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SIRA approved counsellor

Counselling and life coaching

in Leichhardt

Somewhere to think out loud, with someone whose only job in that hour is to listen properly. Counselling for what is weighing on you, coaching for where you are trying to get to. No referral, no diagnosis, and no requirement to be in crisis before you book.
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Adults

Individual sessions

No referral

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Two services

Counselling or coaching

Leichhardt

Inner West Sydney

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Two different

conversations

These are listed together because they happen in the same room with the same warmth, but they are not the same service and it is worth knowing which one you are booking.

Counselling is for what you are carrying. A relationship that has gone wrong, a change you did not choose, grief, or a stretch where everything has felt like too much. The work is about understanding it and finding a way through, at whatever pace that takes.

Life coaching is for where you are trying to get to. Career direction, a decision you keep circling, goals that never survive past February. It is forward facing, more structured, and it is not a health service or a treatment for anything.

If you are not sure which fits, book counselling. It is easier to move from there than the other way around, and the first session will sort it out.

  • No referral needed
  • No diagnosis required
  • Private fees
  • Open seven days

Reasons people book

What people bring

to each.

Four common reasons for counselling, four for coaching. Use the filter to see one or the other, or call (02) 7227 9893 and describe it out loud instead.

Relationships and communication

A relationship that has become hard work, a family situation that keeps repeating, or a friendship that ended badly. Sessions are individual, so this is about your side of it: what you want, what you keep doing, and what you are willing to change. If you are looking for couples counselling, ask us when you call and we will refer you appropriately.

Life transitions and change

A separation, a redundancy, a move, becoming a parent, or a retirement that has not felt like the relief everyone promised. Big changes unsettle things that had been stable for years, and talking it through with someone outside your own circle is often the fastest way to get your footing back.

Stress and feeling overwhelmed

When the load has been high for long enough that you have stopped noticing it, and everything feels like one more thing. Sessions look at what is actually on your plate, what can move, and what you keep taking on that was never yours. If what you describe sounds like it needs psychological or medical care, we will say so and help you get there.

Grief and loss

After a death, or another loss that people around you may not recognise as one. There is no timeline you are supposed to be following and nothing here is about moving on efficiently. It is about having an hour where you do not have to manage anyone else’s reaction to it.

Career direction and change

Working out whether to stay, go, retrain or start something. Coaching gives you a structured way to think it through with someone who has no stake in the answer, unlike everyone else you have asked. You will leave with a clearer picture and next steps, not a decision made for you.

Goals and accountability

For people who know exactly what they want to do and have not done it for two years. Coaching provides the structure and the check in, breaks the thing into pieces that fit an actual week, and makes it harder to quietly let it slide again.

Confidence and self doubt

Holding back from things you are capable of, or talking yourself out of them before anyone else gets the chance. Coaching works on the practical side: what you actually do in those moments, and building evidence against the story rather than arguing with it.

Balance, habits and routines

Rebuilding a week that has quietly filled up with everything except what matters to you. Sleep, exercise, time that is genuinely yours, and boundaries around work. Practical, unglamorous, and usually the thing that makes everything else easier.

Choosing

Counselling, coaching, psychology

or your GP.

Four different things, and the differences matter. We would rather you booked the right one somewhere else than the wrong one here.

Counselling

Talking through what is happening now and finding a way forward. Supportive, led by what you bring, and not tied to a diagnosis.

Life coaching

Forward facing and goal focused. Structure, direction and accountability. Not a health service and not treatment for any condition.

Psychology

For diagnosable mental health conditions and psychological treatment. Registered with AHPRA and eligible for Medicare rebates with a GP plan.

Your GP

The right starting point when medication may be relevant, when symptoms are affecting your body, or when you want a referral and a rebate.

What to expect

How the first

conversation goes.

No forms to prepare, no history to rehearse, and no requirement to have worked out what the problem is before you arrive.

You talk

Whatever brought you in, in whatever order it comes out. "I am not really sure where to start" is how a great many first sessions begin and it is a perfectly good opening.

We work out the shape

By the end of the first session you will have a sense of what is worth focusing on, whether counselling or coaching fits better, and roughly how often to meet.

You decide what happens next

Weekly, fortnightly, monthly or once and done. Nothing is booked in advance beyond what you want, and stopping after one session is a completely normal outcome.

Being straight with you

What you get, and

what you do not.

Coaching in particular attracts a lot of overselling. Here is the plain version of what this is.
  • An hour that is entirely about you, with someone outside your own circle
  • The same practitioner each time, not whoever is available
  • A clear sense of what you are working on, reviewed as you go
  • No packages, no minimum number of sessions, no signing up to a programme
  • No promises about outcomes, income, relationships or transformation
  • An honest referral onward when psychology or your GP is the better fit
  • Inside a general health clinic, so nobody can tell what you are here for

What people say

Reviews from our

Counselling & Life Coaching clients.

“An hour a fortnight where I am not managing anyone else’s feelings about it. I did not realise how much I needed that.”
Therese Nowak
“I went in for coaching about a career move. She told me it sounded more like counselling first, and she was right.”
Declan Moriarty
“No package, no twelve week programme, no upsell at the end. Just the next appointment if I wanted one.”
Yuki Tanabe

Common questions

Counselling & Life Coaching

FAQs.

Still stuck? Call (02) 7227 9893 and ask for the OT team.
What is the difference between counselling and psychology?
Counselling focuses on what is happening in your life now, working through it supportively at your pace, and does not require a diagnosis. Psychology involves assessment and psychological treatment of diagnosable mental health conditions, and psychologists are registered with AHPRA and subject to national regulation. The practical differences: psychology can attract a Medicare rebate with a mental health treatment plan from your GP, counselling cannot. If you have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, are considering medication, or want a rebate, psychology or your GP is the better starting point. If you are dealing with a hard stretch of life and want somewhere to work through it, counselling is a sensible place to begin.
Counselling tends to look at what has happened and what you are carrying. Coaching looks forward at where you want to get to, and is more structured and goal driven. Counselling is a health service. Life coaching is not a health service, is not regulated, and is not treatment for any health condition. If something painful surfaces during coaching, we will suggest moving to counselling rather than pressing on.
No. Book either service directly online or by phone. You do not need a GP referral, a diagnosis, or any explanation of what is wrong before you arrive.
No. Medicare rebates under the Better Access initiative apply to psychologists and certain other registered providers, not to counsellors, and never to life coaching. If a Medicare rebate matters to you, speak with your GP about a mental health treatment plan and seeing a psychologist instead. We would rather tell you that now than after you have paid.
Some health funds cover counselling under extras when the practitioner holds recognised membership, and very few cover life coaching. It depends entirely on your fund and your level of cover, so check with them directly before booking rather than assuming either way.
Call (02) 7227 9893 for current fees and session lengths for both services, along with our cancellation policy. Appointments are held for you specifically, so cancellations matter more here than for a drop in service.
Entirely up to you. Some people come once, get what they needed and do not return. Others come fortnightly for a stretch while they work through something. There are no packages, no minimum commitment and nothing to sign up to.
Yes, with the limits that apply to any practitioner. Information may be shared without your consent where there is a serious risk to your safety or someone else’s, where there is a legal obligation such as mandatory reporting of risk to a child, or if records are subpoenaed by a court. Your practitioner will go through this at the start of your first session.

Ready when you are

Book Counselling & Life Coaching

in Leichhardt.

Most people who come here are managing perfectly well on the outside and would just like an hour to think properly about something. That is reason enough.
Book now
Call (02) 7227 9893