Alison Howarth , PACFA

Alison Howarth is a PACFA credentialed counsellor with more than 30 years of clinical experience in Australia. She works with people who are feeling stuck by stress, anxiety, trauma or low self-esteem, and helps them find new ways forward. Alison also supports people dealing with workplace trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout.

Her approach is collaborative and practical. Sessions focus on clear goals and small steps that fit daily life. She listens for patterns in relationships and reactions, then helps people try different ways of responding.

Alison draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships shape current trust and connection. She uses emotionally-focused and client-centred methods to help people name feelings and build closer, more secure relationships. Mindfulness and psychodynamic ideas are woven in to increase self-awareness and reduce reactivity.

She has worked across frontline and managerial settings, offering support for first responder issues, vicarious trauma and executive-level stress. Alison also addresses abandonment, communication problems, domestic violence impacts, guilt and shame, and life-purpose concerns.

Sessions are tailored to each person. She aims to balance emotional exploration with practical coping strategies. Taking the first step feels hard; Alison frames the work as a steady process toward clearer choices and greater self-compassion.

How Alison’s approaches work online

Alison commonly uses attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationship patterns affect current connections and safety. This approach helps when trust, abandonment or closeness feel difficult and guides work on building more reliable ways of relating.

She also uses emotionally-focused and client-centred methods that help people identify core feelings and respond differently in relationships. These approaches are useful for anxiety, low self-esteem and trauma-related reactions because they focus on feeling, reflection and gentle change.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Alison will discuss your goals and preferences, and together you will choose which methods to try. This collaborative process means the plan can change as progress is made and new needs appear.

Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video calls allow for face-to-face conversation when meeting is important. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in suits a work break. Live chat and messaging let people pace the conversation and reflect in writing. These formats make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into busy lives, while still allowing meaningful, practical progress with an appropriately qualified counsellor.