Our Team

Janine is a relationship and psychotherapist, social worker, nationally accredited mediator & family dispute resolution practitioner. She is the director of the You, Me & Us Counselling & Mediation Centre, which she created after seeing a need for more specialist support for couples experiencing relationship difficulty in Canberra.

 

Janine is down to earth, has a sense of humour, and is also profoundly sensitive, warm and empathic and has an unwavering aim to help improve the life of each and every one of her clients. She is passionate about helping couples form deep emotional bonds that help them successfully navigate the inevitable conflicts that present in intimate relationships.

 

Janine has had advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples, Families and Individuals and is internationally Certified in that modality and is an ICEEFT Certified Supervisor. She is also level 3 trained by John and Julie Gottman (USA) in the Gottman Method, is trained in Bill Doherty’s Discernment Counselling (USA) for couples who are on the brink of separation or divorce. Most recently she has completed training in Schema Therapy for couples and advanced training in AEDP – an attachment and trauma informed psychotherapy extremely relevant to couples learning to reach for each other in new ways. She has also completed training with Stepfamilies Australia in the complex issues surrounding blended families.

 

Janine has extensive experience running workshops for couples including for therapists and their partners. She has post-graduate training in grief and trauma issues and trauma impacts on couple distress. She is also interested in executive functioning and neurodiversity and how differences in these impact on couple relationships.

 

Janine holds a Master degree in Sociology from UNSW, a Master in Social Work from Flinders University, and Post Graduate Certificates and Diplomas in both Mediation and Counselling. She combines all of this with practice experience – working for many years with Australia’s leading relationship agency and more 10 years in private practice – she has helped hundreds of couples work through conflict and painful emotions. Her client base spans across Australia and she has couples travel from interstate and overseas to work with her.

Melanie is a registered psychologist with a psychology degree from Sydney University, and a Masters Degree in Couple and Family Therapy. She has over 20 years of experience working with individuals, couples, children and families.

 

Melanie is an incredibly warm and insightful therapist, well known for meeting clients exactly where they are and understanding what they need. She has had extensive experience working with trauma, anxiety, depression and a range of mental health issues throughout her career.

 

She has had advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples, Families and Individuals. She is also level 3 Gottman trained and also trained in Circle of Security/Attachment Focused work with parents and families, as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Schema Therapy, EMDR and a range of other modalities.

 

Melanie has extensive experience as a psychologist in trauma environments, medical facilities and not for profit organisations including Relationship Australia. She is regularly engaged by prominent Australian Public Service departments and works with couples experiencing issues stemming from professional demands of their careers.

Catherine is a highly experienced relationship therapist and group facilitator with over 12 years experience working for Australia’s leading Relationship Agency and since in private practice.

 

She is sensitive, calm, patient and nurturing with a sense of fun that clients adore. Through her experience she has come to understand that, despite the many pressures and hardships encountered in relationships, true healing and stronger connections are possible.

 

Throughout her career, Catherine has worked with all members of family systems as they face life’s difficulties, transitions and change. She worked with the highest level of conflicted clients in the family law system, and has assisted and empowered parents, children and grandparents to break patterns of long-term conflict and distress. She thrives on helping people to be the best they can be by taking a client focused and strength-based approach; being an advocate for those who feel they are not being heard.

 

She holds a Diploma in Counselling & Groupwork from the Australian Institute of Relationship Studies and has had a wealth of professional development training in trauma and domestic violence. She has completed all three levels of training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples and has undertaken Gottman training.

Paul is an individual and relationship therapist who has worked with individuals and couples since completing his Graduate Diploma in Counselling from the University of Canberra. He is also trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

 

Paul has an approachable, humble, down-to-earth and easy-going personality, and it translates so beautifully in his empathic work with clients. He values creating a comfortable and non-judgemental environment when working with couples, and that creates a safe space to do deep work in sessions, which his clients value deeply.

 

Prior to retraining in Counselling, Paul spent 20 years working as a marketing relationship and communication professional where he was focused on building great relationships. He worked in high performance sport environments, tech startups and federal government departments. He has built on those skills which allow couples to understand and communicate what is happening for them in their very personal relationships.

 

Most recently, Paul worked with a leading counselling service for men, which means he comes to our centre with a deepened awareness of issues men are facing today.

