Joanna Ridgeway, ACA

Joanna Ridgeway is an ACA counsellor who helps people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety or low mood. She works with those struggling with relationship worries, trauma, body image and self-esteem. Her approach is calm and practical, aimed at making small changes that feel manageable day to day.

Joanna keeps sessions simple and direct. She invites clients to talk about what matters most and notices patterns that make life harder. Together they set clear, achievable goals and try things that can reduce worry and improve mood. This can include looking at how thoughts, feelings and behaviour link together.

Her work draws on attachment-focused ideas and emotion-focused methods to understand how relationships shape feelings. Joanna also uses client-centred listening and cognitive behavioural techniques to help people reframe thinking and practise new responses. She aims to match the tools to each person rather than follow a fixed script.

Joanna has 14 years of experience in mental health and related settings across Australia. She creates a space where people can speak honestly about painful experiences without judgement. Many clients come wanting more confidence, better communication, or relief from repeated worry.

If someone is considering therapy with Joanna they start by sharing what they hope to change. From there she helps plan practical steps and checks progress along the way. She supports people through grief, separation, chronic illness strain and other life transitions.

How Joanna uses proven approaches in online work

Joanna draws on Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how early and current relationship patterns affect feelings and safety in close connections. This approach can help when trust, abandonment worries or intense relationship reactions cause distress.

She also uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thoughts and gradually test new ways of thinking and behaving. CBT is often useful for anxiety, low mood and stress because it breaks problems into concrete, changeable parts.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Joanna will discuss different methods and decide together which fits the client's needs, goals and preferences. She adapts what she uses as progress and priorities become clearer, so the work feels collaborative rather than prescriptive.

Please confirm which session formats are currently offered before booking, as the biography does not list them. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time and allow for shorter check-ins when needed. It also lets people choose quieter times of day or avoid lengthy commutes while still working on relationship issues, anxiety and emotional coping skills.