Individual Therapy
Taking care of your mental health is important. You can't always deal with life's stressors or past traumas on our own. You might be feeling lost, confused, overwhelmed and disconnected. This is normal but you don't need to feel this way forever, finding relief is possible.
The first step is to release the pressure of having to cope with everything on your own. It's okay to ask for support. A supportive therapeutic relationship with a professional that knows how your mind works may be the best way to start feeling better.
Individual Therapy can help with:
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Grief
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Trauma
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Self-Esteem Issues
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Anger and Aggression
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Dealing With Abuse
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Sexual Issues
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Social Difficulties
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Performing At Work
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Identity Issues
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Addiction
Couple Therapy
A loving relationship can be a source of comfort and fulfilment. But when arguments and resentment get in the way, the constant fighting, blaming and disagreements pull you apart.
Even when both parties want the same thing, to be connected and happy, it's not always easy to achieve. Many other factors can get in the way of the creating the closeness and intimacy you crave.
A Licensed and qualified therapist has the ability create a healthy, safe space to assist couples discover the underlying causes of disagreements, anger and resentment and re connect with each other. Offering a gentle, compassionate, and calm approach.
Each relationship is unique, and Kristina's background reflects a diverse expertise in numerous couples therapy methodologies, such as the Gottman Method, PACT by Stan Tatkin, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Relationship Life Coaching (RLT) by Terry Real, insights from Esther Perel, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and various Family Therapy frameworks. This comprehensive knowledge enables Kristina to tailor her approach to meet the specific needs of each couple.
Couple Therapy can help with:
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Trouble Making Decisions
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Communication Problems
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Intimacy
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Family Violence
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Planning To Get Married
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Conflicts of Childcare
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Blended Family Conflict
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Sexual Issues
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Infidelity
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Loss & Grief
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Mental Health Issues
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Adjusting to Parenting
Family Therapy
At it’s best, your family can be a source of comfort and support. However, it is not always easy to know how to bring this about. Challenges and stressors can prevent closeness and weaken connections. Sticks and Stones Therapeutic Services can help you identify your family's negative patterns and underlying issues.
What to expect at a family therapy session?
Sessions last 60 minutes, depending on the age of the children present. In a family therapy session, it is important that everyone gets a chance to feel heard and understood. Each member will be asked what they want from the session before commencing. After the first session, it will be mutually agreed upon on how to proceed, but fortnightly or monthly sessions are recommended as a group or as individuals if it is decided that the best approach is to meet separately.
Family therapy can help with:
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Parenting Issues
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Mental Health Issues
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Substance Abuse
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New Family Members
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Family Priorities
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Child/ren Behaviour
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Conflict Resolution
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Life Transistions
Child/Adolescent Therapy
A a parent you may be worried about your child/teenager's developing mental health, habits and behaviour and social skills. They might be excessively quiet or withdrawn, or they might be difficult to manage and engage in risky behaviours. It's normal to worry that these behaviours will continue to get worse as they grow.
It might be especially hard to see your child struggle with trauma and you may feel powerless, not knowing how to support them.
This is an important time in their life and the patterns and behaviours they engage in now will mark their future and affect their quality of life later on.
Child/Adolescent Therapy may assist with:
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Anxiety
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Family Violence
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Trauma
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Anger & Agression
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Low Self Esteem
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Social Difficulties
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Grief & Loss
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Family Separation
In our work together, I will draw on a number of approaches and will tailor sessions to fit your child’s needs. These approaches include:
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Emotional Release Processing: movement, music, drumming, exercise
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Symbol Work
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Visualisation, Meditation and Mindfulness
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Systems therapy
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Play based therapy
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Body Focus and Awareness (including body maps)
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Expressive Colour, Line and Shape
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Expressive Writing, Journaling
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Sandplay
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EMDR and tapping
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Internal Family Systems Therapy
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Outdoor therapy
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Somatic experiencing
Parent/Child Attachment Therapy
It's understood that our brains are relational, however we are aware that our early attachment history matters. As a clinical family Therapist, Kristina is up to date with current research, which is now substantiating that our bodies, not only hold memories and experiences that have developed throughout our life span, even in utero, also impact on our biological makeup that include our family of origin and our ancestors.
