For Online or Face-to-face

Individual, Couple, or Family Counselling, Treatment of Diagnosed Depression/Anxiety, Trauma and

other Conditions,

and/or Prayer/Spiritual Support with

Owen Robinson

MAASW (Adv. Accr)

BSW (Curtin) MA (Counselling)

BEd (Science) Grad. Dip. Management


Counsellor

Accredited Mental Heath Social Worker/Medicare Provider

Supervisor and Training Consultant

Open Arms (formerly Veterans & Veterans Families Counselling Service) Outreach Programme Counsellor

Department of Veterans Affairs Provider

Insurance Commission of WA Provider

Able to see members of Bupa, HCF and Teachers Health (plus UniHealth and Nurses and Midwives Health)

who have the appropriate level of cover


Listed as a Blue Knot Foundation Trauma-informed Service



For info Phone: 0408 890 887

(please allow one day for replies to messages)


NB Medicare rebates are available if you see a GP for a mental healthcare plan



Online options available

Signal (preferred secure phone app), Skype or Zoom   options are available for online sessions.






Canning Vale Serviced Offices

Unit 15, 64 Bannister Road,

Canning Vale

Western Australia  6155

Medicare Provider 442250DX

Mondays/Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Fridays 7.30am-5:00pm (online or face to face)

Thursdays

7.30-11.30am (online only)

11.30am-5.00pm (face to face)


For Appointments Phone/SMS 0408 890 887














To mail: PO Box 260

Maddington

WA 6989


To email: morehope@iinet.net.au







This is NOT an emergency service.  For Western Australian mental health emergencies please contact the Mental Health Emergency Response Line on 1300 555 788


or


attend the nearest Emergency Department of a hospital.


Alternatively contact Lifeline on

13 11 14.





Helplines:  (click here)


Other support services:


Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 - for 24/7 telephone counselling for young people 5-25 years


Suicide Callback Service: 1300 659 467 - for 24/7 telephone crisis support for people at-risk of suicide, carers and bereaved


MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78 - for 24/7 telephone and online support, information and referral services for men


Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 - for 24/7 telephone support and online chat 4pm - 10pm (AEST)


Meth Helpline :  1800 874 878 - The Meth Helpline is a free confidential telephone counselling, information and referral service for anyone concerned about their own or another person's meth use.  



1800RESPECT - 1800 737 732 - 24 hour 7 days a week, confidential telephone and online support - 1800RESPECT is not only a support service for people affected by sexual assault, domestic and family violence. It is also an information and support service for family, friends, and frontline workers.


WA COVID-19 Hotline - Phone 13 COVID


Lifeline - Phone 13 11 14


MensLine - Phone 1300 789 978


Jobseekers Contact Line - Phone 132 850


Small business advice – Phone 133 140



Acknowledgement of sources of graphics used on this web site:



Permission given on 27 Nov 2016 by Danny Silk for #KYLO (Keep Your Love On) and lovingonpurpose.com;


Permission given on 27 Nov 2016 by Kris Vallotton for #KVM (Kris Vallotton Ministries).


EverWeb public domain images


Brett Jones Online Free Stock Photos: http://brentjonesonline.com/blog/blogging/where-to-find-free-stock-photos/


Marriage Counselling in Perth

Trauma Counselling in Perth

Family Counselling in Perth

Christian Counselling in Perth

Counselling for depression  in Perth

Counselling for anxiety in Perth


Counsellor is sometimes misspelled as counselor, councelor, councellor or councillor and Counselling is sometimes spelled as counselin.,  

Suburbs serviced include Shelley, Rossmoyne, Willetton, Parkwood, Ferndale, Bull Creek, Lynwood, Wilson, Cannington, Canning Vale, Leeming, Salter Point, Waterford, Karawara, Brentwood, Murdoch, Welshpool, Huntingdale, Victoria Park, Gosnells, Martin,  Jandakot, Bibra Lake, Cockburn Central, South Perth, Melville, Samson, North Lake, Myaree, Alfred Cove, Rivervale, Burswood,Orange Grove, Belmont, Ascot, South Guildford, Guildford, Hazelmere, Woodbridge, Midvale, Swan View, Greenmount, Helena Valley, Maida Vale, Gooseberry Hill, Kalamunda, Lesmurdie, Walliston, Carmel, Bickley, Forrestfield, O'Connor,  Piara Waters, Forrestdale, Treeby, Banjup, Seville Grove, Armadale, Camillo, Kelmscott, Mt Nasura, Mount Richon, Brookdale, Wuyong, Hilbert, Darling Downs, Wandi, Aubin Grove,  Atwell, Success, Hamond Park, Oakford, Byford,Individual counselling anger management counselling marriage counselling couple counselling child counselling parenting counselling sexual abuse counselling, self-harma nd suicide counselling trauma counselling relationship counselling stress management Self esteem and personal development adolescent counselling  















