Welcome
to counselling & psychotherapy you really can feel better.
Together, let's find out how.
Who We Are
Alex Lightfoot M.A Counselling Psychotherapist
Alex is a master’s-trained counsellor who works with adults experiencing acute stress, anxiety, persistent low mood, and the impact of unresolved or developmental trauma. Her work is particularly informed by an understanding of how early relational experiences shape emotional life, identity, and patterns in relationships.
Alex’s primary therapeutic framework is the Conversational Model of Psychotherapy, a relational and psychodynamic approach that focuses on the lived emotional experience between therapist and client.
Her approach is strongly informed by attachment theory and relational dynamics.
Alex offers a compassionate, non-judgemental, and emotionally present therapeutic space. She works with authenticity and care, supporting clients to explore their inner world, relationships, and patterns with curiosity and respect, and to develop a more secure and flexible sense of self over time.
Stu Jamieson-Pate - Registered Counsellor (ACA)
Stu has an empathetic, warm, and person-centered approach. He aims to provide his clients with a safe and collaborative space to understand their current difficulties, make positive changes, and mindfully focus on their individual goals. He provides treatment for both youth and adults for a range of mental health difficulties and has a particular interest in substance use and the underlying paths to addiction.
Stu, uses a range of therapeutic tools in his work, including Trauma-Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (TFACT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), to assist the individual needs of each client.
When not at the practice, Stuart is also working with clients, veterans and families who are suffering with substance use issues at the Sothern Highlands Addiction Retreat.
Stu's career has also encompassed roles at Mission Australia, WHOS and Lifeline.
Our Focus
Our lives and relationships are shaped by our experiences with others over time. Sometimes these experiences leave us feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure of how to make sense of what we’re feeling.
Therapy offers a space to slow things down and gently explore what is happening in the here and now, within a safe and supportive relationship.
By paying attention to emotional experience as it unfolds, new understanding and movement can emerge naturally.
Over time, this can support a greater sense of emotional ease, connection, and freedom in how you relate to yourself and others.
What is the difference between psychotherapy and counselling?
This is a common question we are asked and so we felt it may help to explain what we know.
Generally speaking there is not a great difference, and both professions are more alike than not.
Some explanations are that timewise, counselling only lasts a number of weeks or months. Psychotherapy may be more open-ended, possibly lasting a number of months or years. Further, whilst counselling may help to address a current difficulty, psychotherapy helps you discover what is underneath the problem, as well as what is sustaining it, facilitating more in-depth, long-term changes.