Traumatic events can affect the child and parent attachment, this is because when trauma occurs our body is wired to survive. During this time our body responds to survive, often responding unconsciously with either a sympathetic response – Fight and flight and/or a dorsal Vagal response – Shutting down. Current research is substantiating that these responses can often remain in the body. Parents can find it hard to respond with warmth and empathy as their body is still wired to survive. Additionally, parenting does not come with a book. We often learn how to parent from our own experience as a child.
Somatosensory Therapy
Somatosensory counselling is shown to assist with anxiety, anger, trauma, worry and rumination, low self-esteem, mental health, stress, and constant internal criticism of self.
According to current research, traumatic memories aren’t stored in a way that can be accessed deeply by verbal interactions based on cognitive or analytical ability. This knowledge has altered trauma treatment and has now transformed the importance of working with the body, brain, and memory system and Polyvagal focused and somatic approaches will be integrated fully across mental health and trauma-based treatments.
These treatments encompass a broad range of approaches meant to create safety and build trust between you and your body, starting with somatic awareness, memory consolidation, and related skills; such as;
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Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
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Havening
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Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
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Polyvagal Theory with Safe & Sound Program
Kristina is an accredited Level 2 IFS therapist under IFS https://www.internalfamilysystemstrainingaustralia.com.au/directory/
Kristina is a Polyvagal Safe and Sound Accredited provider.
https://integratedlistening.com/ssp-safe-sound-protocol-clinical-resources/
Kristina is also a registered EMDR practitioner with the EMDR association of Australia. https://emdraa.org/find-a-therapist/
Sandplay & Expressive Therapy
Expressive Therapies (ET) and Sand Play Therapy is an approach to counselling that uses the body and emotions for healing. These approaches must be provided by qualified expressive or sand play therapists as these therapy tools are not just playing in the sand or interpreting objects. The aim of ET is to reconnect the mind, body and feelings through emotional integration. Often intense emotions from traumatic experiences can become stored or imprinted in the body.
ET safely supports the child / young person / adult to become aware of these ‘memories’ by gently identifying and slowly releasing the underlying emotion, which may be causing current life challenges. These therapies are a holistic way of working with people. They provide the opportunity for long term change through identifying ‘something that is not quite right’ in the body.
Referenced with permission from intoblue.com.au
Kristina is a certified Sandplay & Expressive Psychotherapist
To learn more please visit http://www.expressivetherapies.com.au
Kristina is a Polyvagal Safe and Sound Accredited provider.
https://integratedlistening.com/ssp-safe-sound-protocol-clinical-resources/
EMDR Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing Therapy
Kristina has completed her level 2 accreditation in EMDR with children, adolescents, and adults. EMDR is an evidenced-based treatment model that utilises bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements that activate the brain in a way that processes and resolves ‘stuck’ traumatic memories and negative thoughts about self.
EMDR has now had an extensive number of positive outcomes in adults, children and adolescents who have experienced significant traumatic events such as car accidents, natural disasters, family violence, bullying, and sexual abuse.
To understand more about this therapy, visit https://emdrassociation.org.uk
Kristina is a registered EMDR practitioner with the EMDR association of Australia. https://emdraa.org/find-a-therapist/
Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy
Kristina is a level 2 registered/trained IFS therapist, as stated on the APS site.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a non-pathologising, powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy which has taken the therapy world by storm in the past decade. Developed in the 1980s by Dr Richard Schwartz, the IFS model allows those employing it to understand the individual mind and larger human systems in novel ways. With a growing evidence-base in recent years, and an explosion of interest from Australian psychologists, IFS is establishing itself as an intervention of choice amongst many therapists with Dr Bessel van der Kolk recently hailing it as ‘the treatment method that all clinicians should know to treat clients effectively’.
https://psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2022/winter-2022/internal-family-systems-therapy
https://www.internalfamilysystemstrainingaustralia.com.au/directory/directory-view/
Somatic Experiencing
I am currently in the second year of a three-year training program in Somatic Experiencing, as developed by Dr. Peter Levine. For more detailed information, please visit the Somatic Experiencing Australia website: seaustralia.com.au.