More Hope                More Calm              Get on Better


ABN 80 483 081 209

What Is Trauma?















Trauma is the result of bad things that happen to us, or around us, that overwhelm our capacity to cope.   Two people can be affected by the same incident quite differently so trauma is in fact more about our coping mechanisms and whether or not they have been overcome by the incident.  


To explain trauma to a child we might say “Sometimes things happen that are really scary, and you keep feeling afraid for a long time afterwards.” 




















Traumatic events can include:

• experiencing a serious accident, an assault, war, a natural disaster, sexual assault or abuse;


• witnessing such an event happening to another person;


• learning that a friend or family member died suddenly (e.g. as a result of an assault or an accident), or was involved in a life threatening event, or was seriously injured.


• relationship/attachment trauma - developmental trauma where a child does not get to learn to trust that they will be cared for (typically when parents do not bond well with an infant this places a severe impact on the child's capacity to trust love, care and affection in relationships).


(adapted from Australian Centre for Post-traumatic Mental Health)




Could I Have Trauma Symptoms?

If you wonder if you have symptoms of trauma exposure read the questions below.  If one or more of your stories involved intense fear these things might linger for some time..
























If so, and if you want to manage these symptoms better you may want to consider if it is time to visit a trauma-informed therapist.


Let's look at what it's like before and after trauma.  The Modulation Model (see diagram below) helps explain what ‘coping’ looks like compared to what it is like trying to cope and struggling after trauma.  We all have a ‘window of tolerance’ for what is happening to us or around us.  When our capacity to cope is overwhelmed by what is happening we have been stretched beyond our window of tolerance: very strong emotions are aroused (e.g. a flood of overwhelm/fear/panic/dread/horror/terror/anger). 


People who have not recovered well from trauma will typically spend a lot of time emotionally ‘hyper-aroused’ in a state of heightened dread/anxiety and often anger; once we have had too much overwhelm  we may become ‘hypo-aroused,’ mentally numbing, disconnecting from what is happening, or shutting down emotionally to avoid intense emotion, sensations of overwhelm and even memory of the events. (we 'dissociate')


The Modulation Model below has been adapted from Trauma and the Body (2007) by Ogden, Minton and Pain.





















When we are going ok emotion stays in our window of tolerance.  We cope with the emotion we experience and respond quite naturally to what is happening around us (and in us).























If we are overwhelmed we might be try hard or fight to win; in flight-mode we might try to avoid or run from the difficult or traumatic reality; we might fret for someone with the power or the right skills to help us out or for the right person to do things to meet our needs or make it better; we might freeze, unsure of what to think, say or do; and if the intensity of fight/flight/freeze/fret it too strong for our liking we might go into a numb state where we shut down, we 'feign death' or even work out how to forget/block out the feeling states or a trauma.  


The traumatized person may spend most of their time either above their window of tolerance (in frequent or constant ‘alarm’ states) or below it (numbed), or swing uncontrollably between these two states (Van der Kolk, 1987, p 2). 

"This … may become the new norm in the aftermath of trauma"  (p 3)

Van der Kolk, B. A. (1987). Psychological trauma. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press.


Suffering post-trauma stress symptoms is not necessarily considered a mental illness. However after some time without relief from trama symptoms it is not unusual for people who have experienced one or several trauma events to experience other mental health problems like depression or anxiety. Some people may develop a habit of using alcohol or drugs as a way of coping.'  (Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health)

















If you think you may be experiencing what has been described here appointment details are on this page (top right).


What about Trauma from Adverse Childhood Events?

`History is not destiny – if you’ve come to make sense of your life.’ Source: ‘The Last Frontier’ Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery.


