Meet Kirsten

I am a mid life woman who has had many life experiences,  which have shaped me and influenced who I am today. I am a very reflective person and have been since childhood. I have learnt, and love supporting others to learn, to live a thriving life around the challenges. It is a great privilege to hear peoples stories and I am forever grateful that I get to have such a fulfilling job.

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My experience working in Not-for-Profit organisations in Melbourne, Victoria includes working with Indigenous families (Men, Women and Children) who have experienced family violence and working with those who are bereaved by Suicide. I also spent a few years working in schools as a counsellor (year 8-12 Students).

My journey to becoming a counsellor often surprises people, but it makes so much sense to me. 

I was working as a photographer, my clients were mostly women who were transitioning in life, think about all the transitions we make during a lifetime -  first time mums, empty nesters, those who’d been made redundant, those who’d survived serious illness, those who’d separated or divorced, those who’s partners had died, those who’d been burnt out working for an employer - the one thing in common was they were business owners and they needed to market themselves. They’d come to me expecting me to take all the photos to tell their story as a business owner but couldn’t tell me who they were. They had no idea. 

An example I remember fondly -  an accountant turned up in a brown suit, I asked if they were comfortable and they replied they were not - I could see that. They explained the brown suit was going straight to the back of the wardrobe once the image captured proved they were an accountant. When I asked if their clients would ever see them in that brown suit they responded with a very strong ABSOLUTELY NOT. And this is where the conversations about who are you started my journey to counselling began - we took many photos that day, not one in the brown suit. 

This was a common story, and my work as a photographer transformed. We started with the who are you? Identity work, and as I saw my clients transform and their businesses thrive I decided I should really learn more, and that is why I returned to University to study counselling. 

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I love counselling as it is grounded in deep listening as people explore their lives (the good and the not so good, sometimes awful), identity, dreams and goals as well as where they may have moved off the pathway they envisioned, and ended up in a place they can't seem to find the way out of.

The question we focus on is what happened around you and how has it impacted you,

NOT what is wrong with you.

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Every one of us has a unique story and sometimes, we need a little help to make sense of ours, to recognise the pathway back to being who we are. Some times we are deeply hurt by others or events and we need support to calibrate our internal compass and find our way back to who we are - to feel like us again. 

You may not leave our sessions with a library of beautiful images of yourself, but my hope is that you have a wonderful time getting to know yourself, to understand your story, your why, your how, your pain and confusion, your goals and dreams, your values, your beliefs, YOU.