Counselling & Social Work
I’m Anne – a mother, artist, astrology student, holistic therapist / Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, art circle facilitator.
I’m passionate about how we integrate experiences of trauma and mental health challenges, particularly through holistic and transpersonal approaches.
I’ve worked with women and mothers as a professional social worker for almost 20 years. This has included supporting women and folks in their recovery from pregnancy/ birth/ postnatal challenges (birth trauma / perinatal depression and anxiety); childhood sexual abuse; domestic and sexual violence; childhood developmental trauma and attachment trauma. I also work with folks looking to recover from and manage generalised anxiety and depression.
Therapy Approach
I offer a grounded, attuned counselling space that supports your own capacity for integration, agency, and change. My role is not to fix, but to be alongside you — creating conditions where things can shift.
My practice draws on a range of clinical modalities including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness-based approaches, polyvagal theory, somatic and trauma-informed psychotherapy, EMDR, and creative arts therapies including ceramics. I'm also shaped by anti-oppressive, feminist, anti-racist, and justice-doing frameworks, and bring these into how I understand people's lives and struggles.
My work is further informed by depth-oriented and holistic perspectives that take seriously the transpersonal and symbolic dimensions of human experience. I have a particular interest in women's knowledge and wisdom traditions, rites of passage across the lifespan, earth-based and feminine spiritual frameworks, entheogenic and ancestral practices, folk traditions, and the therapeutic significance of non-ordinary states of consciousness — including spiritual awakenings and openings. For clients who are drawn to it, I weave astrology into our work as a symbolic and reflective tool — not predictive or deterministic, but as a map for exploring patterns, tendencies, and meaning that a person can take or leave on their own terms.
I work from a harm minimisation approach, supporting reflective exploration of substance use and its impacts where relevant, but I do not endorse, facilitate, or guide the use of illegal substances or psychedelic medicines. Where appropriate, these themes may be explored reflectively within counselling, particularly in relation to meaning-making, lived experience, and psychological integration.
Professional Qualifications & Training
Advanced Diploma in Embodied Medicine (350hr Level 1 Yoga Teacher Certification and 110-Hour Provisional Meditation Teacher Certification) (in progress – 2026)
Diploma Visual Art – TAFE (2025)
Qualified Doula – Australian Doula College (2011)
Advanced childbirth education training – Birthing From Within.
Eight Seasons Journey – School of Shamanic Womancraft (2018). Women’s mysteries school.
Bachelor of Social Work – University of Queensland (2006)
For more about my professional experience working as a social worker and counsellor in the community sector please see here.
You can view my Australian Association of Social Workers listing here or my Psychology Today therapist listing here.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – Level 1 (2024) and Level 2 (2025)
Reiki Level 1 – Sarah Kottmann (2024)
Blueknot Complex Trauma Training – Three Phased Approach: Safety and Stabilisation (2022)
Working With Dissociation Training – Dr Catherine Hynes (2021)
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Training (2020)
Birth Trauma Skills Workshop – Amanda Donnet & Rachel Bushing (2020)
Newborn Mothers Postpartum Professional Training (2019)
Janina Fisher, Transforming Trauma-related Resistance and Stuckness training (2019)
Creative Ways of Making Space for the Baby, Part 1 & 2 – Jenny Blyth of Birthwork
Perinatal Non-Directive Counselling Training – Australian Psychological Society
Birth Story Listening Course: “Understanding the causes and solutions for emotional birth trauma” – Pam England, Birthing From Within
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Adolescence – Russ Harris
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Two day Advanced Workshop – Russ Harris
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Two day Introductory Workshop – Russ Harris
Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training – Grant Sara
Supporting Survivors of Sexual Assault from a Feminist Perspective – Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre (BRISSC)
Applied Suicide Intervention Training – Living Works
Counselling Appointments
Book your session or a free initial call
* please email if you can't find a suitable time
or to enquire about the waitlist *
Anne Castles, BSocWk
ABN: 72 648 150 387
Medicare Provider Number: 494 282 3X
AASW Member Number: 439847
I pay my respects to the Turrbal and Jagera people, the First Peoples with an ongoing connection to the land I create and offer my work from in Meanjin (Brisbane). Always was, Always will be Aboriginal Land.
info@annecastles.com.au