Meet Delaney

I'm Delaney — a Registered Counsellor (ACA Level 4 & PACFA Clinical) and ACA-Accredited Supervisor with eight years of experience across private practice, EAP, and national mental health services.

My path here started early — growing up around family experience of mental health, and a genuine fascination with why people behave the way they do (a curiosity Criminal Minds did nothing to discourage). I studied a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and while an Honours pathway to registration as a psychologist didn't work out, a handful of counselling units during that degree changed everything. I saw, firsthand, how much active listening alone could instil hope and facilitate real change.

That led me to a Graduate Diploma of Counselling and a Master of Counselling, which gave me the clinical frameworks I still draw on — CBT, person-centred practice. But what actually shaped how I practise came from somewhere less structured: encountering trauma-informed care, and the shift it asks of us — from "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?" It's a question I hear echoed constantly by clients who've moved through the mental health system searching for real hope, particularly within faith communities and among first- and second-generation immigrants.

As an Australian-born Chinese and a professing Christian who has navigated fitting into a majority culture, that focus on trauma, faith, and cross-cultural identity isn't theoretical for me — it's lived.

Supervision became part of this story too, more than I expected. Generous supervisors carried me through placement, into my first roles, and toward registration with both the ACA and PACFA. Now I want to offer that same support to the next generation of counsellors working to shift the conversation — and break the stigma — around mental health in CALD and faith communities.

I still think of this work the way I did at the start: a privilege, not a routine, and not a way to build wealth. That's the legacy I want to leave, as both a counsellor and a supervisor.

If any part of this resonates with your own story — as a client or as a fellow counsellor — I'd love to talk.