About Leona
Leona Kim Welham is an AASW social worker with eight years of practical experience helping people manage stress and anxiety. She offers calm, straightforward support for people coping with relationship strain, family conflict, trauma and grief. Leona writes and talks in a warm, non-judgemental way that helps people feel heard when they first reach out.
Leona works with people adjusting to illness, including those facing cancer and long-term health conditions.
Background and approach
She also supports carers dealing with the emotional burden of caring for someone who is unwell. Sessions focus on everyday problems and realistic steps that make life a little easier. Her approach is collaborative and down to earth.
Leona uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people notice difficult thoughts without getting stuck in them. She draws on Client-Centred and Narrative ideas to help people tell their story and find perspective. Therapy sessions are conversational and practical.
Leona helps set small, achievable goals and checks progress each week. She aims to create a space where people can speak honestly and try new ways of coping. Leona practises in Australia and conducts sessions in English.
She encourages anyone who is hesitant to take the first step, and she supports people through the early stages of reaching out for help.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and choose actions that align with their values. Online ACT sessions often include exercises for noticing thoughts, simple behavioural experiments and real-life goal-setting to reduce the impact of anxiety and stress. Client-Centred Therapy focuses on listening without judgement and reflecting what the person says. In an online setting this looks like open conversation, validation and pacing to help people feel understood as they work through relationship or grief issues.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, preferences and what feels helpful. Together they choose and adapt techniques from ACT, client-centred and other approaches so therapy suits the person rather than forcing a single method.
Online therapy offers several practical benefits. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when that is useful, while phone sessions need less bandwidth and can fit into a lunch break. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for shorter check-ins, journalling tasks or people who prefer not to use a camera. These options make it easier to maintain consistency and fit therapy into a busy life with fewer travel needs.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Leona commonly help with?
What style of therapy can I expect?
How much experience does she have?
Where is Leona based and what credential does she hold?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Can I work with her from outside Australia?
What session formats are available?
How do I start and what does it cost?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Narcissism
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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