- Attachment-based care
- CBT and mindfulness
- Supports life transitions
About Karinna
Karinna Johnstone is an AASW social worker with 18 years of experience. She works with people navigating stress, anxiety, grief, trauma and relationship strain. Her style is straightforward and collaborative, helping clients find practical ways forward.
Karinna sees many issues linked to mental health, including depression, bipolar mood patterns, compassion fatigue and ADHD. She also supports people coping with life changes, career pressures, parenting challenges and sleep problems. Her work often addresses self-esteem, anger and communication problems too.
Her approach centres on the person’s story. Karinna uses attachment-based ideas to look at how relationships shape feelings. She draws on cognitive behavioural techniques to spot unhelpful thinking and try small experiments that can change everyday routines.
Sessions also draw on client-centred and narrative methods to make space for what matters most to the individual. Mindfulness practices are offered to help with stress, grounding and emotional regulation. Together these ways of working aim to build motivation, confidence and practical coping skills.
Karinna describes the client as the expert in their life and positions herself as a guide. She focuses on clear goals and small steps that fit into daily life. Karinna encourages people to notice progress and to develop supports that sustain longer term change.
How Karinna's approaches work in online therapy
Karinna commonly uses attachment-based and cognitive behavioural approaches alongside client-centred methods. Attachment-based work looks at how early and current relationships affect emotion and behaviour, which can help with relationship strain, abandonment concerns and attachment issues. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) focuses on how thoughts, feelings and actions connect and offers practical tasks to test new ways of thinking and behaving. Client-centred work prioritises the person’s perspective, giving space for their story and values to shape goals.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Karinna will discuss goals, preferences and what has or hasn’t helped before. She aims to match methods to each person’s needs and to adjust the plan as progress is made, so the process stays collaborative and goal-focused.
If you are considering online sessions, please confirm the current session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into busy days, reduce travel time and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It also lets people use mindfulness exercises, behavioural experiments and homework tasks between sessions in real life. Discussing practical needs at the first appointment helps decide how to structure sessions to suit everyday routines.
Areas of focus
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does Karinna help with?
She helps people facing stress, anxiety, trauma and grief, as well as depression, self-esteem and relationship difficulties. Other focus areas include parenting, sleep, career issues, ADHD and compassion fatigue.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is collaborative and practical. She uses talk-based methods and simple exercises to build coping skills and motivation.
What experience does she bring?
Karinna has 18 years working as a social worker across many clinical areas. That background includes supporting people with trauma, mental health and complex life challenges.
What credential and location information is available?
She holds AASW and is based in Australia.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can international clients work with her?
International clients are not accepted at this time.
How do fees and payment work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability and sessions are delivered via a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
What are the steps to begin therapy?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.