Susana Alarcon Jimenez, ACA

Susana Alarcon Jimenez is an ACA counsellor with six years' experience working with adults in the community. She focuses on stress, anxiety, family matters, parenting, self-esteem and depression. She offers sessions in English and Spanish and works from principles of respect, inclusion and cultural sensitivity.

Susana uses a mix of practical approaches rather than a single method. She draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Client-Centered approaches and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help people identify what matters to them and make small, steady changes. Mindfulness and Narrative methods also appear in her work to help people notice patterns and reframe unhelpful stories they tell about themselves.

In sessions Susana talks through everyday problems in plain terms. She helps people break big issues into manageable steps, practise new responses and track progress over time. This can include learning simple mindfulness exercises, testing new behaviours, or reworking thoughts that increase stress and anxiety.

She has particular experience with a wide range of family-related concerns, including blended family issues, divorce and separation, co-parenting stress and communication problems. Other areas she addresses include abandonment, body image, caregiver stress, immigration issues and infidelity.

Susana aims to work collaboratively with each person to set realistic goals and try approaches that fit their life. To start, people complete a short questionnaire and schedule their first session so Susana can learn about their priorities and practical constraints.