About Karinna
Karinna Johnstone is an AASW social worker with 18 years’ experience. She works with people who are struggling with anxiety, stress and the after-effects of trauma. Karinna writes simply and directly to help people who feel stuck or overwhelmed.
She draws on attachment-based and client-centred ways of working. Sessions focus on what matters now and on practical steps people can try between meetings. Karinna listens for patterns that keep causing pain and helps people test small changes that build confidence and coping skills.
Background and approach
Karinna also uses elements of cognitive behavioural and narrative approaches. That can mean spotting unhelpful thinking, trying different behaviours, and retelling hard experiences so they make less sense of who someone is. Mindfulness techniques are used when they fit, to help with sleep, focus and emotional regulation.
Her background includes many years helping people with grief, depression, relationship and parenting strain, caregiver stress, addiction-related harm, and complex trauma. Karinna aims to support stronger self-esteem and clearer decision making. She encourages practical goal-setting and gentle challenges to old habits.
Karinna believes people are the experts in their own lives and sees her role as a guide. She works collaboratively and makes plain plans people can follow between sessions. If someone wants steady, practical support to manage anxiety or life changes, she offers a calm, straightforward approach.
Approach choices for online counselling and support
Karinna uses attachment-based work to help people notice how past relationships shape current reactions. This approach can be useful for worries about closeness, trust and patterns that repeat in relationships. She also uses client-centred methods that focus on what each person wants to change and on building a respectful, non-judgemental space. Cognitive behavioural ideas are used to spot unhelpful thoughts and try small behavioural experiments to reduce anxiety or improve sleep.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. Karinna will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and choose methods together. This collaborative process helps tailor sessions to what feels most useful for everyday life and for making steady progress.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to fit different needs. Video is useful for a fuller conversation, phone works when bandwidth is limited, chat and messaging suit shorter check-ins or people who prefer not to be on camera. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, parenting and other commitments while still getting consistent support.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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