Lisa Mackinnon , AASW

Lisa Mackinnon is an Accredited Social Worker with the AASW credential, bringing 17 years of counselling experience to her work with people in Australia. She draws on a broad background supporting people facing stress and anxiety, depression, anger, grief and loss, and the complex effects of trauma and abuse, helping clients make sense of how these issues shape daily life and relationships.

Her practice is informed by additional training in Family Therapy, which supports work around relationship stresses, parenting challenges, separations and caregiving. Lisa combines a validating, nonjudgmental stance with practical strategies - identifying strengths, clarifying choices and exploring ways forward that reduce distress and open new pathways. She integrates approaches that consider both the mind and the body, offering techniques informed by current knowledge about how brains and bodies respond to stress.

Lisa has particular experience working with trauma and its impacts, and she incorporates Emotional Freedom Techniques - also known as EFT or tapping - as a complementary tool to help manage emotional distress and trauma responses. Her style is collaborative and supportive, focused on helping people move through depression, anxiety, grief and anger toward greater connection with themselves and greater clarity about what they want in life.

Trauma-aware and somatic approaches for online care

Lisa integrates client-centered and trauma-focused methods to guide online work in a way that feels grounded and practical. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on empathy, respect and collaboration - the therapist follows the client's lead to uncover what matters most and to build on individual strengths, which can help with depression, anxiety and relationship stress. Trauma-Focused Therapy concentrates on understanding and reducing trauma responses, using paced, evidence-informed strategies to address post-traumatic stress and related symptoms. Somatic Therapy attends to the body's role in emotional experience, offering gentle techniques to notice physical sensations and support regulation for issues like panic, dissociation and chronic stress.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the therapeutic process. Lisa works collaboratively with each person to identify the best fit based on needs, goals and personal preferences, adjusting methods over time to reflect what is most helpful.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions by video call or phone allow deeper conversations, while live chat and text-based messaging provide alternative ways to connect between sessions or when in-person meetings are not possible. These options make it easier to access consistent support, fit therapy into a busy life, and continue work on skills and coping strategies from home.