Leona Kim Welham, AASW

Leona Kim Welham is an AASW-credentialed practitioner with eight years of professional experience supporting people through stress, anxiety, relationship and family difficulties, trauma and abuse, and grief. She has particular experience helping clients adjust to the demands of illness and medical treatment, including cancer, and works with concerns that commonly arise for caregivers, people living with chronic pain, illness or disability, and those facing end-of-life and hospice issues.

Leona adopts a compassionate, non-judgemental approach that aims to create an open space where thoughts and feelings can be explored and understood. She draws on a range of clinical methods - including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, client-centred work, narrative approaches, solution-focused techniques and trauma-focused interventions - to tailor support to each person’s situation. Her practice also addresses relational topics such as communication problems, infidelity, divorce and separation, domestic violence, codependency and commitment issues, along with emotional struggles like guilt, shame, isolation and grief.

Working with Leona involves practical, collaborative steps to clarify goals and build coping strategies that fit an individual’s life. She acknowledges that beginning therapy often requires courage and honours the decision to seek help, offering steady, empathetic guidance throughout the process.

Therapeutic approaches and online care with Leona

Leona commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and client-centred therapy, and she also integrates trauma-focused work when needed. ACT helps people notice difficult thoughts and emotions while committing to values-based action - it can be useful for anxiety, stress and managing life changes. Client-centred therapy prioritises the person’s own experience and pace, offering empathic listening and support to strengthen self-understanding and coping. Trauma-focused therapy targets the effects of trauma with strategies to reduce distress and build resilience, which can help when processing abuse, loss or overwhelming medical experiences.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process and Leona works collaboratively to identify what best fits each person’s needs, goals and preferences. She combines methods flexibly and involves clients in decisions about focus and pace, so the plan evolves from a shared understanding of priorities.

Online therapy with Leona is offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging to provide practical flexibility and accessibility. These options make it easier to schedule regular sessions around treatment, caregiving or work commitments, and support continuity of care when in-person appointments are difficult. Working online allows appropriately qualified or registered professionals to deliver structured, goal-oriented therapy in ways that suit a client’s life and responsibilities.