Counselling Services

Counselling Services for Newcastle & Hunter Region

Learn About Our Services

At Cath Adams Counselling, we believe that our counselling services are a tool for you. We do our best to help you make and achieve goals to improve your life in whatever areas you need. We understand that everyone's needs are different, so we are careful to work closely with you to determine the most suitable pathway for you. You can also be reassured that we have the resources you need, whatever you struggle with.

  • Relationship Counselling

    Relationships are a joy to be a part of, but they have their own specific challenges. If your relationship suffers from frequent miscommunications or severe disagreements, you need to call Cath Adams Counselling. We offer a wide range of counselling services in Newcastle so that your relationship can get back on track.



    Benefits of Relationship Counselling

    All relationships have certain challenges because when you spend a lot of time with someone, you're bound to have different opinions and thoughts. That's okay, but when these challenges dominate your relationship, you should seek the help of counselling.


    When you come to us for relationship counselling, you can see a range of benefits, including:


    • Improved communication: You can expect to learn how to communicate with your partner and with you, to promote mutual understanding and reduce tension.
    • Enhanced passion: If the years have blown out the spark of your early relationship and dating, counselling can reinvigorate your relationship and help you find a deeper, fuller love.
    • Strengthen commitments: Relationships are hard, especially because both parties must be committed to their success. Counselling can help you and your partner recommit to each other.
    • Relationship counselling with Cath Adams Counselling is a great way to experience these benefits and rejuvenate your marriage, friendship, or any other relationship.                          

    Benefits of Working With Us

    The professional staff at Cath Adams Counselling is trained to work with you and your partner to promote communication and understanding and to, set goals and make plans to help you see continual growth. We focus completely on our clients because your satisfaction is our number one priority. We can also do phone sessions if you don't feel comfortable with coming into the office.

  • Online Counselling

    Cath Adams Counselling offers online therapy sessions via Skype, Soom or Facetime to provide face-to-face counselling sessions without having to leave your home or workplace to attend your appointment. This type of counselling is popular with people who are time-limited and unable to travel, have anxieties around leaving home or have mobility issues. It is a convenient way for people to talk to a counsellor in their familiar environment.


    Research indicates that online counselling is beneficial for individuals with difficulties attending sessions in person. More private discussions around subjects such as shame or sexual dysfunction can be easier to have as online therapy. However, more common counselling topics such as relationships, additions, and stress management can also be delivered online. Initiation of online counselling is relatively easy if you already use Skype, Soom or Facetime. 


    Please contact us today to make an appointment for online counselling. 

  • Grief Counselling

    Losing someone or something you have a strong association with, a relationship or love can impact the way you feel. Grief is a feeling and/or expression of intense sorrow, especially caused by the death (or departure) of someone, something (including pets) or loss of experience continuity (e.g. end of employment) from our life. Emotional reactions to grief can include anger, guilt, lowered self-esteem, social withdrawal, anxiety, sadness, and depression. Physical reactions to grief can include sleeping problems, changes in appetite, physical problems, or illness.


    Grief is a normal human emotional response. Associated with grief, there is also the socio/cultural/spiritual practice of morning (particularly regarding the loss of a loved one) that usually involve culturally determined rituals (structure) to help mourners to process the end of life. Grief becomes an issue when it is prolonged, impacts cause a significant decline in emotional health or contributes to a defined mental disorder like major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complicated grief.


    There is no correct pattern or length of time to work through grief due to its individual nature. However, the risks of more detrimental impacts are known to be reduced where supported through the grief process. At Cath Adams Counselling, we provide tailored and structured support programs to our clients to guide and manage them through their grief. Our approach may include:


    1. Educating on the benefits and risks associated with grieving;
    2. Exploring loss and understanding their grief journey;
    3. Understanding grief triggers, mourning and management;
    4. Giving focus to health self-awareness (i.e. when and how does grieving become unhealthy);
    5. Providing tools to promote good health (e.g. communication, diet, routine, relaxation and sleep) and facilitating emotional outlets (e.g. express grief-writing/art therapy, social interaction and exercise).
  • Stress Management

    Everyone experiences stress at different times throughout their lives, and we all have heard of the "Fight or Flight" response. Stress can develop and persist due to external pressures such as employment situations, family relationships/events, changes in circumstances, financial hardship or social expectations. Episodic stress can be experienced due to a trigger relating to our present life situations (i.e. a stressor); while there may be a short-term impact, generally, with support, we can cope and continue with our lives. A very severe episodic stress event, however, may contribute to longer-term psychological issues (e.g. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]). Chronic stress occurs when stress factors are not managed over a longer term; impacts are harder felt, and coping is less effective. Chronic stress may lead to serious emotional and physical health conditions (e.g. anger, despair, burnout, anxiety and depression). Stress affects individuals differently and may prompt unhealthy behaviours like over-eating, substance abuse, relationship breakdown, anti-social behaviour, violence, social withdrawal and self-harm.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, we assist clients to:



    • Become aware of the symptoms of individual stress, understand causes and manage the stressors leading to unwanted pressures.
    • Demonstrate the importance of "opening up" and discussing their life situation and stressors;
    • Provide tools tailored towards (as applicable):
    • Remedial health (e.g. relaxation, exercise and medical support); or,
    • The nature of the stressor (e.g. financial hardship, relationship etc.); or,
    • Associated behaviour correction (e.g. addictions, anger management, self-harm etc.).
  • Anxiety and Panic

    On average, 1 in 4 people will experience anxiety at some stage in their lives. This reaction can be a response to situations where we feel pressured, and some people are more susceptible to feeling anxious than others. Generally, anxiety passes with the passing of the situation but then may be triggered by similar future events and may lead to increasing levels of anxiety on each occasion. If not diagnosed, it can develop into a more complex mental health disorder where daily life and function are affected.


