Karen Santos, PACFA

Karen Santos is credentialed in Australia as a Psychotherapist and Social Worker and holds PACFA. She supports adults, adolescents and children through difficult periods, offering practical and compassionate care for concerns such as trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, parenting challenges, life adjustments, and grief and loss.

Her work draws on years of delivering evidence-based trauma and mental health counselling alongside recent community mental health case management, which together strengthen her ability to understand and empower people as they work toward meaningful change. She combines clinical training with a collaborative approach to help clients identify what matters most to them and to build skills that support long-term wellbeing.

Specialised training includes Neurobiology of Trauma and Developmental Trauma, Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT). She is currently strengthening competencies in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This diverse skill set enables effective work with individuals as well as dyads, such as parent and child, tailoring interventions to each person’s needs.

Karen aims to walk alongside clients, encouraging curiosity and self-reconnection while identifying specific goals and priorities. She seeks to create a supportive environment where each person feels valued and supported throughout their therapeutic journey.

Integrating therapeutic approaches for online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and feelings without being ruled by them, and then focus on actions that reflect their values. It is useful for anxiety, stress and navigating life transitions where clarity of purpose supports better choices.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a practical, skills-based approach that explores how thoughts, feelings and behaviour interact. It is often used for anxiety, depression and difficulties with low mood or unhelpful thinking patterns, helping clients build tools to manage symptoms and change routines.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centres on understanding and shifting emotional responses within relationships and individual experience. It can be helpful for attachment issues, relationship strain and processing emotional pain by strengthening emotional awareness and connection.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Karen Santos works collaboratively with each person to identify which method or combination of methods best fits their needs, goals and preferences, and she adjusts the plan as progress unfolds.

Online therapy via video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text-based messaging offers flexibility to fit therapy into daily life and can make it easier to access appropriately qualified or registered professionals from different locations. These options allow therapists to tailor sessions to each person’s rhythm, making support more accessible while maintaining a focus on meaningful, practical outcomes.