Saima Durrani, ACA

Saima Durrani is an ACA counsellor in Australia with three years of clinical experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, and parenting challenges. Saima uses practical conversation and listening to help people find what fits for them.

She approaches sessions as a collaborative process. She treats the person in front of her as the expert on their life and helps identify strengths that can be used to manage current problems. Conversations focus on real situations at home or work, and on small changes that can make daily life easier.

Saima draws on several therapy approaches when useful. She uses acceptance and commitment ideas to help with difficult emotions, cognitive behavioural strategies for unhelpful thinking and patterns, and client-centred listening to understand each person's perspective. She also uses skills from dialectical behaviour therapy and the Gottman Method when relationship skills are a focus.

Her background includes work with multicultural clients and people from diverse language backgrounds. She speaks English, Punjabi, Pushto, Urdu and Hindko, and can work with cultural or language-related concerns in sessions. Cultural context is considered when discussing family expectations and communication.

Sessions are practical and straightforward. Saima helps people set small, manageable goals, practise coping skills between meetings, and review progress regularly. People come for help with specific problems like sleep, eating or anger, and for broader issues such as coping with life changes and rebuilding trust after loss.

How her approaches work in online sessions