About Catherine
Catherine Nyika is an AASW social worker with six years of professional counselling experience in Australia. She offers calm, steady support for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, relationship strain, family problems, trauma and low self-esteem. Her manner is warm and practical, aimed at helping people take small steps that feel manageable.
Catherine draws on a blend of somatic work, acceptance and commitment therapy and attachment-based approaches. Sessions focus on noticing how the body and mind respond to stress, learning simple grounding practices, and clarifying values that guide change.
Background and approach
Conversations are direct but gentle, and exercises are kept simple so they can be used at home. She has a long background in community counselling and years of professional practice helping people work through issues such as abandonment, adoption and foster care concerns, attachment difficulties, autism-related challenges, and codependency.
Catherine also supports people facing divorce, blended family tensions, communication problems and body image worries. In sessions she uses client-centred and cognitive behavioural tools to help people recognise patterns and try new ways of coping. Expect a practical focus - learning new skills, trying short experiments between sessions, and checking what works for you.
Catherine aims to make therapy feel doable rather than overwhelming. Sessions are offered in English and are available via video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging. People start by completing a short questionnaire and scheduling a session to match their needs.
Therapeutic approaches and what online work looks like
Somatic work focuses on the body-mind connection. It helps people notice physical responses to stress and learn gentle grounding and breathing practices to calm the nervous system. This approach can be useful for trauma reactions, anxiety and for people who feel emotions primarily in their body.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify what matters to them and commit to small, value-driven steps. It combines practical exercises with mindfulness-style noticing so people can live more in line with their values despite difficult thoughts or feelings. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns shape current ways of connecting and communicating, and supports learning new interaction habits to feel safer in relationships.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Catherine will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and preferences. She often mixes approaches so sessions stay practical and relevant to day-to-day life.
Online therapy offers flexibility across video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. That range makes it easier to fit sessions around family, work or medical demands and to use shorter check-ins when full sessions are hard to schedule. For many people it also allows practising skills in their usual environment and bringing those experiences back to therapy for discussion.
Frequently asked questions
What issues does Catherine commonly help with?
What is her general approach in therapy?
How long has she been practising?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Can international clients work with her?
What formats are available for online sessions?
How are fees and getting started handled?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Languages
- English