    Anxiety may stem from increased feelings of worry and uncertainty. It can produce panic and fear and can result in the affected person feeling overwhelmed. Severe cases may result in the person feeling symptoms such as nausea, headaches, shortness of breath, heart racing, dissiness and shaking. Anxiety may impact lifestyle, work or relationships through experiences of lack of concentration, irritability, pessimism and feeling tense. Anxiety disorders are common, and at their extreme, they can be debilitating. Types of anxiety include Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Phobias and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, we help clients to recognise causes of anxiety, triggers, self-awareness and management techniques. We aim to enable our clients to feel more in control to self-manage anxiety events.

  • Depression

    Depression is a medical condition that many people may experience in their lives. It affects mood, emotions, how we cope with situations and how we think. At times we all may feel "down" or "flat" while attempting to deal with life situations, but depression is prolonged and more intense. Depression can be genetic, a result of ongoing illness, caused by drug and alcohol use or other challenging life events. Depression can affect the way we feel, think, and behave and have physical implications regarding health. Some examples are problems sleeping, withdrawal from friends/family, and feeling overwhelmed, sad, irritable or frustrated. People with depression can have intense feelings of failure, self-criticism or guilt. Depression may be diagnosed as major (generalised) depression; anti or post-natal depression; seasonal affective disorder (SAD); or bipolar disorder. The road to recovery and management is different for everyone, but there is a range of treatments available.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, we assist our clients in understanding their depression, its causes and triggers. Our aim is to transition the client's unhelpful thought patterns to improved behaviours and healthy lifestyles. Management techniques are discussed with the client, and their progress is measured around their accomplishment of strategies and how the individual recognises their own growth while facing new and existing challenges.

  • Abuse Counselling

    A person (adult or child) who has been abused may be left with effects that can change their life. There are many different forms of abuse: physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and spiritual abuse. Survivors of abuse are often left with psychological effects, and they can experience trust issues, anger, shame, loss of confidence/self-esteem, anxiety and depression. Abusers often do not recognise their behaviour to be unacceptable as they themselves may have been victims of long-term abuse or other social/ cultural behaviour conditioning.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, our team work to help both the victims and perpetrators of abuse. For people experiencing abuse we:


    • Prioritise the protection of the victim's safety and mental health;
    • Assist with identifying strategies and support resources to stop the abuse; and,
    • Support and counsel the victim to overcome the emotional, physical and psychological impacts of abuse.

    For people wishing to correct their abusive behaviours, Cath Adams Counselling consultants will:


    • Openly discuss the person's life situation and their own abuse experiences;
    • Assist the person in recognising and acknowledging their unacceptable behaviours; and,
    • Provide tools to support better communication and anger management and choose alternative and positive reactions in conflict situations.
  • Anger Management

    We can all feel angry at different stages of our lives, as anger is a natural human emotion. Feelings of anger vary considerably across individuals; triggers making one person angry may have little or no impact on other people. However, anger can be a destructive emotion due to how it is expressed, actions taken in anger by the individual and how those impact the people around them.


    Through counselling with the application of strategies, the affected individual can learn to manage anger more effectively. At Cath Adams Counselling, our counsellors work with clients to first understand and then acknowledge their feelings and interactions around anger. Our counselling strategies assist our clients in managing anger through the following:


    • Openly discussing their life situation;
    • Exploring past triggers, expression/communication and behaviours;
    • Developing awareness of the progression of their feelings of anger and,
    • Providing tools to support better communication, promote greater empathy, suppress negative actions and choose alternative and positive reactions in anger-stimulating situations.
  • Addictions

    Addictive behaviours are compulsive engagement in seemingly pleasurable or rewarding actions such as gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, and even shopping. Any of these actions can also be used as a relief or outlet if moderated and controlled, but often people fail to recognise that they have an addition rather than an outlet. Additions can lead to relationship breakdown, financial losses, social life changes, work performance deterioration and mentor or physical health issues.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, we engage with our clients to enable them to understand and recognise that their behaviour has moved beyond being a simple, enjoyable outlet to a more impacting compulsive behaviour. Counselling goals and strategies are developed with the client considering their needs and desired outcomes based on the type and severity of their addiction.


  • Trauma

    Trauma occurs naturally as a result of witnessing or experiencing a situation that is utterly distressing and life changing.


    Trauma can present in a wide variety of circumstances which effects aspects throughout life.  Examples of trauma include but are not limited to domestic violence, (witnessing or experiencing) unexpected events such as accidents , death, natural disasters, ongoing illness, rape, child abuse and terrorism.


    The way our body responds can be very confusing, especially if there is shock within our trauma as there is an element of surrealism.  There is no correct way to respond to trauma as the events, the people involved and our responses are varied.


    At Cath Adams Counselling, we understand how trauma manifests, and this can range from complex trauma to PTSD and vicarious trauma.

    Our aim is to help people understand the effects of their trauma and how it fuels mental health and triggers.


    Application of therapy such as Narrative Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy and Trauma Focused CBT can assist with both being able to identify new patterns within our trauma and management techniques.


I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU

Send me an enquiry

No matter what your circumstances, we have professional counsellors and therapists that can help you recognise and cope with your unique challenges. In addition, since we're conveniently located near Newcastle in Adamstown, you don't have to travel far to get the therapy or counselling you need. When you reach out to us, we can provide the specialised help that will enable you to become the best version of yourself that you can be.

Can't find what you're looking for? Simply call our friendly staff for more information.

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