About Anna
I’m Anna Jaaniste, a counsellor and psychotherapist based on Dharawal Country in the Illawarra, working online with people across Australia.
I’m drawn to this work through an interest in how we form ourselves in relationship - how our early and ongoing experiences shape the way we trust, speak, protect, and connect.
For me, therapy is about meeting people with attention and care, and staying with what unfolds between us.
Change comes through being deeply met.
I’m particularly attentive to the subtle ways people lose themselves in order to preserve connection - and the gradual process of coming back into a fuller sense of themselves within relationship.
In my sessions with Anna I am able to just be whatever I am. It feels like a deep exhalation.
- Counselling client
Background
Before training formally as a counsellor, I spent many years working in creative and educational spaces, facilitating reflection, conversation, and expression in community settings.
I was interested in how people make meaning of their lives - and how being heard can shift the way they see themselves.
Alongside this, I trained and worked as a somatic massage therapist. That work deepened my understanding of how experience is carried in the body - not just as thoughts, but as lived patterns.
These threads continue to shape my work. I listen not only for content, but for tone, pacing, and what sits underneath words.
I pay attention to how identity forms in relationship - and how it can shift there too.
I’ve come to understand that meaningful change is rarely dramatic.
It is often subtle, relational, and built over time - through consistency, attention, and trust.
Qualifications & Professional Membership
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 PACFA (Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia) and engage in ongoing supervision and professional development to support ethical and reflective practice.
Next steps
You’re welcome to book a session, or get in touch if you’d prefer to connect briefly first.