Sydney Eastern Suburbs Counselling

Shushann is a highly experienced and mature counsellor, psychotherapist and coach. She is a clinical member of PACFA and is the author of best-selling book, Puberty Girl (2004 Allen and Unwin).

I believe we are innately drawn towards living our wholeness – that our relationship conflicts, physical and emotional disturbances and dreams are our unconscious attempt to do so. I offer my knowledge and experience with compassion, safety and awareness. I work closely with you in unfolding and exploring the potential meaning of your life challenges. I provide practical tools that allow you to start practicing and integrating the changes you want to establish in your relationship and life. From this comes greater strength and understanding and an increased capacity for sustained change. Through our work you will be supported to trust and listen to your inner truth, believe in your wisdom and deepen self acceptance.

Relationship Counselling

Couples with busy lifestyles often wonder why they don’t have the same spark as they had at the beginning of their relationship, or why their communication has deteriorated. Many find that after they have had children their loving energy for each other is focused on their children with little or none available for their relationship. They feel a shift from being connected and in love to feeling distant and disengaged. This can lead to conflict and distrust and pain in the relationship. These are strong signs of a need for relationship nurturance.

When couples are feeling the pain of distance and disconnection in their relationship there are usually underlying issues and beliefs. How does this get corrected in a way that starts healing a breakdown in communication and distancing. In relationship counselling we would look at the dynamic between you as a couple – your communication style with each other, the ‘hotspots’ that create communication problems and ways of addressing the unhealthy patterns. Together we work on deepening understanding in the relationship. I offer couples practical and accessible tools to take home in order to re-establish connection.

Relationship Nurturance

When I work with people on nurturing their relationships, I ask them what they are consciously doing to nurture their love relationship. This doesn’t require a lot of time, but does require consistency. They might be small acts of kindness, but it is the quality of the connections that people make with one another that contribute to filling the relationship with juice.

Teen and Child Counselling

For the past 18 years I have worked with children and teens aged 5-18 years. I support them in bring out their own insight and positive solutions through their creativity. We use drawing and art, role playing, visualization, story and play to work through emotional issues, self esteem, conflict and building confidence. Children are more freely able to express emotional issues this way.

I have particular expertise in planning and facilitating preventative health programs for preteen girls (aged 9-12 years). I also offer coaching and workshops for parents on dealing with conflict and for dads to stay connected. I am involved in counteracting the negative impact of the media and popular culture on body image and self esteem of girls. 

Using a Process Oriented approach to Psychotherapy

I use a holistic and process-oriented approach in strengthening and integrating central and more marginalised experiences, whether they be our individual experiences or those in our relationships. This could include the relationship with a broader social system. These can appear as disturbances, illness or recurring relationship conflicts. My work is based on a holographic model which holds the belief that deepening our understanding and changing one aspect has a rippling effect on all the others.

I use Dr. Arnold Mindell’ s concept of “unfolding”. Mindell was originally a physicist and later a Jungian analyst in the late 1970′s and developed a framework for encouraging clients to identify with unconscious experience through ‘unfolding’. This unfolding process develops a heightened awareness of how we communicate and engage with the world around us.

Do you have a counseling question for yourself or as a couple? (Click here)

Simple Steps in Conflict Awareness and Process (click here to get your free copy of the Parent Puberty Report)

For more information about Shushann’s practice, go to About.