Get to know our compassionate team of qualified Psychologists, Therapists, and Client Support members.
Our team of professional and highly skilled practitioners have extensive Counselling and Psychology experience, working with adults, couples, adolescents, children and families. Our wonderful Client Support and Administration Team can provide you with a safe and comfortable experience as you engage in therapy.
All of our Therapists at Little Window work from a person-centred and relational approach grounded in evidence-based interventions. Whether you see a Psychologist, Mental Health Social Worker (MHSW) or Counsellor, you will receive exceptional care and support. Little Window selects our therapists based on aligned training in mental health and wellness from a holistic, trauma informed, and attachment focused framework.
The services we provide are in line with current research on wellness and neuroscience, through ongoing peer and clinical supervision and attending regular workshops and conferences. We believe that our own self-care and well being is paramount to ensuring high quality care to our counselling clients; this means that we practice what we preach and engage regularly in self-reflection, mindfulness and other wellness practices.
Our Psychologists and MHSWs are fully registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). All therapists on our team are regulated by the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc. (AAPi), the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), Australian Counselling Association (ACA), or the Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapy Association (ANZACATA).
Our Team
Stacey Soulakellis
MENTAL HEALTH social worker, counsellor, Family therapist & clinical supervisor
Ashley Van Den Heuvel
Client Support and administration management; Projects & Communications Officer
Millie Murray
Client Support and administration management; marketing assistant (remote from scotland)
Connecting
The connection you feel with your therapist is paramount to how meaningful and positive your counselling experience will be.
Research has shown us that it is the human element of the therapist (their values, way of relating, and personality), rather than what type of intervention they use, that is most helpful in the counselling process.
In this way, Little Window is unique, as careful consideration is taken when choosing which therapist each person is booked with, rather than simply scheduling you in with whomever is next available. We take into account what type of personality you might connect well with as an important factor when matching the client to the therapist.
Our Therapy Team encompasses a wide range of personalities, approaches, styles and areas of interest, so please make it known to our Client Support Team what your preferences are when making a booking.
For example, you might prefer a more direct, straightforward and energetic approach to therapy, or you might be seeking a relaxed or nurturing style. You could gel well with stronger personalities, or feel more comfortable with gentler personalities.
You may be interested in exploring creative and expressive modalities in counselling, or you may just want straight talk therapy - or a mix of both!
You could feel that a spiritual, holistic, or body-based approach would suit you, or you might know that targeted, structured and cognitive approach style you better.
We also spend time exploring what concerns you are bringing to therapy, so that our therapists who are trained in specific areas or have special interests can be appropriately recommended to you.
If you’re not sure what you would prefer, that’s completely okay: Our Client Support Team has been intuitively and clinically trained to explore with you which therapist might fit best with your needs.
It is not uncommon for individuals to not 'click' with the first therapist they see; if this is your experience, we are more than happy to receive this feedback from you, and chat with you about seeing if someone else on the Little Window team will be a better fit for you.
It is also important to consider that therapy takes time. Allow yourself a few sessions to build rapport with your therapist to get a sense of the connection, and for the power of therapy to begin taking effect.
Please enjoy reading about the individual qualities and special areas of interest of our Therapy Team.
types of therapists
What’s the difference between all the types of therapists I can see at Little Window?
When seeking a therapist for yourself, there can be a common misconception that only Psychologists are able to support you to work through mental health concerns, particularly with more significant issues. We are here to inform you that this is definitely not accurate! ~ Research based on the efficacy of support with Counsellors shows similar and in some cases, better treatment outcomes than when treating long-term mental health concerns with Psychologists. We as the Directors have been trained as Psychologists, however the majority of our training and experience as Therapists occurred post-study, when we undertook specialised training and developed our own counselling framework and experiences over the years. In our own personal therapy, we have seen Counsellors who have been exceptional and effective Therapists.
We strongly believe that it is a combination of who you are as a person; ongoing mental health and counselling training that aligns with the complexity of the human experience; conducting approaches which resonate and are tailored to each individual client/s; and the Therapist engaging in their own work in Therapy, that makes the most effective and supportive Therapist.
Traditionally, Psychologists are trained at university to assess, diagnose and treat mental health, and are taught to use interventions that are more cognitive and behavioural. Some Psychologists can also tend to engage in more short-term and solution-focused work with individuals which does not always cater to the complex nature of the human experience and long-term mental health maintenance. Psychologists are required to undertake 4 years of undergraduate study plus 2 years of post-graduate study or supervised practice to become registered.
Counsellors can become registered through different pathways that can include completing a diploma, course or degree. They have training in therapy specifically in active listening/supporting, working collaboratively with goals, and delving deeper into long-term counselling and psychotherapy.
Psychologists are recognised by Medicare as a governed mental health discipline, therefore a Medicare rebate can be accessed, however this does not mean that Psychologists are the better or more effective discipline compared to Counsellors.
Since the COVID pandemic, Counsellors and other mental health Therapists are being recognised as highly supportive and effective options for therapeutic support and in Victoria are now able to offer support with a Medicare rebate. It is only a matter of time before Queensland and other states will follow suit.
We also work with a Mental Health Occupational Therapist (MHOT) and a Mental Health Social Worker (MHSW) on our team. Both disciplines are trained respectively specialising in their own fields, however are trained similarly to Counsellors and Psychologists in the area of mental health counselling and support, and focus on holistic support for your concerns. You can read more about MHOT here and MHSW here.
At Little Window, all of our Therapists are less focused on diagnosing and instead, are more interested in a counselling-based, whole-brained and person-centred approach. Therapists are typically drawn to working here with us because they value and enjoy this kind of counselling work, and when we recruit for Therapists, we spend time ensuring that they align with our practice framework of relational safety.
This means that regardless of who you book in with on our team, your therapist will engage with you using a person-centred approach, either short or long-term depending on your needs, and will focus on the therapeutic relationship as the core of the work, which studies tell us is most effective for meaningful and positive outcomes for mental health and wellness.