Maliheh Zare , ACA

Maliheh Zare is an ACA counsellor with 18 years of professional experience in Australia. She helps people manage stress and anxiety, deal with depression, and find clearer ways to handle anger and addictions. Maliheh also supports clients facing relationship and family difficulties and people coping with grief or major life changes.

Her style is practical and warm. Sessions focus on straightforward conversation, noticing patterns, and trying small changes that make everyday life easier. She uses techniques that help people rethink unhelpful thoughts, practise acceptance of difficult feelings, and strengthen bonds with the people who matter to them.

Maliheh draws on a few core approaches to fit each person's needs. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy aims to identify and shift thinking and behaviour patterns. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people accept feelings while moving toward values-based action. Attachment-based and emotionally focused methods look at how early bonds and current interactions shape closeness and trust.

She works with a wide range of concerns such as intimacy issues, body image, parenting strain, immigration-related stress, and compassion fatigue. Sessions are offered in English and Persian, and are tailored to the pace each person needs. Maliheh aims to create a respectful space where clients can talk honestly and find workable steps forward.

To begin, people complete a short questionnaire and then arrange sessions that suit their schedule. The therapy process is collaborative, with goals set together and adjusted as progress is made.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people accept difficult thoughts and feelings while choosing actions that match their values; it can be useful for anxiety, depression and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviours to reduce symptoms like worry, low mood and sleep problems. Attachment-Based or Emotionally-Focused approaches look at how relationships and past bonds affect current closeness and communication, which can help with intimacy issues and relationship patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences and what feels most useful, and tailor methods in a collaborative way. Clients and the therapist review progress and adjust techniques as needed so sessions remain relevant and practical.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can suit shorter check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options offer flexibility for people juggling work, family or travel, and make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life.