July 14th, 2026 by Elmarie BekkerSummary: There are many ways to prepare for your brief therapy. Reflect on what brings you to therapy and write down your questions. Plan your appointment and prepare yourself to be honest.
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Are you considering brief therapy counselling? It is indeed a great decision. However, if you have never attended a therapy session before, it is natural to have questions about what will happen and how you can prepare. When you prepare for your first session, you can feel more relaxed and confident. Although there is no “perfect” way to get ready, a little preparation can make it easier to get the most out of your experience.
Tips to Get Ready for Your Brief Therapy Counselling Session
Reflect on What Brings You to Therapy
Before your session, reflect on why you decided to seek counselling. You do not need to have all the answers, but having a general idea of what you want to improve can give your therapist a helpful starting point. Perhaps you want to manage stress more effectively, strengthen your relationships, or improve your confidence. Even if your goals are not yet clear, think about the challenges you are facing.
Write Down Your Questions and Goals
It is normal to have questions before your first counselling session. You may be curious about how brief therapy works or what you can expect throughout the process. When you write these questions beforehand, you can remember to ask them. You can also make a short note of what you want to achieve through the therapy. Your goals can provide a useful starting point for the conversation.
Plan Your Appointment in Advance
A little planning can help you arrive for your session feeling calm and focused. Take enough time to travel so that you do not rush for the meeting. If you leave home late, you may worry about reaching late and forget about all your questions. Take time for your travel and arrive early. It will help you get ready for the session and concentrate on it.
Prepare Yourself to Be Open and Honest
Yes, it is crucial. Train yourself to communicate openly in the session. Your counsellor is there to listen, understand your experiences, and support you in finding practical ways. You do not need to present yourself in a certain way or worry about saying the “right” things. It is okay to feel nervous during your session. Many people do. Remember, the more honest you are, the more personalised and effective your session can become.
We hope you get helpful information from this blog. However, if you have any specific questions, do not wait to get in touch with us.
Summary: To get the most out of your counselling sessions, it is essential to set aside time or space for yourself, track your symptoms, take care of yourself, and note what you learn from therapy.
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Therapy is a powerful tool for healing and personal growth. The counsellors can provide you with a safe and non-judgemental space to explore your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and help you reach your goals.
However, to make your counselling more effective, you need to do more than show up to your appointments. Now the question is, how can you get the most out of your North Canberra counselling? Let’s learn!
Key Ways You Can Make the Most Out of Your Counselling Sessions in North Canberra
Create Some Time or Space for Yourself
It is essential to create some space for yourself after the session, so that you can reflect on the sessions and let things settle. This effective approach helps your body and brain to process and integrate all the thoughts and feelings your psychologist explored with you. What if you jump into your regular life right after the session? The therapy cannot make so much of a difference in your life.
Note Everything
- Many people take note after a therapy session. You can keep a therapy notebook with you. You can note:
- Emotions that you feel after the session
- Any skill you need to practice after the session
- Any questions you have
- You can bring this notebook to your next session and show your psychologist.
Track Your Symptoms
Maybe you have considered therapy to reduce certain symptoms, such as trauma, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, etc. After each session, it is essential to track your symptoms. Tracking is simple. You just need to rate your symptoms out of 10 each day and make a note of any major things you face. For example, depression– 5/10, anxiety– 6/ 10.
Understand How to Take Care of Yourself
After a challenging counselling session, it is normal to feel heavy. Going through therapy is not an easy process, so you might feel a little tired afterwards. During the sessions, your mind and your body work hard to process the information. So, it is essential to take care of yourself after a challenging therapy session. It is because when people feel overwhelmed, it is essential to feel better after each session.
Make Your Therapy Session More Effective!
By following these factors, you can get the most out of counselling in North Canberra and reach your goals. Remember, it is a journey, and the more you do for it, the more you will get out of it.
Counselling helps to strategically manage the emotional challenges young migrants face.
Young migrants face many hidden emotional challenges that go mostly unnoticed because parents and
caregivers face their own existential transition. Migrants experience trauma, often in all its forms,
social isolation, cultural shock and stress. Counselling can help unpack these feelings, build coping
skills, and find support. It will allow you to take control of trying to belong. You don’t have to face it alone. Be brave to talk about your feelings and struggles. Go to counselling and learn how to navigate your journey through this.
