I’m Anna Jaaniste, a counsellor and psychotherapist working online from Dharawal Country in the Illawarra.
Much of how we come to be who we are takes shape in relationship.
The ways we trust, speak, protect, and connect with others don’t develop in isolation - and they don’t change in isolation either.
This continues to shape the way I understand therapeutic work.
In therapy, I’m interested in what unfolds between us, and in staying with that with care and attention.
I’m often drawn to the quieter moments in a session - the places where something shifts slightly, even before words fully arrive.
A hesitation.
A change in tone.
The moments where someone begins to move away from what they were about to say, or finds it difficult to stay with something emotionally.
These moments often carry important information about how a person has learnt to protect themselves in relationship.
“In my sessions with Anna I am able to just be whatever I am.
It feels like a deep exhalation.”
- Counselling client
Before training formally as a counsellor, I spent twenty years working in creative, educational, and community settings - facilitating conversation, expression, and connection.
I was interested in how people make meaning of their lives, and in what allows someone to feel more fully themselves.
Alongside this, I trained and practised as a somatic massage therapist.
That work deepened my understanding of how experience can be carried and expressed through the body., and the impact of sustained, attentive presence.
These experiences continue to shape the way I work.
I don’t see change as something that happens all at once, or in the same way for everyone.
More often, change develops gradually - through sustained attention, and through the experience of being met over time.
Qualifications
I hold a Graduate Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy from Western Sydney University, a Masters by Research in Creative Arts, and a Graduate Diploma in Education (Visual Arts).
I am a registered member of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia and engage in ongoing supervision and professional development to support ethical and reflective practice.
If this way of working feels like a fit for you, you’re welcome to get in touch.
We can make a time for a first session, or for a brief phone conversation.