Shelley Murphy, ACA

Shelley Murphy is an ACA counsellor in Australia with 16 years of professional experience. She works with adults who want to manage stress, anxiety, relationship strain, anger and low self-esteem. Shelley names motivation, confidence and life changes as common issues she helps people with.

Shelley works from the view that each person knows their own story. She points out strengths people already have and uses those as a starting point. In sessions she listens, clarifies patterns and helps people try small, practical changes that fit their life.

Her approach draws on therapies that focus on thoughts, feelings and relationships. That can mean learning different ways to respond to strong emotions, practising new communication moves, or shifting rigid thoughts that keep someone stuck. Shelley often combines hands-on exercises with straightforward conversation about what’s happening between sessions.

People come to her for a wide range of problems. These include coping with grief, working through trauma and abuse, managing anger, dealing with addictions, and negotiating parenting or career stress. She also supports people facing abandonment, attachment or family-of-origin issues and the practical strains of caregiving.

Shelley uses methods from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Attachment-Based work and Emotionally-Focused approaches when they suit the client. Sessions aim to be practical and direct, with clear goals and small steps to practise between meetings. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule a first session.

Therapeutic approaches and how online sessions work