A counselling space for Helpers

Throughline Counselling provides in-person counselling in Bendigo and online therapy in Australia for helping professionals and others navigating burnout, trauma & Complex PTSD, grief, anxiety, depression, and life changes.

Frederikke Jensen, Narrative Therapist and Master’s qualified counsellor, University of Melbourne & Grad. Dip. in Psychology, Charles Sturt University.

Welcome

"Work-life balance is rarely just about boundaries or self-care".

Hi, I'm Frederikke Jensen, She/Her, a narrative therapist and Master's qualified counsellor based in Bendigo. Some of the people I work with have already tried setting boundaries, taking leave, or prioritising self-care, yet still feel overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from their work and relationships.

Therapy for helping professionals experiencing burnout, overwhelm and emotional exhaustion

Based in Bendigo, I provide in-person counselling for people across Bendigo and surrounding areas of Central Victoria, as well as online therapy throughout Australia. My consulting room in Kangaroo Flat, just south-west of Bendigo, is a quiet, thoughtfully arranged space that provides a frame for therapeutic conversations to unfold. Pending availability, I may offer an appointment outside business hours.

Counselling can help when supporting others begins to take a toll

Burnout, vicarious trauma and psychosocial hazards are inherent occupational risks in helping professions. Like everyone else, volunteers, therapists, teachers, social workers, nurses, managers and team leaders also experience grief, loss, trauma, anxiety and depression.

Even if you understand what mental health problems look like, you might need another mind and a therapeutic space to help you feel your way through difficult experiences. Therapy offers time to think, reflect and make sense of experiences that are often difficult to hold alone.

A reflective therapeutic approach to mental well-being beyond techniques and symptoms

Symptoms such as not sleeping, feeling anxious, or feeling irritable or distant from others tell us something is wrong—but symptoms do not tell the full story.

For some people, low-frequency, predominantly technique-based therapy may not reach the interpersonal, systemic and relational aspects of psychological difficulties.

If taking time off work, self-help, or technique-based therapy hasn't brought lasting change, exploratory talk therapy offers an opportunity to better understand yourself and your relationships. Rather than focusing only on symptom reduction, it invites curiosity about the patterns and experiences that give rise to distress.

Therapeutic background and modality

I completed my Master's in Narrative Therapy while working in advocacy and suicide bereavement support.

I trained in narrative therapy because it is more than a collection of techniques. Narrative therapy understands people's difficulties within the context of their relationships, history, culture, experiences of oppression and values people’s own knowledge. Whilst narrative therapy is my primary modality, my approach is also influenced by contemporary psychodynamic thinking and relational practice. This shapes how I understand the therapeutic relationship and how early life experiences can continue to influence the present.

Alongside Throughline Counselling, I continue to work in a leadership role within a human services organisation. This ongoing work continues to inform my understanding of helping professionals, workplace wellbeing and the and the emotional demands of working with people.

If you'd like to know more about my background, you can read more about me here.

What guides my therapeutic work

Through both my clinical work and my own experience, I have come to believe that tending to our own wounds, by being held in mind by another person, is vital to longevity in a helping role.
Trauma therapy is guided by sensitivity to pace and safety. Shame and other painful experiences are approached with compassion and curiosity.
Over time, therapy can help us feel more connected—to ourselves, to other people, to our work and to the wider world.
Therapy is committed work undertaken in collaboration between therapist and client.
Weekly therapy is recommended to create the conditions for deep and lasting change.

If this resonates, get in touch to explore how counselling might support you or read more about my approach on the therapy page.

Throughline Journal

Finding throughlines of resilience, hope, and understanding in the midst of change

Journal

Dismantling the stigma of being a revolving-door therapy client

If you have been in and out of your therapist's room for a couple of years, struggling emotionally, and feel you cannot do without your monthly session with your psychologist or counsellor, then this reflection might be for you. It is particularly for you if you feel you should be able to do without these sessions and feel shame about asking for a mental health care plan again from your doctor over subsequent years.

If you are a helping professional—how do you choose a therapist for your own therapy?

‍The question you might have is: Should I choose a psychologist, a counsellor or a social worker? I have a different and long-winded answer compared to the usual opinion pieces you might find on therapy service sites, AI overviews in Google, ChatGPT or social media.

How do I find a therapist who understands me?

The question of feeling understood by your therapist is often central when evaluating whether therapy with a particular therapist is right for you.

If you are looking for a counsellor or other mental health professional in Bendigo, this question may feel particularly important if you are someone who spends much of your life caring for, leading, teaching or offering therapy to others.

Next steps