Many mental health services focus only on the surface, supporting you to manage the immediate symptoms you feel today. While symptom relief is important, it often ignores the underlying wounds that keep those patterns on repeat. At Empathic Counselling, we go beneath the surface to understand the ‘why’ behind your current struggles, helping you heal from the root up. Healing cannot happen without safety, so I prioritise building a strong therapeutic relationship based on trust and collaboration.
My name is Sasha Brittain, and I am a master’s degree qualified ACA registered counsellor, and the director of Empathic Counselling. I am also a wife (married for 19 years) and a mum! I provide counselling that is trauma-informed and evidence-based. I have experience supporting adults with a variety of life’s challenges, with a special interest in the long-term, and often hidden, impacts of childhood trauma on mental health, emotional wellbeing, and relationships. I tailor appointments to the unique needs of each individual, integrating a variety of therapeutic approaches.
I am passionate about supporting each client to live life as their authentic selves, and am proudly neuroaffirming and LGBTIQ+ affirming. I am also passionate about providing culturally-affirming therapy. Before becoming a counsellor, I studied Japanese language and culture, and worked in Japan for a few years as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. As an ESL teacher in Brisbane, I worked with people from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including working with refugees. This cross-cultural experience has helped me to develop a deeper empathy and appreciation for others, and has inspired an endless curiosity for our shared humanity.
I have lived experience of childhood trauma, which led to many years of anxiety and depression in adulthood. When I sought mental health support in my twenties, I had some awful experiences with the several psychologists that I saw. I desperately wanted someone to hold space for me and to validate and understand my experience. In short, I wanted empathy and compassion. Instead, I felt that my trauma was minimised, and I was not given support that actually helped me! When I turned thirty, I realised that I wanted to “Be the change” as Gandhi said, and become the counsellor that I never had.
Through my own lived experience, the extensive study I did during my masters degree, and my work in the field, I am now able to “Be the change” for my clients every single day. It truly is an honour to walk alongside clients and support them to access their inner resources and strengths, and to empower them with information and practical tools that help them to better understand and accept themselves, thereby reducing shame and improving their mental health, emotional wellbeing and relationships.
My Academic Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts (GU)
- Graduate Certificate in Counselling Skills (ACAP)
- Master of Counselling (AIPC)
My Certifications
- Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Levels 1 & 2 ~ Evergreen Certifications
- Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) Level 1 ~ PESI Australia
- Parts Work Trauma Specialist Certificate Programme: Mastering the Best Tools from IFS Therapy, Gestalt, Somatic Therapy, and Other Parts Approaches ~ PESI Australia
- Certified Somatic Therapy Foundations Practitioner ~ Evergreen Certifications
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy Clinical Training Levels 1 & 2 ~ The Gottman Institute
My Professional Memberships
- Australian Counselling Association (Level 2)
- Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association
Additional Training
- Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) with Trauma Survivors: Coming Home to Yourself with Dr Sue Johnson ~ PESI Australia
- Treating Childhood Emotional Neglect: An Overview ~ Dr Jonice Webb
- Family of Origin Wounds: Breaking the Patterns From Our Past with Vienna Pharaon ~ PESI Australia
- Compassionate Inquiry in Action: An Experiential Course for the Healing of Deep Traumatic Wounds with Dr Gabor Maté ~ PESI Australia
- Working with Trauma: Interventions that Foster Resilience with Dr Cirecie Olatunji ~ Mental Health Academy
- Abandonment Trauma: Treatment Strategies to Heal Inner Child Wounds and Restore Healthy Attachment with Ellen Biros ~ PESI Australia
- Healing from Affairs: Moving Past the Trauma of Betrayal and Infidelity with Dr Tammy Nelson ~ PESI Australia
- Attachment Theory and Science with Dr Sue Johnson ~ PESI Australia
- Brief Psychodynamic Therapy as an Integrated Clinical Approach with Dr Ari Badaines ~ PESI Australia
- Healing Grief and Loss with David Kessler ~ PESI Australia
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Training with Dr Russ Harris ~ Psychwire
- Best Practice Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy and Infant Loss ~ SANDS Training
- Supporting the Suicide-Bereaved ~ Mental Health Academy
- Positive Psychology and the Study of Human Strengths ~ Mental Health Academy