Karinna Johnstone , AASW

Karinna Johnstone is an AASW social worker with 18 years of experience. She uses a down-to-earth approach to help people manage anxiety, depression, trauma and life changes. Karinna focuses on women's issues alongside a broad range of concerns including stress, parenting and grief.

Karinna believes people are experts in their own lives and she acts as a guide. Sessions aim to build motivation, confidence and practical skills. She helps people identify strengths and small steps that move them toward goals.

Her work often includes talking through past trauma, improving self-esteem and coping with loss. She also supports people facing relationship strain, sleep problems, career stresses and compassion fatigue. Karinna works with neurodiversity and attachment issues, and she addresses problems such as avoidance, control and codependency.

In sessions she draws on client-centred listening alongside practical techniques from cognitive behavioural and mindfulness approaches. Narrative ideas are used to reframe difficult stories and Attachment-Based methods help when relationships are central to the concern. The style is warm, steady and solution-focused, with an emphasis on usable skills.

Karinna practises in Australia and works in a straightforward, respectful way. She encourages small experiments between sessions and checks in on progress. People who want a calm, collaborative counsellor for lasting change may find her approach helpful.

How therapeutic approaches work online

Karinna uses client-centred therapy to provide attentive listening and collaborative goal-setting. This approach focuses on understanding each person's experience and supporting their own choices, which helps with self-esteem, grief and general life stress.

She also draws on cognitive behavioural therapy, which breaks problems into thoughts, feelings and actions and offers practical exercises. CBT techniques are useful for anxiety, sleep difficulties, low mood and patterns of avoidance. Attachment-Based ideas are used when relationship patterns and past attachment experience affect current wellbeing.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Karinna will discuss different methods and try them in ways that suit the client's needs, goals and preferences. The decision about which path to follow is collaborative and can change as progress is made.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video works well for face-to-face conversation, phone is useful when bandwidth is limited, live chat fits shorter check-ins and text messaging allows ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit counselling into busy days and to choose what feels most comfortable for each person.