Rate Jennifer Altheimer

My name is Jennifer. I am an experienced registered counsellor with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA). I have more than 22 years of experience working with individuals, children, youths, couples and families from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds, who have experienced various challenges in their lives. I have worked alongside these clients to bring about healing in the relationship they have with themselves and others.

I enjoy working with people and this love is reflected in my personality and the passion I have in the way I engage with the people I meet. As a relationship counsellor, I have grown to understand that only in finding healing in the relationship with oneself, brings about growth and healing in relationships with others. Being an insightful Counsellor, I believe that the counselling process is not just about empowering clients but it is also about dignifying the client by acknowledging the challenges they face, identifying the strengths they already possess and celebrating their individuality. Being warm and approachable allows my clients to feel safe in a space where they are empowered to find their own voice and path to the challenges they are facing as I journey alongside them. My training and extensive experience in various issues such as family and relationship dynamics, interpersonal issues, grief and loss, family and domestic violence, various forms of trauma, depression, anxiety, parent-teen conflict and migration enables me to empathise with my clients, making them feel heard and understood.

In the area of couples counselling, I provide pre-martial support and, uncoupling. Couples counselling is not only for couples on the verge of separation but also for couples who want to strengthen their relationship. Life experiences often change our world views and values and this sometimes impacts our relationship with our spouse/partner. I am here to support couples to have a deeper understanding on the impact this may have on the relationship and how they can continue to work together to strengthen their relationship. I also provide family counselling, coaching and group work.

Clients are the experts of their lives and my role is to facilitate the journey to help them tap into their inner resources to bring about self-awareness, personal growth and to improve relationships with themselves and others. Therefore, sessions are created to meet the client’s therapeutic needs, incorporating a strength-based, client-centred approach and combining a variety of evidence-based therapeutic modalities and techniques. You could be experiencing a difficult event or finding ways to adjust to big changes in your life, looking for self-development or feeling stuck and want to increase your own self-awareness, but whatever your life challenge may be, I aim to provide you the therapeutic relationship to help you navigate and process the life experience you are facing.