Counsellor profile
Karen Marsh, PACFA
PACFA counsellor - family and relationship concerns
Continue with KarenAbout
- Stress and anxiety
- Relationship strain
- Trauma-informed methods
About Karen
Karen Marsh is a PACFA counsellor practising in Australia with 25 years of professional experience. She works with adults who are facing stress, anxiety, relationship strain, family conflict, trauma and abuse, and anger. She also supports people dealing with attachment wounds, codependency, communication problems and the fallout from separation and divorce.
Karen uses a mix of practical therapies so sessions focus on what helps right now. She draws on cognitive behavioural approaches and acceptance and commitment ideas to help people notice patterns and change unhelpful responses. Emotionally-Focused and attachment-based work guide conversations about connection, trust and relational patterns.
Sessions are conversational and grounded in the client's real life. Karen listens for recurring themes such as guilt, shame or control issues, and then works with the person to try different ways of responding. She also brings trauma-focused tools when needed, aiming to reduce the intensity of distressing memories and reactions.
People often come with specific problems like panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, or trouble forgiving themselves or others. Karen helps break those problems down into manageable steps and practices that can be used between sessions. The approach is collaborative - the client and counsellor decide what to focus on.
Her work is pragmatic and steady. She encourages small, repeatable changes that fit into everyday life. If someone wants to start, they follow the site process to match and schedule a first session.
How sessions work
Therapeutic approaches and working online
Karen often integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Attachment-Based Therapy in her work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on noticing thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and then taking actions that match personal values; it can help with anxiety, avoidance and stress. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at patterns of relating and trust formed in early relationships and helps people understand how those patterns affect current connections.Finding the right approach is treated as a collaborative process. The counsellor and client discuss symptoms, life priorities and what feels manageable, then decide together which methods to try. That shared planning can include trying different techniques and checking what helps across the first few sessions.
The original profile does not list specific online session formats, so please confirm available options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins where needed, and avoid travel time. It also lets people use approaches such as ACT exercises, emotion-focused conversations and cognitive strategies in the moment between sessions, which many find immediately practical.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
25+ years
Listed in
Australia
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of family problems does she help with?
She helps people with family conflict, family of origin issues, communication problems and the effects of separation or divorce.
How would she approach a relationship problem?
She uses attachment-based and Emotionally-Focused approaches alongside cognitive behavioural ideas to look at connection patterns and improve communication.
How much experience does she have working with trauma?
She has 25 years of professional experience and uses trauma-focused methods to reduce the intensity of distressing memories and reactions.
What credential does she hold and where is she based?
She is PACFA credentialed and practising in Australia.
Can she see people who live outside Australia?
Sessions are offered in English and international clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are available?
The original profile does not list specific session formats; please confirm current session options before booking.
How much do sessions cost?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Details come from information the counsellor supplied to BetterHelp. A registration can be checked with the body that issued it.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If anyone is in danger, use the crisis numbers.