About Jacob
Jacob Mangelsdorf is a counsellor with 18 years' experience helping people work through stress, anxiety, addictions, relationship and family issues. He is PACFA credentialed and works from a person-centred, holistic stance that keeps everyday context central to therapy. Jacob aims to help people reconnect with their values and set boundaries that fit their life.
Jacob begins by listening to the story that brought someone to therapy. He uses compassionate inquiry to identify where stress or distress is coming from.
Background and approach
From there he works with each person to set clear, realistic goals and a practical path forward. His clinical approach draws on several evidence-based techniques so he can match the work to what each person needs.
This includes acceptance and commitment approaches for values-based change, cognitive strategies for managing thought patterns, and skills-based work for emotional regulation and communication when relationships are strained. Jacob has particular experience with family of origin wounds, adult and childhood trauma, grief and loss including suicide-related bereavement, and drug and alcohol addiction.
He also supports people with concerns such as abandonment, attachment, body image, caregiver stress, commitment and control issues. Outside the therapy room he is a husband and father of two. He enjoys running, music and team sport, and draws on those interests in his self-care and in understanding clients' lives.
Jacob aims for a collaborative, straightforward style so people feel heard and able to move forward.
Approach-driven therapy delivered online
Jacob draws on a few evidence-based approaches to tailor work to each person's needs. Acceptance and commitment approaches focus on clarifying personal values and taking committed action, which helps when anxiety or avoidance gets in the way of living the life someone wants. Cognitive strategies look at patterns of thinking and offer practical techniques to reduce unhelpful thoughts and worries. He also uses skills-based techniques from dialectical behaviour approaches to teach emotional regulation and improved communication when relationships are under strain.Deciding which approach to use is a collaborative process. Jacob works with clients to identify goals, preferences and life circumstances, then adapts methods over time. He sees therapy as a team effort where the best fit is found through discussion and small trials of different techniques.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text messaging. Video sessions are useful for face-to-face conversation and deeper work, phone sessions can suit people with lower bandwidth or busy schedules, and chat or text works well for brief check-ins and ongoing support between appointments. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, family and daily life while maintaining continuity of care.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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