Open emergency response bag with first aid equipment

Emergency Services Counselling

Counselling for emergency-services and frontline workers

50-minute sessions • $160 • No GP referral required 

Book a counselling session, or start with a free 15-minute phone consultation if you have a few questions first.

In-person sessions in Illawong, Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, and online across Australia.

How Emergency Services Counselling Can Help

Emergency-services work can be meaningful, demanding and difficult to explain to people outside it.

You may value the purpose, teamwork and responsibility of the role while also dealing with traumatic incidents, unpredictable situations, shift work, workplace culture, internal politics or bullying.

The impact can show up within the role through difficulties with boundaries, assertiveness or challenging interactions, and outside the role through disrupted sleep, anxiety, irritability, relationship strain or feeling unable to switch off.

Counselling gives you space to talk openly about the work, the culture and the experiences that stay with you, while developing practical strategies for both on and off duty.

Managing the role
Build stronger boundaries, communicate more assertively and develop practical strategies for difficult situations, workplace conflict and internal pressure.
Processing what you experience
Make sense of traumatic incidents, cumulative exposure and the experiences that continue to stay with you after the shift ends.
Switching off outside work
Work through hypervigilance, disrupted sleep, irritability and the difficulty of being fully present with partners, family and friends.
Staying well in the work
Notice when you are becoming depleted and develop ways to check in with yourself before the pressure builds to breaking point.

Common Ways the Work Can Affect You

Emergency-services stress does not always look like a crisis. It can show up as:

Difficult Experiences
Sometimes one job stays with you. Other times, it is the build-up of many difficult calls, scenes or situations over time.
Hypervigilance
You may find it hard to relax, stop scanning or feel fully off duty, even when you are home.
Fatigue
Irregular hours, broken sleep and limited recovery time can leave you tired, flat, short-tempered or struggling to concentrate.
Workplace Pressure
Internal politics, bullying, poor management or team conflict can be just as draining as the operational work.
Disconnection
It can be hard to feel understood or fully present with partners, family and friends when your hours and experiences are so different.
Internal Pressure
You may tell yourself you should be able to cope, or worry that asking for support means you are weak or not fit for the role.

My Approach to Emergency Services Counselling

I Do Not Support You as an Outsider
I worked as a general duties police officer, so you do not need to spend the session explaining the culture, humour, pressure or hierarchy before we begin.
Practical and Direct
We can work on boundaries, assertiveness, workplace conflict and practical strategies for challenging situations.
At Your Pace
You can talk openly about difficult incidents and repeated exposure without being pushed to share more than you are ready for.
Support On and Off Duty
We look at what is happening within the role as well as sleep, relationships, mood and your ability to switch off at home.
Staying Well in the Role
We notice what is wearing you down and work on changes that support you before the pressure reaches breaking point.

What to Expect in Your First Session

01

How the role has been affecting you

02

What has been feeling hardest lately

03

What is happening within the role and outside it

04

What support or strategies you have already tried

05

What you are hoping might change

You do not need to arrive with everything worked out or know exactly what to say. The first session is simply a chance to start talking about what has been happening and see whether working together feels like the right fit.

Sessions are confidential, so you can speak openly about the role, the culture and what you are carrying without worrying about it going any further than the room.

Frequently Asked Questions

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