Featuring: CJ Stewart (He/They),
Counsellor and Educator

1. What inspired you to be a counsellor? Would you change your decision to be one? Why or why not?

From as far back as I can remember, I felt like an outsider. I always viewed the world from a different perspective, and interactions with others, whether at school, with friends, or at home, often felt bizarre. At 16, I made a pivotal decision: I saved enough money from a part-time job to pay for a counsellor. They were an IFS (Internal Family Systems) counsellor, and the sessions had a profound impact on me, even if I couldn’t engage long-term. That experience opened my eyes to the power of counselling, and after gaining some life experience through a few other careers including architectural drafting and design and technology teaching, my path eventually led me back to counselling. Now, I can confidently say I am grateful for this path. Counselling offers me the freedom to truly engage with my clients in a way that honours mine and their individuality and experiences, and the experience I gained in being out of a classroom and working in other fields was invaluable.

2. What is (are) your current role(s)?

Currently, I work in Canberra as a counsellor at Meridian ACT, a community-controlled support organisation, and I run my own private practice, Mountains to Molehills Counselling and Psychoeducation. At Meridian, I provide support to diverse communities, particularly the LGBTIQA+ community, and those navigating complex life transitions and those navigating an HIV diagnosis. In my private practice, I focus on neurodivergence, individual relational counselling, and providing support to adults diagnosed with or exploring conditions like autism. Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and ADHD. My approach is trauma-informed, and disability-affirming. I use the Unified Psychotherapy Framework, a collaborative and integrative approach Dr Jeff Harris is developing, to provide a person focused range of interventions to help support clients overcome their self-identified unhealthy psychological patterns.

3. What pearls of wisdom would you offer to a student counsellor or a colleague?

One of the most valuable insights I’ve gained is the importance of embracing curiosity and being fully present with your clients. The more attuned you become with what they are communicating, the more effectively you can support your clients in their journey, ensuring they feel seen and understood in a genuine, respectful way. By embodying this approach, you provide clients with an experience of what healthy, supportive relationships can look and feel like.

Another crucial piece of advice is to find a supervisor who matches your needs and values. You can’t truly appreciate how powerful and holistically beneficial good supervision is until you’ve experienced sessions with a range of practitioners. If your primary supervisor is unfamiliar with a specific issue you’re dealing with, find supplementary supervisors who can fill that gap. Your relationship with your regular supervisor should be one of the most valuable professional connections in your life. Safety and trust are what you are looking for here. Fear of exposing your lack of competency and getting it wrong is understandable at the beginning. However, if that willingness does not come in a reasonable timeframe, it is important to ask yourself what is holding you back.

Lastly, don’t underestimate the importance of collaboration and collegial support. I couldn’t be the practitioner I am without the supportive network of colleagues I found within the NGO where I work. While supervision is invaluable for bouncing difficult and complex cases off a trusted confidant, having other clinicians around you — who are doing their own professional development and who bring different approaches to conceptualising and treating clients — is essential for self-checking. This diversity of perspectives helps ensure that you’re not confined to your own biases or limiting frameworks. No matter how experienced you become, having a circle of trusted colleagues to lean on and consult with is invaluable.

4. What is the biggest reward of being a counsellor?

The greatest reward has been working with adult PDA’er clients. PDA is best described as an anxiety driven need to be in control of one’s own life and is still in the early stages of being understood by the medical community. Collaborating with PDA clients — helping them find self-love, their natural habitat, supportive relationships, and fulfilling careers — has been profoundly impactful. PDA presents a paradox, and traditional therapeutic interventions often fall short. Acceptance of demand avoidance and where it comes from, and reducing pressure in all aspects of life can lead to real, meaningful change in how adult PDA’ers engage with the world.

5. What is the biggest challenge about being a counsellor?

One of the most significant challenges I face is navigating the fine line between being a professional counsellor and a peer. Sharing a knowing understanding with clients can create a unique bond, fostering a deeper sense of empathy and trust. However, it also requires careful boundary-setting and consistent self-reflection.

For me, the greatest challenge here is about finding a balance between using my lived experiences as a therapeutic tool and keeping myself out of the client's narrative. I’ve found that being a peer counsellor often involves a tightrope walk,where I must remain authentic and relatable without letting my own story overshadow the client’s experience.

To navigate this, I consciously approach each session with a mindset of curiosity rather than relatability. While it’s tempting to share more of my own journey to foster connection, I’ve learned to use my experiences subtly and thoughtfully signaling safety and acceptance through shared understanding, rather than explicit self-disclosure. This way, I keep the focus firmly on the client while still creating an environment of trust and openness.

Despite these challenges, being a peer counsellor has been deeply rewarding. It has allowed me to create a safe, accepting space for clients who may have felt marginalised or misunderstood in conventional therapeutic settings. By thoughtfully integrating lived experience into my practice, I aim to not only support my clients but also contribute to a broader dialogue about what it means to be a counsellor in today’s diverse and evolving world.

6. What are you working on, and what do you love about it?

Currently, I am focused on developing a range of resources for supporting and working with PDA adult clients. I’m passionate about creating a safer counselling environment and empowering PDA’ers to thrive through new tools and modifying traditional interventions to suit these client’s needs. I’m also working on sharing my insights with other counsellors, psychologists, and allied health professionals to improve understanding of PDA within the counselling community. This project has the potential to significantly enhance support for this underserved group.

7. How would you like to see the counselling industry change in the future?

I would love to see the counselling industry better recognize the role of peer counsellors — those individuals who bring lived experience to their practice. The profession could benefit from developing clearer guidelines and an ethical framework that embraces the peer model, creating space for it alongside more conventional approaches. These practitioners require additional protections and require alternative arrangements when it comes to supervision and workload considerations among other important aspects of this career.