THE CENTRE FOR COUNSELLING AND THERAPEUTIC SERVICES
ACKNOWLEDGING AND CELEBRATING THE FULL SPECTRUM OF HUMAN EMOTIONS AS MEANINGFUL ASPECTS OF LIFE
I established The Centre for Counselling and Therapeutic Services in 2017 to provide a place where people could come for practical information, counselling and heartfelt support to navigate a range of difficult life circumstances.
I provide counselling and therapy support for people living with:
- Grief and loss
- Depression and anxiety
- Stress, Trauma and traumatic experiences
- Ageing and end of life
- Life transitions
- Life limiting illness
- Emotional, physical , spiritual, psychological pain
- Relationship challenges
- Self-esteem and confidence
I work with adults offering 60 and 90-minute therapy sessions using a range of modalities. I provide support to people across Australia and internationally in person, via the web (Zoom), or via the telephone. I also provide clinical supervision to students and experienced professionals who support others who are living with life challenges.
‘Coming home’ to your ‘centre.’
The ‘centre’ part of our name is a reference to the place inside. That still place where we ‘come home’ to ourselves when events outside of our control threaten to destabilise our natural sense of rhythm.
Many things in life are outside of our control. My mission at The Centre for Counselling and Therapeutic Services located in Clifton Springs, is to offer you a counselling service that can help you find your way home to your ‘Centre’ so that you can navigate life’s trials and tribulations in ways that matter to you. Using a range of therapeutic modalities, I aim to provide heartfelt, therapeutic support to the community wherever you are in the world, and a space for professional counsellors to reflect on their clinical practice.
“I truly believe that only when head and heart work in harmony, can we attain our full human potential”
Jane Goodall
THERAPY SERVICES
I offer individual counselling, along with workshops and drumming events, to support emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being.
I offer counselling in Clifton Springs in a warm and nourishing environment. My approach is grounded in relational and exploratory frameworks, designed to help you understand and navigate your experiences. Whether you’re facing personal challenges or seeking emotional support, my methods will guide you through therapy to find clarity and growth.
Somatic experiencing is a body-oriented therapy that helps release accumulated stress and trauma trapped in the body. This approach resets the nervous system, alleviates stress, gently integrates trauma, and boosts overall vitality. Experience the benefits of Somatic experiencing to enhance your well-being and restore balance.
Drumming therapy relieves stress, tension, and anxiety by activating neural patterns in the brain to facilitate healing. No prior musical experience is required for this effective therapy. Experience how drumming therapy can support your emotional and mental well-being.
Sandplay therapy involves arranging three-dimensional figures in a sandtray to reflect the inner world. This process allows for the expression of thoughts and feelings that may be beyond verbal articulation. It can gently release trauma, inner tensions, and emotions, promoting growth and healing. Suitable for children, adolescents, and adults, Sandplay offers a unique approach to therapeutic exploration.
Dream analysis is a powerful tool for developing self-understanding and insight. Incorporating dream work into the counselling process can enhance therapy by offering clarity and new perspectives on yourself and your experiences. Explore how working with dreams can deepen your therapeutic journey and enrich personal growth.
MEET ALYSON
I have over two decades of counselling experience spanning community settings and therapeutic services around Australia, supporting people through many of life’s emotional upheavals, changes and transitions.
I have a particular interest in supporting people navigating stress and trauma including experiences of grief and loss from bereavement, life-limiting illness, ageing and end-of-life. This includes non-death grief and loss, chronic stress, shock and developmental trauma.
Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks in my counselling practice, my approach is embodied and grounded. My approach and offerings are informed by attachment theories, philosophy – particularly existential philosophy, somatic experiencing, focusing and creative therapies using drums, sandplay therapy, and dreamwork. I aim to support you to acknowledge your emotions and experiences with curiosity and compassion. My intention is to provide the conditions that support connection, emotional safety, expansiveness, self-understanding and acceptance, and the emergence of ‘possibility’ so that you can navigate and understand the meaning behind your emotional life and the experiences that formed who and how you are today. Through counselling and therapy, I hope to help you create a pathway forward to living your life in a way that matters to you while benefiting your loved ones and the planet. Many of these intentions and offerings extend into my clinical supervision work supporting professionals.
I am a clinical member of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA register no: 23894) providing counselling, supervision and therapy services to adults residing in the Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast regions, Australia and internationally.
Contact me for counselling services.
Contact me to learn how I can support and guide you to coming home to your full and whole self—in-person, via web (Zoom) or by telephone counselling and therapy.
Mission
To provide the conditions that support the acknowledgment of all human emotions, and experience as signposts to meaningful self-understanding, compassion and growth.
Vision
To live in a world where people are understood and accepted as each having a story to tell, and that accepting the stories as meaningful teachers, in allowing space for the story to emerge, ultimately leads to a sense of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’.
Values
If something you have encountered here moves you to take another step, please send me a message using the form below.
Acknowledgement of Country
For thousands of years aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have met on this land; telling stories, doing business and embodying culture. In this culture there is a story for every mountain, every creek, every hill, every rock, and every being.
The Centre for Counselling and Therapeutic Services would like to acknowledge the first custodians of Australia and their connection to community and country. We pay our respects to their ancestors past, and elders present and emerging. May we honour them by continuing to share stories and bring our personal mythology to bare on the world.
We express our sorrow for the lasting impact of colonisation on their culture, language and sense of home.