Tony is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with over 30 years of experience working with individuals, couples and families. Tony graduated from The University of NSW in 1992. He has extensive experience having worked in government, community and hospital settings. His experience includes working with individuals couples and families challenged by mental health concerns and substance abuse. Tony also has worked extensively with military members and their families to assist with the challenges of trauma, postings, deployments and transitioning from service.

 

Of special interest for Tony is assisting couples he works with to achieve a more secure bond. He has done advanced training in both Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and the Gottman Method. He brings his warm personality and sense of humour to help couples understand their relationship challenges and navigate to a sense of well-being.

 

In addition to his couple training, Tony has a strong background in narrative, solution focused therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and acceptance and commitment-based therapy. He also has a good understanding of the treatment of mental health issues and the impact of trauma on couple and family relationships.

Jeanette brings a gentle, calming, non-judgemental, presence to her therapeutic work with couples. Trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), she is passionate about helping couples overcome issues of distress, infidelity, and negative cycles of criticism and reactivity. She gains satisfaction from helping them to cultivate insight about themselves and their partners, in relation to each other, and build safer, more secure, trusting bonds into the future.

 

After completing an MA Counselling (Uni of Canberra), Jeanette has also worked for Australia’s national therapeutic organisation supporting families, individuals and couples, working in areas such as grief, loss, trauma, substance use, domestic violence and bereavement.

 

With a background and qualifications in clinical pastoral care education, Jeanette also worked in hospital environments for over five years. Working within clinical teams, she used a trauma informed lens, to provide person-centered, emotional and psychological support to patients and staff alike. Before becoming a Counsellor, and with qualifications in communications, Jeanette’s first career was in Public Relations (UK), and later in the Australian Public service.

 

Al possesses a genuine passion for healing through relationships and for understanding the human condition. Clients encounter his warmth, humour, curiosity and clarity as they find their way through a supported process of discovery and change. In the ‘life before’, Al worked as a music teacher then later in construction and volunteered in community sport leadership.

 

Al has a Bachelor’s Degree in Counselling and is an ACA accredited Level 4 practitioner. He began his career at a leading counselling service for men, then pursued a specific family focus – working exclusively for the last five years with couples, parents, and children. Trained and experienced in both the attachment-based Circle of Security interventions (COSP and COSI), this model of core human needs serves as a significant underpinning to Al’s work. Al has trained and worked with complex family system issues and complex trauma, and understands the impact of these on his clients throughout the lifespan.

 

Al brings a wealth of experience when assisting couples and families to explore new ways of being. He trusts that the capacity for safe, loving bonds is already present in the individual and within the relationship itself – and waiting to be seen, understood, and enacted.

Sarah (Sair) has a warm, relaxed and deeply empathic manner which provides a safe, non-judgemental space for couples to feel truly heard. She has been a counsellor since 2016, and brings a wealth of life experience, training and knowledge to her clients.

 

Sair was initially trained in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Her work with complex mental health presentations gives her a deep understanding of the impact of emotional dysregulation on relationships with loved ones. Sair is a Graduate of three years of training in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy, including additional ISITTA Trauma Training from Embodywise USA, to help survivors of childhood and sexual abuse trauma to recover. Sair is deeply aware of the impact of complex trauma and mental health presentations on relationships with loved ones and is closely attuned to the issues that attachment bonds bring to couples’ ways of connecting. Her training in Emotionally Focused Therapy works to help couples shift their relationship dynamics to allow for a closer, more meaningful and intimate experience.

 

Sair holds a Graduate Diploma in Counselling from the University of Canberra and will complete her Master in Counselling by the end of 2023. Before becoming a therapist she successfully developed and operated a working cattle farm, worked in TV production and supported children of military parents. She brings a mindful curiosity to couples’ experience, assisting clients toward self-discovery and the opportunity for meaningful change.

 

Sair is only available to see clients remotely via Zoom.

Amy holds a Master of Counselling from the University of Canberra. Amy has also completed her Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples.

 

Amy is also a trained Leadership Coach. She was motivated to move across into working with individuals and couples and their emotions after experiencing the power of a therapeutic alliance. Seeing the potential we all have when working with the right practitioner was transformational for her. She loves working alongside clients to help them better understand the underlying emotions that influence all of our behaviours, especially in relationships.

 

Amy holds undergraduate qualifications in the Social Sciences and spent 20 years working in her first career in the Australian Public Service, predominantly in policy and governance. Amy is also actively involved in the Canberra not-for-profit sector in a voluntary capacity. Amy is positive, warm, thoughtful and very enthusiastic about helping individuals and couples be the best they can be.