Counselling with Aligning Health



Sarah is a qualified counsellor with experience working with children and adults. She has worked with complex trauma, eating disorders and neurodiversity. Sarah has recently completed her Honours of Psychological Science and holds a Graduate Diploma in Psychology. Sarah will be continuing her studies in 2023 in completing her Masters in Psychology. 

Additional training that Sarah has completed includes;
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  • 2023- Schema Therapy for ED
  • 2023-Dialectical Behavioural Therapy for ED
  • 2023- MANTRA training
  • 2023 – Body Dysmorphia Disorders
  •  2023- Enhanced CBT-E for eating disorders
  • 2023- Guided self-help for eating disorders using CBT
  • 2023- Good mental health for Autistic girls and women   
  • 2023- Practice strategies for assessment and Engagement
  •  2023- Supporting children who disclose trauma
  • 2023- Supporting children who have experienced Trauma
  • 2023- The Trauma Toolbox
  • 2023- Autism And ADHD
  • 2023- Eating Disorder Core Skills: eLearning for Mental Health Professionals.

 Sarah fuses cognitive behavioural therapy with acceptance and commitment therapy to tailor the needs of the individual client. Sarah utilises a strengths-based and person centered approach, and works from a visual perspective to empower the client in their treatment.  

Sarah has also worked as a Youth Worker and Primary School Teacher and is highly experienced in working with both adults and young people. Sarah has additional training in holistic nutrition and lifestyle, trauma informed yoga, eating disorders and has a keen interest in working with people with Autism, trauma and eating disorders.

Sarah is also highly skilled and trained in the practice of Yoga and Ayurveda and facilitates nationally accredited training in this area
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Sessions are 50 minutes in duration and include intake, assessment and goal setting.Rates are $110.

Please info@aligninghealth.com.au for availability. 

Sarah's qualifications include;
  • Course Owner & Principal of Aligning Health Retreat
  • 10948NAT Diploma of Ayurveda Yoga Teaching 
  • HLT52615 Diploma of Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultation
  • HLT62615 Advanced Diploma of Ayurveda
  • Author of Autism Re-wrote My Family (2022)
  • Author of Food Hurts- Healing Anorexia Nervosa with Yoga & Ayurveda (2020)
  • Yoga Teacher & Aerial Yoga Instructor
  • Ayurvedic Practitioner, Therapist & Health Coach​
  • (Masters Professional Psychology (Current), Dip Counselling, Honours of Psychology, Grad Dip PsySci, Adv Dip Ayurveda Practitioner, Dip Classical Yoga, DipEd, BSocSC (YWk), DipComWelf, DipCommDev, DipCommYWk, DipVisArt, Cert IV TAE, Chef) 

​Philosophy of Aligning Health
Aligning Health works with the modalities of Yoga, Ayurveda and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to deliver a holistic mental health practice. We are based in Axedale, Bendigo. Our services are offered at Aligning Health Retreat, a specialised yoga and ayurveda centre with a personalised counselling space. Aligning Health counselling services believe in a person centred approach to counselling. We believe that with guidance, we all have the power to heal – it is about finding your way towards that healing space.
Although Aligning Health offer yoga and ayurveda, this will not be part of the counselling service unless the client requests this. Counselling will be based on the cognitive behavioural therapy philosophy to provide a practical and present approach to counselling.
 
Counselling methodology. 
Cognitive behavioural therapy works with understanding the thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It is an active approach to counselling. You will be expected to be an active participant in the counselling process with homework tasks assigned. I will also use solution focussed therapy, motivational interviewing and other behavioural techniques.  Please ask me about my methods of counselling if you have any questions.
Aim of Counselling: The aim of counselling is to provide you, the client, with a confidential opportunity to explore personal and relational issues in safety. The role of Aligning Health Counselling is to help you through this process without judgement or telling you what to do. During counselling, we set goals to work on together. The client agrees to work towards the agreed goals. If at any time I feel I can no longer help you, I will offer to refer you to someone who can.
 
Sessions:
Sessions last approximately 50 minutes and will be every week typically on the same day and time, suitable to you and within my hours of operation  It is expected that the session will begin at the agreed time. Any session that begins after this time due to late client arrival for whatever reason cannot be extended beyond the agreed finish time. If you do not arrive or call within 15 minutes of the agreed appointment, this will be considered a cancellation and Aligning Health will not be available for the remainder of the session.
 
The frequency of consultations is something you can negotiate with Aligning Health, however weekly consultations are generally recommended at the outset. A normal treatment plan includes 8-12 sessions. Aligning Health asks that you commit to 4 sessions before realistically evaluating the effectiveness of therapy. After this, the contract can be renewed verbally for an additional 4 sessions. A review is given every 8th session (or sooner if desired) and may include changes in frequency of sessions.
 
For eating disorder treatment it is expected that you will attend twice a week for 4 weeks and then weekly 20 sessions or 40 session treatment plan. You will be followed up after 20 weeks having completed treatment to discuss recovery and make sure you continue to your journey of recovery.
 
Aligning Health understands that your life circumstances may suddenly change. You may at any point desire or be obligated to discontinue therapy. Whatever the reason, Aligning Health respects your decision but ask that you give one weeks’ notice before finishing so that we have the chance to discuss your decision
 
Online Sessions: These are not available for eating disorder clients. When a session ends prematurely due to technical difficulty, or you are unable to connect to a session due to technical difficulty, please call or email Aligning Health. If the difficulty is unable to be resolved at the scheduled time, your consultation will be rescheduled. If you are unable to connect at all, then telephone or face-to-face counselling are other options.