Veruschka Marais, PACFA

Veruschka Marais is a qualified therapist with 15 years of clinical experience specialising in supporting individuals, couples and families to strengthen relationships and rediscover direction in their lives. She works with people facing anxiety, stress, low self-esteem and life transitions, guiding them to heal emotional pain and move beyond unhelpful patterns. Veruschka’s practice emphasises practical tools and relational insight to help clients build healthier connections and greater self-confidence.

Her style is collaborative and tailored - she partners with each person to identify meaningful goals and to draw on their own resilience as the basis for change. Over her career Veruschka has supported clients to manage relationship conflict, cope with parenting and family challenges, navigate career shifts and address issues rooted in attachment and family of origin. She also works with compassion fatigue, adoption and foster care concerns, and the complex emotions that accompany separation and divorce.

Veruschka holds PACFA credentialing - PACFA stands for Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia - and applies an integrative approach, drawing on evidence-informed methods to suit each client’s needs. If someone is seeking a compassionate, pragmatic counsellor to explore relationships, anxiety or life purpose, Veruschka offers an approachable, strengths-based partnership to help create lasting change.

Online therapeutic approaches for relationships and life changes

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and to take steps aligned with personal values. It can be useful for anxiety, stress and finding direction during life transitions. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns formed in close relationships - it explores how early attachment experiences shape current relationship behaviour and helps rebuild trust and emotional connection. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centres on identifying and expressing core emotions within relationships to improve bonding and resolve recurring conflict, making it particularly relevant for couples and family work.

Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. Veruschka works with each person to explore which methods suit their needs, goals and preferences, and adapts sessions as understanding deepens. This collaborative stance makes it easier to tailor interventions for relationship repair, anxiety management or navigating major life changes.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can take place by video call or phone, and shorter conversations can occur via live chat or text-based messaging. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into busy lives and to maintain continuity of care when in-person attendance is difficult, while still working with appropriately qualified or registered professionals and therapists to pursue meaningful change.