Collaborative Connections Counselling
A new counselling service based in Bendigo
Our Counselling Services
Do you need someone to talk to? Are you feeling overwhelmed by life’s challenges – at home, work or school? Are there things from your past that are getting in the way of the life you want to be living? Let this new Bendigo counselling service help you.
Maybe you have tried other traditional talking therapies and they haven’t worked for you.
Welcome to Collaborative Connections Counselling, a therapeutic support service based Bendigo. It is one of a few Eye Movement Integration Therapy services located in Australia. This is an efficacious therapeutic approach, that helps facilitate healing.
Collaborative Connections Counselling can support your needs and goals.
We have helped people recover from:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Trauma
- Poor self-esteem
- Relationship and interpersonal challenges
- Anger management
- Grief
- Feeling listless and without purpose.
We can also help you develop the skills and resources required to help maintain what you achieve.
Collaborative Connections Counselling is an accredited Bendigo counselling service. Therapy is tailored to suit your individual needs, using a variety of therapeutic approaches to make this possible. One size does not fit all.
Organise a time to chat now. Our counselling service is located in Golden Square, Bendigo, opposite St John of God Hospital. The first session is free; it provides a good opportunity for introductions. We will also conduct a simple intake during this time, with no obligation to return if you feel like we are not a good match. So why wait?
Eye Movement Therapy
We are one of the few therapeutic services specialising in EMIT (Eye Movement Integration Therapy) in Australia, an evidence-based approach used to help people heal from trauma and other challenges. EMIT is similar, and crosses over with, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR). Our approach is person-centred; you will always have control of the process.
Presently we are taking new clients so give us a call, or send us an email so that we can help you live the life you want; whether you live in Bendigo or further afield.
What is Counselling?
“…a safe and confidential collaboration between qualified practitioners and clients to promote mental health and wellbeing, enhance self-understanding, and resolve identified concerns.
Counselling provides individuals who would not typically benefit from standard treatment options provided by their general practitioner or psychologist, access to cost-effective complementary psychological interventions, which are responsive to the individual’s mental health needs.
Counselling “provides psychotherapeutic interventions for psychological difficulties [and] supports people with life’s challenges.”
(Australian Counselling Association Website: What is Counselling?)
Your Journey with us
We understand how daunting it can be to take the first step. This is an outline of the first stages of your therapeutic journey:
- Book an Appointment: Call, text, or email to schedule an initial session at a time that suits you. We provide in person appointments, and telehealth appointments for those out of town.
- Intake Appointment: You then come to our office for a face-to-face chat, which provides us with the chance to see if we think we will both work well together. Intake sessions have no costs attached so that you are not out of pocket if you feel our service is not aligned with your needs.
- First Counselling Session: Your first counselling session allows you to talk about your goals, concerns, relevant history, and what you’d like to achieve. We listens without judgement and together we will create an approach that works for you.
- Personalised Support: We understand a range of evidence-based approaches that can support your treatment, such as:
Referral
To get started all you have to do is give us a call, send us an email, or send us a text. You can also email the referral form below if you wish to provide more information before we speak. Most organisations will use this form to connect people to our service, like a GP or employment support agency.
More About Our Counselling Approaches
What is Integrative Therapy?
Integrative Therapy
Integrative Therapy involves using techniques from various therapeutic orientations to treat a person’s individual needs. This approach recognises that each person brings to counselling a unique issue. Integrative Therapy tailors interventions to their specific needs.
Learn More
What is Impact Therapy?
Impact Therapy
Impact Therapy is a creative form of therapy; it is a multisensory approach to counselling and compliments EMIT (and EMDR) and Integrative Therapy. It helps make counselling sessions clear, concrete and thought provoking. This approach uses verbal, visual and kinaesthetic communications, and may also use props, drawings and movement to help people approach things rationally. Impact Therapy combines rational, behavioural and Gestalt theories, and compliments eye movement therapies.
Learn More
What is EMIT?
EMIT
EMIT stands for Eye Movement Integration Therapy.
It uses different directed eye movement patterns to help process painful experiences, thoughts, feelings, and or sensations. This process can have a tremendous healing impact on your mind and body.
Learn More
Why these approaches?
Why these?
These therapies are efficient and effective. They do not require prolonged exposure to painful memories. In fact, compared to most other therapies, they require very little discussion. Most of the time all you need to do is think about the origins of your challenges, and to explore these challenges in creative ways, supported by the counsellor. At all times you remain in control.
Visit our Library
Learn more about these counselling approaches:
Who can benefit from these approaches?
EMIT, Impact Therapy and Integrative Therapy can greatly benefit people who are:
Feeling challenged by a problematic situation in their life
Wanting to recover from a distressing or traumatic experience
Fearful of a future situation
Experiencing symptoms of PTSD
Troubled by phobias
Troubled by panic disorders
Exploring their identity
Impacted by debilitating anxiety
Experiencing depression or low moods
Having relationship issues
Troubled with debilitating grief/bereavement
Experiencing low self-esteem
Words from the developers of these counselling approaches
EMI
Metaphorically, traumatic memories are like chlorine: they are caustic and damaging in concentrated form. EMI Allows that chlorine to be diluted with clear, healthful water in the form of healing information, rendering the traumatic memories harmless and even purifying, in the same way that chlorine added to drinking water supply or a swimming pool is purifying.
Danie Beaulieu: developer of EMI and Impact Therapy, author and consultant
EMDR
Why EMDR? EMDR works fast, is integrative, doesn’t necessitate prolonged exposure (which can be re-traumatizing), and requires no homework. It activates natural processing capacities of the brain that are frozen and deactivated by trauma. It re-establishes disrupted communication between the brain regions impacted by traumatic experience and enables the traumatized brain to heal
In addition to the treatment of PTSD, EMDR is also used to treat the psychological effects of smaller traumas that manifest in symptoms of depression, anxiety, phobias, low self-esteem, creativity blocks, and relationship difficulties.
Laural Parnell: author, consultant and trainer of EMDR
EMDR
Research has indicated that the bilateral eye movements performed in EMDR may replicate the rapid eye movements (REM) during the dream stage of sleep. Scientists have long believed that during REM sleep our brains process the events of the day, including our emotions, beliefs and physical sensations.
Katherine Andler: author of EMDR texts
Impact Therapy
Impact Therapy is a form of therapy that combines creative counselling techniques and certain counselling theories. It provides the counsellor with ways to frame the counselling process as well as ways to assess the progress of a session. This approach is action and insight-oriented and often resolution-oriented. We call the approach Impact Therapy because it emphasizes helping the client as much as possible in each session. The therapist is always trying to get to the core of the problem by cutting off unnecessary details, irrelevant stories, and unfocused discussions.
Dr. Ed Jacobs, founder of Impact Therapy
How to get in touch with us
Congratulations on taking the next step to look after your health and wellbeing.
Let us walk alongside you on your healing journey. We are a local counselling service located in Golden Square, Bendigo.
Phone: 0432 280 248
Email: [email protected]
Address: 135 Thistle Street, Golden Square (Bendigo), Vic 3555.