Migration can be full of hope – new skies, new streets, new opportunities. It can also be challenging – no
friends, no support, no belonging, no understanding! We all speak English (to varying degrees) but
suddenly it sounds like a different language with a different vocabulary and different way it falls on the
ear. Beneath the excitement and the struggle, young migrants are often burdened by invisible weights.
These challenges have been part of a young migrant’s journey for many years, even if no one talks
about it. This post will explore those challenges and highlight how seeing a counsellor may help to
lighten the burden.
The Quiet Struggles Young Migrants Carry Every Day
1. Trauma and Loss
Trauma finds us in our normal everyday lives. Migrants and Refugees are even more prone to have had experienced serious trauma during their journey to make the choice to immigrate. Trauma is not always big trauma like war, death, being a victim of crime, or loss and fear of survival; it is also sometimes little things that can impact like circumstances changing for example being sent to daycare when mum suddenly has to work to financially support the family and no longer looks after you during the day, or meeting a harsh word or bully on the playground, or even feeling lost because you miss home so much that it hurts physically. These are the things migrants face that does not vanish on touch down but can have a severe impact on mental health.
2. Cultural Adjustment and Identity Stress
The cultural adjustment in the new country is a huge learning curve. Learning new systems, juggling translation and the use of languages, figuring out where you belong, clouds every day with little hurdles. Slang that you don’t get, social cues that confuse you, or trying to fit in without losing yourself are common experiences every day. It is exhausting to feel “in-between” worlds all the time. Your constant distress heightens your emotional experience and people often feel overwhelmed and unsure what to do.
3. Social Isolation & Belonging Issues
You might be surrounded by people but still feel unseen. Never quite belong here in your adopted country, nor the same in your country of origin where people will tell of your change and where things are moving on and you have no experience of that journey. It slowly infiltrates our reality and changes experiences, relationships and belonging. It can contribute to feeling anxious or even depressed.
4. Barriers to Accessing Help
Being unseen is the biggest barrier to access help. All members of the same family are in various phases of adjusting after migration and people get caught in their own existential survival, where they don’t necessarily have the capacity to notice another’s existential crisis. Shame, stigma, fear of privacy or fear of push back from those left behind in the country of origin, not knowing what services exist, language barriers, cultural differences about mental health… all of it can block someone asking for help.
5. Systemic and Unseen Pressures
There are so many systemic and unseen pressures: feeling judged, struggling to be understood, having to start from scratch, trying to navigate a foreign system with its own legalities, all happening at once. Many wrap themselves in resilience like a coat, looking strong, and keeping going, but under the surface the anxiety and weight of fitting in is real.
These challenges often remain hidden, quietly influencing moods, behaviours, and the way young migrants experience themselves and everyday life in Australia. It can be overwhelming, even when everything seems fine on the outside.
The Role of Psychotherapy in Helping Young Migrants
At Elmarie Bekker Counselling, we work closely with young migrants to help them navigate these hidden struggles by:
● Dealing with their emotions and helping them put words to feelings like grief, guilt, or fear.
Sometimes they’ve carried these emotions for years without saying them aloud.
● Discovering language to describe when someone doesn’t have the words for what they feel.
A small but powerful step!
● Acknowledging their experiences and their reality as being shaped by not just what is
happening in the here and now, but by the culture and people left behind.
● Navigating new life challenges and systems by providing a safe space to find their new voice.
● Facilitate healing and finding support and reconnecting with networks, mentors, and
communities.
● Validating their strength and resilience, but also their emotional intelligence for seeking help
and recognizing seeking support is part of thriving, not failing.
Looking for help?
If you’re a young migrant, feeling weighed down by all the changes, come to Elmarie Bekker Counselling. I have lived the migrant experience and although all our experiences are different, I can help you find your voice, make sense of your feelings, and help you find a little more ease in you, your family or your child’s everyday life. Reach out, I’d love to walk this journey with you.
When we suffer loss, life often pushes us to resume our normal daily activities quickly without adequate time to grieve deeply and address the personal loss. It can create havoc when you push grief and loss aside as it can show up not only as physical pain, but as so many other disguised things: unexplained emotional outbursts, addictive habits, troublesome relationships, anger, depression, and anxiety.
In times of loss, we are mourning the loss of connection – to the person, the relationship and the context where within the grief now lives. Grief has unexpected triggers. One minute we will be okay, and the next the most insignificant thing can trigger an unexpected outpouring of raw grief, leaving us feeling unhinged and exhausted. Resulting in gripping control over the emotions ever tighter and pushing grief even further into the unconscious where it can create a great deal of discomfort. Grief Counselling can provide a safe space to process the emotions and the pain of the loss and process the loss of connection you are facing.
