Joanne Alexander , AASW

Joanne Alexander is an AASW social worker with 14 years of counselling experience. She focuses on stress, anxiety, parenting and women's issues, and helps people who are dealing with family conflict, mood changes or burnout. Joanne aims for a calm, down-to-earth approach that makes it easier to talk about hard things.

Her style is warm and straightforward. She listens first and helps people identify small, practical steps to feel steadier. Sessions often involve noticing patterns in thinking and behaviour, trying short experiments, and building skills for managing strong emotions.

Joanne uses a mix of approaches that suit the person she is seeing. She draws on client-centred work to keep conversations focused on what matters to the client. Cognitive behavioural techniques help with anxiety and mood, and elements of dialectical behaviour therapy teach emotion regulation and coping skills.

She also brings mindfulness and motivational interviewing into sessions when they fit the goals. These approaches can help with difficult habits, low motivation, and staying present during stressful times. Joanne explains options and helps people decide what to try next.

Joanne works with adults and young adults on parenting challenges, blended family issues, caregiver stress, attachment concerns and eating-related problems. She offers practical strategies for communication, managing panic and supporting recovery from trauma, while respecting each person's pace and preferences.

How Joanne’s approaches work online

Joanne commonly combines client-centred work, cognitive behavioural therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy in her online sessions. Client-centred work means she follows the person's lead, listens without judgement and helps people name what matters most in their life. Cognitive behavioural therapy focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavioural changes to reduce anxiety and low mood. Dialectical behaviour therapy offers practical skills for managing intense emotions, improving distress tolerance and handling conflict.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. Joanne collaborates with each person to choose what fits their goals and preferences. She will discuss options, try different techniques and adjust the plan based on what helps most over time.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video calls work well for face-to-face conversations and exercises, phone sessions suit shorter check-ins or when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging can help with quick reflections or check-ins between sessions. These formats make it easier to fit sessions around work, caring responsibilities and daily life, while allowing the therapist to use the same practical exercises and skills work as in person.