Why work with me?

Experience earned through hard work

Qualifications tell you what someone has studied. They don't tell you how much time they've actually spent in the room with people doing it tough.

Before opening Spark Counselling, I spent twelve years on the front line of community services. I've worked as a drug and alcohol counsellor. I've supported people rebuilding their lives after prison. I've spent years working with children, adolescents and families. I’ve worked with many couples on the brink of separation. And I've facilitated around a thousand men's behaviour change group sessions — thousands of hours in rooms with men working through anger, relationships and accountability, many of whom walked in convinced that counselling had nothing to offer them.

That kind of work teaches you things that you can’t learn in a textbook. It teaches you to stay steady when things are heavy. It teaches you the difference between techniques that sound impressive and ones that actually shift something. It teaches you how to work with people who are reluctant, guarded or ashamed — and how to earn trust rather than expect it. Not just a session here and there: day in and day out with people in the hardest situations of their lives. I’ve seen what works, and watching people turn things around is the reason I do what I do.

That's the experience that I bring to private practice. Whatever you walk in with, it's unlikely to be something I haven't sat with before. You don't need to warm up to the hard stuff, translate it into polite language or worry about how it lands. Just bring it as it is — that's where the useful work starts.

Grounded optimism

Twelve years of this work could make a person cynical. But I’ve found that it’s done the opposite.

When you've watched people overcome addiction, rebuild their lives after prison and repair relationships that looked broken, you stop thinking of change as just a nice idea. You've seen it and you know that it’s real and possible. You know what it looks like when it starts, what it takes to hold onto and how often it happens to people who were certain it wouldn't happen for them.

So I don't bring blind positivity into the room — you'd just see through that anyway. What I bring is grounded optimism: confidence that people can improve things, earned by watching them do it in genuinely tough circumstances.

How I work

I don't run everyone through the same program. Some people need practical tools and a clear plan; others need to go deeper into what's underneath. Usually it's both, in that order — we get you some steadiness first, then, when you're ready, work on what's been driving things.

Above all, it's plain and down-to-earth. No jargon, no lying on a couch, no being talked down to — just useful, honest conversation with someone who knows what he's doing.

Being a male counsellor

There aren't many male counsellors around, and for a lot of men it's simply easier to talk things through with another bloke — someone who won't judge them, lecture them or turn it into something it isn't. Whatever you're carrying, you probably won't be the first to bring it into a session here, and you'll be taken seriously.

A bit about me

Part of why I do this work is that I know what it's like on the other side of it. I've had counselling myself — for anxiety, and to get through a rough break-up — and it showed me first-hand what a difference it makes to talk things through with someone when you're doing it tough. I won't ask you to do anything I haven't done myself.

Outside the office, I've got three kids who keep me on my toes. And I look after my own headspace much the same way I'd encourage you to look after yours — usually a jog, some time meditating and sometimes even an ice bath when I need a reset.

Qualifications & registration

I hold a Master's degree in counselling and psychotherapy and have around twelve years of experience. I'm a registered member of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), and I'm completing a diploma in clinical hypnotherapy. I see clients in person in Adelaide and online across Australia.

If any of that sounds like what you're after, feel free to get in touch. A first conversation is a no-pressure place to start.