Have you lost someone dear to you? Are you finding it difficult to go on with your life? Don’t know how to move on and still honour the person you have lost? Feelings of grief and loss can be complicated because it is not just a single emotion, but often reflects unresolved feelings tied to complex relationships and dynamics. It can feel crushing, and many choose to let it go unaddressed. However, over time, unresolved grief can lead to mental health challenges and in this blog, we are discussing the ways unprocessed grief can harm body and mind.
LOOK OUT FOR THE FOLLOWING SIGNS OF UNPROCESSED GRIEF!
Don’t ignore the Physical Signs: Many might be unaware of it, but grief can have physical effects. Unprocessed grief sits in the unconscious and can cause somatic challenges like stomach aches, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, trouble sleeping, or sudden changes in appetite. It is the body’s way of telling that something is not right. Unprocessed grief puts immense stress onto the system, and the body pays the price quietly. The emotional pain manifests as symptoms that if not address can have long-term physical effects on our health.
Emotions are Out of Control: When grief is ignored, the emotions becomes denied or distorted into something else and can become unpredictable. Tears can come without any reason, you may get enraged at the most trivial issues, and irritability can take over daily life. People may feel emotionally raw and exhausted. This is where working through the grief in therapy can work wonders … you get a space to let these feelings out safely, understand and
process them, and learn how to manage these emotional outbursts without hurting oneself or others.
Unhealthy dependencies: People find different numbing ways to avoid experiencing the unresolved grief they experience. These self-soothing behaviours uses other things to find numbness in food, alcohol, drugs, sex, phone scrolling, and shopping. These coping strategies may feel like relief but only deepens the problem. It is a maladaptive coping strategy that will cause secondary harm if left unchecked.
Relationships Under Strain: When you are living with unprocessed grief, you may find it hard to connect with others. Your numbness may interfere with your ability to connect to close loved ones and even friends. If this pattern continues for too long, friends and family may start to feel shut out, and conversations may feel impossible. Loneliness grows as disconnection continues. It sometimes feel impossible to restore what you had before the loss. Working with a counsellor can be the best way to get back the ability to connect, communicate, and maintain meaningful relationships even during difficult times.
Mental Health Issues: Ignoring grief for a long time can give rise to various mental health issues like depression and anxiety, anger, resentment and bitterness, as well as hopelessness. We can get stuck in negativity.
A SOLUTION IN A NUTSHELL!
If you have lost a loved one, whose absence makes life feel like living in a void and you are unable to bear your unresolved grief on your own any longer, reach out today. At Elmarie Bekker Counselling, we specialize in helping clients process their grief and loss by creating a space where clients feel safe enough to explore their life story with all its highlights and losses. We will assist in making sense of the loss whilst finding ways to honour those we have lost. We will develop strategies on how to go on and live full and happy lives. Take the first step towards healing, and finding peace, hope, and a way to carry your loved one in your heart with honour and resolution whilst also being able to move on with life. Contact Elmarie today.
Counselling helps us celebrate the uniqueness of neurodiversity in every family and help develop well-adjusted coping strategies to guide managing the challenges that might arise.
Who decides on what is normal? For far too long has just one norm or standard been used to define what is acceptable and if it did not fit into the definition’s box, there had to be something wrong with it. Gone is the day where stigmatising diversity and difference is okay; we are all uniquely different on a sliding scale of neurodivergence and it is great!
Nowhere is it more evident than in our families … every family is different. Some think fast, some feel deep, some notice things others miss, some are irritating, some are quiet and in a world of their own, but each valued members of the family. Many adults often do not see their own neurodivergence but can link behaviours and traits intergenerationally. Each member has their own quirks, strengths and challenges.
This blog is about learning to understand and celebrate those differences. It also touches on how counselling where neurodivergence is discussed and better understood can help families connect better, find strategies to master some of the neurodivergent challenges and make home a place where everyone feels accepted and nobody needs to mask their true selves.
What It Means to Be a Neurodivergent Person?
Being neurodivergent describes individuals whose brains function differently from what society considers neurotypical. Neurodivergent brains process information, communicate, and experience the world in diverse ways. Neurodivergence is often associated with strengths (superpowers) like creativity, intense focus (hyperfocus), strong pattern recognition skills, and unique perspectives. The term acknowledges that differences in brain structure, function, and processing are normal variations, not flaws. These differences can affect social interaction, sensory perception, and information processing. Neurodivergent conditions include autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette syndrome, and more. Neurodivergence is a broad term, and experiences vary widely from person to person. These differences are not problems to fix but strengths to understand and appreciate.