Childhood trauma isn’t always something a person just gets over as they grow up.  So it can help to have a therapist’s assistance to make sense of how the trauma is playing out today. 
















Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris in the clip below explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the child-brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.  Strong human connections in childhood are believed to neurologically immunise adults. (for more click here.)     


























Trauma expert Babette Rothschild says this about early trauma:


“Those who were molested or beaten as children or teenagers might later be vulnerable to sexual abuse or violence, because their natural impulses to protect themselves and protest (physical and verbal) were extinguished. Expectation of hurtful treatment by others or one's own failed capabilities can stubbornly persist despite overwhelming evidence that such is no longer the case.”   


Respected addiction expert Gabor Mate writes:


"For those habituated to high levels of internal stress since early childhood, it is the absence of stress that creates unease, evoking boredom and a sense of meaninglessness. People may become addicted to their own stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, Hans Selye observed. To such persons stress feels desirable, while the absence of it feels like something to be avoided."  

Gabor Mate, When The Body Says No - The Cost of Hidden Stress





What Is Post-Abortion Grief/Trauma?


There is a recent surge in evidence that some people experience a very difficult time after taking part in an abortion decision or as a result of someone else's abortion decision.  Not all research findings support these conclusions however.  Prevailing opinion for many years has been that there are no long term effects from abortion but the experience of many women and their partners has been markedly different from that, sometimes years after the event.  Abortion Grief Australia is an organisation that provides information that may be helpful to both women and men who have been having difficulty after an abortion.  Post-abortion Syndrome is described in this brochure.  A resource for men is available as well as for women.     Abortion Grief Australia’s Help Line number (for people in Western Australia) is 1300 363 550.  Apparently about 20% of calls to this line are from men.



How Well am I Coping Now?


If you are not sure about your level of coping some online-electronically-scored tests that assess how strong symptoms have become can be found here. If you decide to make an appointment please print the results and take them to your appointment to see your GP or bring them when you see the counsellor.



Ideas to try for coping with symptoms:


1. Purse your lips or use your epiglotis to make a quiet 'Darth Vader' thoat sound to make each exhale slow; at the end of the out-breath hold for a count of 4; then do a normal deep inhale; repeat for at least 45 seconds. Now picture a favourite person, thing, idea, memory, routine place or holiday destination.  This type of controlled breathing is evidence-based and has been found to sooth the vagal nerve that runs through the chest and abdomen to make the body feel more calm. (repeating for at least 45 seconds was found to give the best results)


2. Trauma script for a panic sensation

This is only a body-memory (a familiar feeling-state).  This intensity has never killed me yet.

It is the (say date and time).  It is NOT the time I was being hurt or scared.

I can float through this wave.

It will not hurt me even though I don't like the feeling.  I'll wait it out and it will pass.  (use with the breathing method above)
























  










In the past month, were you bothered by:

Repeated, disturbing, and unwanted memories of the stressful experience?

Repeated, disturbing dreams of the stressful experience?

Suddenly feeling or acting as if the stressful experience were actually happening again (as if you were actually back there reliving it?

Feeling very upset when something reminded you of the stressful experience?

Having strong physical reactions when something reminded you of the stressful experience (for example, heart pounding, trouble breathing, sweating)?     

Avoiding memories, thoughts, or feelings related to the stressful experience?

Avoiding external reminders of the stressful experience (for example, people, places, conversations, activities, objects, or situations)?

Trouble remembering important parts of the stressful experience?

Having strong negative beliefs about yourself, other people, or the world (for example, having thoughts such as: I am bad, there is something seriously wrong with me, no one can be trusted, the world is completely dangerous)?     

Blaming yourself or someone else for the stressful experience or what happened after it?

Having strong negative feelings such as fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame?

Loss of interest in activities that you used to enjoy?

Feeling distant or cut off from other people?     

Trouble experiencing positive feelings (for example, being unable to feel happiness or have loving feelings for people close to you)?

Irritable behaviour, angry outbursts, or acting aggressively?

Taking too many risks or doing things that could cause you harm?

Being “super-alert” or watchful or on guard?

Feeling jumpy or easily startled?

Having difficulty concentrating?     

Trouble falling or staying asleep?