Atlas Counselling is not the same as other talk therapy services.
Book your convenient, online appointment today.
* No referral required – Book in at your convenience!
* No need to visit your GP first – Self-refer at any time!
* No wait lists – Appointments are usually available inside two weeks!
* No minimum number of sessions or set regularity – Your therapy is for YOU, not for your therapist.
* No surprise ‘gap fees’ or extra charges – Easier budget control!
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We are not the same!
Many other talk therapies and talk therapists focus on explaining experience using a combination of assessments, diagnoses and ailment attributes as outlined by the medical model – labels that are “treated” in “this way” or “that way”. Almost all of them focus on how to diminish, dismiss, distract or deflect in an effort to help you gain control or do differently.
Atlas Counselling focuses on listening to experience with a whole-of-person approach, in an effort to help you understand the meaning you are attributing to your experiences, and to help you recognise and translate your discomfort into the message it is, so that you can move through the experience in a way that is self-respectful, authentic and oriented to your own values and goals.
If You’ve Tried Therapy Before…
Have you tried talk therapies before and have walked away having had a ‘good chat’ and not a whole lot more?
Have you gone into your session, unloaded your concern/s, received the validation you had hoped for, but recognise that nothing has actually changed or shifted?
Perhaps you have uncovered something that you weren’t previously conscious of – were you equipped with what to do with that information before you left your appointment?
If You Haven’t Tried Therapy Before…
Perhaps you have never tried talk therapy before because you hold the (sadly, common) view that it is a sign that you cannot cope with things, and it is a sign of weakness and you can’t see how it can do anything valuable to help and all it does is ‘air dirty laundry’?
Have you heard stories or feedback from people you know that have tried talk therapies and they have reported some of the above, and that has turned you away from the idea?
To get a better idea of ‘The Atlas Method’ and the way it changes how talk therapy is experienced, keep reading!
Book your flexible Online appointment HERE!
‘The Atlas Method’ is What Makes Atlas Counselling Different.
Atlas Counselling is the home of the proprietary process ‘The Atlas Method’; a simple three-phase process, rooted in evidence-based and evidence-informed theories and practice, including but not only: Existential theory, attachment theory, and process theory. In addition, ‘The Atlas Method’ draws on other modalities including but not limited to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and Somatic Therapy, all with consideration to Trauma-Informed practice; pulling some of the ‘best bits’ together to create a cohesive, human-centered, experiential, values-driven, three-phase process – ‘Awareness – Understanding – Choice!’.
By learning and using an arsenal of lenses, skills and strategies to help you to work toward your personal goals, advocate for your needs, wants and expectations, and reclaim your voice, you will build a bank of personal resources that will help equip you to face, process and, hopefully, not be overwhelmed by the stress and pressure of modern living and all of its challenges.
Still unsure about whether booking with Atlas Counselling is the right path forward for you? Call or text 0421 364 395 to discuss further – if I am unable to receive your call, leave a message and I will call you back as soon as I can.
Book your appointment, click —> HERE!
How does this difference show up?
Atlas Counselling was created to provide a service that is different to the traditional expectations associated with ‘talk therapy’.
Counselling offered here is not only a ‘stuffed shirt’ sitting there, nodding and hmm-ing and ahh-ing while you dutifully ‘spill your guts’ to a perfect stranger – though, let’s face it, there is usually a bit of that, and it can be important, because your story matters!
More than that though, together we will consider your story through a variety of lenses; reorganise how you might consider your experiences; decipher and develop awareness around the meaning that you, uniquely, attribute to your experiences; as well as provide you with frameworks, tools, and strategies that can help you make values-driven decisions outside of the therapy space.
Atlas Counselling does not focus on the labels that may have been allocated to you or adopted by you along your way, which may describe (or attribute) a set of symptoms or presentations. Atlas Counselling does not seek to pathologise the human experience. The human condition is not considered a medical condition here!
While Atlas Counselling, of course, understands there are times that a medical diagnosis may be beneficial for a client, for a variety of reasons, it is important that you know that Atlas Counselling neither provides any kind of diagnosis, nor will we consider your experience from within the medical model of care. We proudly work alongside the medical model, not from within it. A mantra here is that ‘distress is not a disorder’ and we do not treat it as though it is.
Choosing Atlas Counselling means that you are choosing a journey of self-discovery with a goal of learning to understand your needs, wants and expectations and how to advocate for them in a purposeful and self-respectful way; learning to discover or create and uphold personal boundaries, and becoming an active participant rather than being a passive ‘input resource’ for the systems and relationships that you are a part of.
Like Atlas from Greek mythology, we often feel the burden of carrying the ‘weight of world’ on our shoulders. The sheer weight of our perception of responsibility can sometimes feel debilitating!
In a time of trying to be all things to all people; a constant vigilance in “being good” and “doing what’s right”, and when “being” is experienced as the same as “doing”, it can feel overwhelming. It can feel impossible to find the time and space to really examine the choices we make and why we make them – we are kept so busy and “full”. It is challenging to find the time and space to make proactive, self-determining decisions, rather than responding to circumstances using mechanisms that we may have inherited out of either necessity or through the process of enculturation.
Atlas Counselling IS that space! A friendly, judgement-free, safe place waiting to help you find and live your truth, authentically and unapologetically!
When you are ready, check availability and make your booking directly by clicking here.
Emergency Contact List
Kids Help Line: 1800 55 1800
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 1800 65 64 63
Australian Emergency Services: 000
(Police, Fire, Ambulance)
For other options, please visit https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/mental-health-helplines