Simple Ways to Support and Celebrate Neurodivergent Loved Ones
Unconditional listening: Listening to all members of the family with equal unconditional openness whether they are neurotypical or neurodivergent is the only way to build good connections. Judgement has no place in a world where all of us wants to belong and be seen. Remember, our neurodivergent family members may express differently through gestures, deep focus, or needing extra time to respond, but their contribution is just as valid; it might even
surprise you to consider a perspective that you might never have considered yourself. Hear the neurodivergent member out without trying to correct them, speak on their behalf or change anything about them. As they feel more included and accepted, they will grow in confidence and their superpower or special strengths will flourish. Everyone might not be equally good at all things, but if they find their passion, it can truly be astounding.
Understanding family dynamics and improving communication: Families can be messy and complicated because often there is little insight into family’s dynamics, or how our emotions manifest, or how are thoughts shape our behaviours and how our behaviours impact members in the family. The more we understand about our family dynamics, the more awareness we have about our behaviour. This awareness gives a better view of choices and how to navigate these
complicated dynamics. Positive communication between all the family members is a key factor in neurodiverse families. When neurodiverse families focus more on encouragement and acceptance rather than highlighting the flaws, blaming and correcting each other, everyone grows together.
Stay Open to their Unique Perspectives: Neurodivergent family members often see things differently and come up with ideas that others might not think of. When families stay open to neurodivergent thinking, it can spark creative solutions and fresh perspectives that can inform a situation in a new way and help everyone grow together. It can be challenging and sometimes exhausting for families to provide their neurodivergent loved one the right kind of support. Families with neurodivergent family members needs extra support and understanding because life can sometimes be hard, unwelcoming and exhausting
and validation that their efforts are seen and appreciated.
Get Support When Needed: Sometimes, understanding and supporting a neurodivergent family member can feel confusing or overwhelming. Counselling can guide families in learning better communication strategies, managing emotional stress, and building stronger bonds.
Wrapping Up!
As a mental health locksmith with my own neurodivergent lived experience and as a parent who has raised neurodivergent children, I understand the challenges and joys found in neurodivergence. As a professional counsellor and psychotherapist, I recognise the effort it takes for our neurodivergent population to fit into a world that was not designed for their strengths and where the only way to survive is to mask the real you. This is society’s shame and loss. At Elmarie Bekker Counselling, every person, whether neurodivergent or not, finds their voice –
unique, beautiful, worthwhile and contributing; it is a safe space to drop masks and tell their story in their own way. It is a place to celebrate resilience, determination and tenacity. Come and let me, a neurodivergent mental health locksmith, help you unlock your beautiful, unique, neurodivergent self within your neurodivergent family and find ways to make life easier and happier!
Loss of Self-Identity Can Be Damaging to a Couple’s Relationship
Has the spark disappeared in your relationship with your partner? Starting to feel distant without any major disagreement or a big fight? It usually comes down to one thing: losing oneself along the way. It is subtle, even sneaky this loss of self, but it creeps up unnoticed until you suddenly realize one day that you are not recognizing the person in the mirror anymore. Very often, in a relationship, one doesn’t even realize when they have lost themselves in the relationship. It doesn’t happen in a single day. Looking back, you notice all the little bits of yourself that were given up just to keep the peace or make the other person happy. At first, it all felt fine. Over time, it builds up, resentment grows and now the relationship no longer feels like a team.
What contributes?
Passion fades:
Being in love is exciting, spine tingling and gives us a big dopamine hit! It connects love, attraction, adventure, connection and lust – a giddy combination, but as life creeps in with all its expectations and time pressures, the excitement is lost in the practicality of life; and life’s adventure becomes mundane and just another chore where you mourn the fading of passion.
Hobbies drop off: Ever notice a partner losing interest in things they used to love? Maybe they stopped going out with mates, playing sports, or doing creative stuff. As individuals, it is important to have own interests apart from being a couple because it provides a healthy outlet and allows you to still define part of self as an individual. The partners in a couple have different needs and it is healthy to pursue these individual needs individually. It enhances relationships. It makes connections deeper and brings new energy into the relationship. If we stop doing things as individuals, it slowly drains from the relationship, because individual passions and hobbies are what makes the individuals unique and what lent the attraction the couples initially experienced. Shared moments suddenly feel empty because part of the self is gone and the spark gets extinguished.
