Sabrina Joseph, Master of Social Work

Maybe your GP has told you that you have anxiety, depression or PTSD. Or maybe there's no name for it, but you know something isn't right.

You might notice the same relationship patterns repeating, finding yourself drawn again and again to people who are emotionally unavailable or insecure. You might be leaning on something to get through: alcohol or other substances, food, gaming, sex, overworking, or something else. Maybe your temper is shorter than you'd like. Or maybe life looks good from the outside, with supportive family and friends and work you enjoy, and yet inside you feel numb, flat or quietly hopeless.

Underneath it all there's often chronic stress. Over time, living in survival mode can wear on your sleep, your body, your relationships and your sense of who you are.

I often work with high performers, people in the helping professions and emergency response workers. This is depth work rather than general counselling, so if you're looking for quick solutions or short-term advice, it may not be the right fit, and I'd rather say so early.

We start with what's bothering you now, and I'll give you practical skills to help you cope day to day. But my focus goes deeper, to the root cause. Together we build awareness of your thought patterns and the stories you hold about yourself, others and the world. As those become clearer, there's more room to choose different ways of responding and living.

I specialise in depth work with adults living with the effects of trauma, including Complex PTSD, PTSD, anxiety and depression. I draw on EMDR therapy, Internal Family Systems (parts work) and body-based approaches, within a trauma-informed and relational frame, always at your pace.

My work brings together years of professional training and my own lived experience. I've created the kind of service I wish had been available to me earlier in life, and to the generations before me: my sister, my mother, my father and my grandmothers.

Much of what we carry isn't only ours. Families shaped by trauma, childhood abuse and neglect can pass down stories about who we are, how others will treat us and how safe the world is. Together, we gently explore and loosen the hold of those inherited stories, so you can see yourself and others with fresh eyes.

If you'd like, I can also work with family members who want to understand and support you.

Master of Social Work, University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, 2015. Bachelor of Science in Human Services with a mental health counselling concentration, Metropolitan State University of Denver, 2010. Both degrees are recognised by the Australian Association of Social Workers.

Member of the Australian Association of Social Workers since 2020 (membership 477092). Fully trained in EMDR therapy. Certificate in Trauma, Attachment and Neuroscience (The Body Keeps the Score) with Bessel van der Kolk, Melbourne, 2025.

Over fifteen years of practice across clinical, community and crisis response settings in Australia and the United States.