About Karen
Karen Nickelson is a counsellor who aims to make the first step feel a little easier. She speaks plainly and listens carefully, helping people who are coping with stress, anxiety, relationship strain, grief, low self‑esteem or major life changes. Karen is an AASW social worker and brings six years of professional experience to her sessions.
She trained with a Master of Social Work and a Master of Mental Health Practice, and also holds a Bachelor of Human Services (Counselling) focused on child and family work plus a Certificate IV in Telephone Counselling.
Background and approach
That background supports practical help for carers, people facing palliative or end‑of‑life issues, and those dealing with loss. In a session Karen aims to be warm and straightforward. She values honesty and offers a calm space to talk without judgement.
Conversations tend to focus on clear steps clients can try between sessions and on building coping strategies for day-to-day life. Karen has worked with people who are navigating attachment and abandonment concerns, blended family adjustments, cancer and caregiving stress, and body image or self‑worth issues. She also supports people facing divorce, domestic violence impacts, and the challenges that come with ageing.
Practical options are offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat or text messaging. Karen works in English and sees clients in Australia. If you want to begin, she asks that you complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a session that suits you.
Therapeutic techniques and online care
Karen uses evidence‑based therapeutic techniques in straightforward ways. One common approach focuses on practical coping skills to reduce day‑to‑day anxiety and stress, teaching simple tools people can use between sessions to manage worries and overwhelm. Another approach looks at grief and loss through guided conversation and structured tasks that help people name emotions, remember what matters and gradually adjust to change.Finding the right way to work together is part of the process. Karen collaborates with each person to choose approaches that match their needs, goals and preferences rather than using a single fixed method. She checks in regularly and adapts the plan as things shift.
Online therapy is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text messaging. Video calls suit deeper conversations where seeing one another helps connection. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or being on camera is difficult. Live chat and text messaging are helpful for shorter check‑ins, on‑the‑go updates or quick emotional support between calls. These options make it easier to fit therapy around caring roles, work and day‑to‑day life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hearing impaired
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English
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