Communication starts slipping: It is tricky to talk about feelings if you are not really in touch with yourself. Thoughts get jumbled, needs go unsaid, and conversations turn shallow. Frustration builds silently. Ever had that weird, quiet, tension where both people are in the same room, but feels worlds apart? Yeah, identity that got lost!
Resentment creeps in: Giving too much to please someone might seem loving at first, but if it continues, it turns into quiet anger. Small things start to feel like big betrayals. You know that simmering feeling you cannot shake? It is resentment taking root. It poisons the fun out of love fast.
Mutual respect takes a hit: When one person keeps compromising who they are, respect begins to wobble. Both partners start assuming the other will always adjust. Imbalance slowly weakens trust and affection and without respect, even love struggles to breathe!
Emotional disconnect sets in: Sometimes, it is not loud arguments that kill a connection, it is the slow drift of feeling invisible, undervalued, numb. Ever wondered why a couple can live together yet feel totally alone and stuck in a relationship that becomes like a jail. No self-identity left – just self-sacrifice and subjugation.
Find Yourself Again and Ignite the Lost Spark!
Have you lost yourself in your relationship? Have you as a couple lost the spark? Are you looking for a mental health locksmith (counsellor and psychotherapist) that can do effective couple’s counselling in Canberra to help save your relationship and your self- identity? Look no further than Elmarie Bekker Counselling! She helps couples reconnect not only with themselves but also with each other by guiding them to rebuild trust, communication, and a sense of who they truly are. Visit elmariebekker.com.au to learn about the counselling services she offers.
The Hidden Struggles of Young Migrants and How Therapy Helps Them
Young migrants face hidden emotional challenges, such as trauma, isolation, cultural stress. Therapy can help unpack these feelings, build coping skills, and find support. You don’t have to face it alone. Go through to learn how this can help.
Migration can be full of hope. New skies. New streets. New opportunities. But beneath the excitement, young migrants often carry invisible weights. The emotional and psychological challenges they face can run deep — not obvious to the people around them. These challenges are part of the journey, even if no one talks about them. This post will explore those challenges and highlight how an expert psychologist can help lighten the burden.
The Quiet Struggles Young Migrants Carry Every Day
1. Trauma and Loss
Many young migrants in Australia and refugee arrivals have left behind conflict, violence, and even loss of loved ones. That stuff doesn’t just vanish when you touch down.
2. Cultural Adjustment And Identity Stress
Learning new systems. Juggling languages. Figuring out where you belong. Every day has little hurdles: slang you don’t get, social cues that confuse you, trying to fit in without losing yourself. Feeling “in-between” worlds is exhausting.
3. Isolation & Belonging Issues
You might be surrounded by people, but still feel unseen. Not quite belonging here, not quite there. That can feed anxiety or a low mood.
4. Barriers to Accessing Help
Shame, stigma, not knowing what services exist, language barriers, cultural differences about mental health… All of it can block someone asking for help.
5. Systemic and Unseen Pressures
Being judged. Not being understood. Having to start from scratch. These things pile up. Many wrap themselves in resilience like a coat, look strong, and keep going. But under the surface, the weight is real.
These challenges often remain hidden, quietly influencing moods, behaviours, and the way young migrants experience everyday life in Australia. It can be overwhelming, even when everything seems fine on the outside.
The Role of Psychotherapy in Helping Young Migrants
As a counsellor and psychotherapist, I, Elmarie Bekker, work closely with young migrants to help them navigate these hidden struggles. Below is how I help my new immigrant clients:
● I help them put words to feelings like grief, guilt, or fear. Sometimes they’ve carried these emotions for years without saying them aloud..
● When someone doesn’t have the words for what they feel, I help them discover language to describe it. That small step is powerful.
● Most of the time, I acknowledge that their experiences are shaped not just by what happened, but by the culture they left behind and the culture they now live in.
● I also help them navigate new life challenges and systems.
● Healing isn’t only individual. We support them in finding or reconnecting with networks, mentors, and communities that see them.
● I recognise the strength they already have. But also remind them that it’s okay to need help, and that seeking support is part of thriving, not failing.
Last But Not The Least
If you’re a young migrant feeling weighed down by all the changes, I’m here. I work with you at your pace. I help you find your voice, make sense of your feelings, and build a little more ease in your everyday life. Reach out, I’d love to walk this journey with you.