Rona Kinnersly, AASW

Rona Kinnersly is an AASW counsellor with more than 10 years of clinical experience. She helps people cope with stress, anxiety, relationship challenges, trauma and abuse, low self esteem and compassion fatigue. Rona focuses on practical steps people can use straight away and values each person’s own strengths and story.

Rona has particular experience supporting people affected by family violence and the aftermath of trauma. She also works with those struggling with parenting pressures, grief, addiction, anger and major life changes. Her background includes work with caregiver strain and issues that come with ageing and caring roles.

Her sessions draw on a mix of approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Attachment-Based Therapy and client-centred methods. She aims to make these approaches easy to understand and relevant to everyday life rather than abstract theory.

Rona describes the person in the room as the expert on their own life and starts from that place. She helps people identify small, realistic steps they can practise between sessions to build confidence and reduce overwhelm. She values clear communication and works at a steady pace that suits each person.

Rona is based in Australia and brings a calm, encouraging style to sessions. She welcomes honest conversation about what is working and what needs to change, and she supports people as they try new ways of coping and relating to others.

How therapy approaches translate to online care

Rona uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people notice what matters most and take small, values-driven steps. ACT is useful for anxiety, low motivation and when life changes feel overwhelming. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thinking and to practise different behaviours that reduce anxiety and depression symptoms.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Rona will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and decide together which methods to try first. That collaborative process helps tailor techniques so they fit daily life and feel achievable.

Session formats are not specified in the biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. It also lets people focus on practical skills such as mindfulness exercises, breathing practices and behaviour experiments that can be done between appointments. Appropriately qualified therapists can adapt ACT and CBT exercises for remote sessions so they remain useful and relevant.