCT is an evidence-based counselling model for building strong and secure connections with people who matter.
EFT puts the precious bond between you and your partner at its centre and helps you connect from the place of vulnerability.
By doing so, EFT gets you out of a cycle of conflict and dissatisfaction.
We first learn and understand the repetitive ways you get stuck (some partners call it “walking on a circuit”).
We figure out how your communication to each other becomes scrambled and how, rather than transmitting love and security, you end up scaring each other by distance or intensity.
We get to know this pattern of interaction and we help you to exit it: you will learn to send clearer and less scary signals and build a safe connection.
In EFT, we work “bottom-up”: we follow your emotions to uncover the unsaid things that speak to your fears and longings.
We go slowly and work deeply: we do not get lost in content and details, but make it safe for you to feel into your own experience and share in new ways with your special person: you build security and feel heard.

27/08/2025

We need to help new parents transition into their parenting role without damaging their relationship with their partner. Research confirms that couples who have had their first child tend to report lower relationship satisfaction during the first year of their child's life. How to make sure this decline is not permanent and partners improve their connection and communication? Read more at Latest from Atenta https://atenta.au/parenting-young-children-and-relationship-satisfaction/

27/07/2025

AI may suggest instant coping techniques when you struggle with loneliness and help get you through a crisis but it also holds you in the grip of the problem by keeping you in front of the screen. If you are lonely, talking to AI just perpetuates the loneliness as it keeps you away from other people and just distracts you from the discomfort of leaving the house. It does not provide the human connection you need to get out of the loneliness and feel that you belong and matter. Uncomfortable as it may feel, drop the AI chat and find other humans. You need people to feel that you belong and matter, we all do. Talk to real humans, not AI.

Caring and professional Melbourne relationship counsellor, helping couples, women and men have happier, lasting relationships.

21/07/2025

Empathy is a key ingredient of relationship satisfaction. Being able to tune into your partner's world, hear and see them in their pain is very important for making them feel seen. But how to show empathy towards your partner? And can empathy be learnt? Read more in my latest post at Atenta. https://atenta.au/how-important-is-empathy-in-your-relationship/