Naaz Matias-Hussain

Registered Counsellor

• In-person or telehealth available
• Available on: Saturdays

Make an Enquiry

I’m Naaz, a registered counsellor and psychotherapist, who specialises in culturally-safe therapy for adults and young people. I work with a wide range of issues from everyday stress and mood dysregulation, to more complex cases that involve peeling back the layers of a person’s psyche, family of origin story, and ‘self narrative’.

My experience as a therapist includes working in disability, youth mental health, and LGBTIQA+ spaces. I also have experience as a school counsellor, and have worked closely with families who are supporting a young person with their mental health.

Some of my areas of interest include:

• Emotional regulation
• Anger and resentment
• Reconciling sexuality and cultural/religious identity
• Reclaiming and discovering sexual identity
• Counselling LGBTIQA+ clients from diverse cultural backgrounds
• Healing from sexual shame and/or abuse
• Healing from spiritual abuse
• Healing from narcissistic abuse and childhood neglect
• Codependency
• Healing attachment wounds
• Navigating divorce and breakups
• Healing from toxic family dynamics

I work with a range of approaches, but my preferred modalities are:

• Acceptance commitment therapy (ACT)
• Narrative therapy
• Art therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy

As I am a counsellor, it isn’t possible to claim a rebate from Medicare for appointments with me. To keep my services affordable in light of this, I charge a lower fee than psychologists. You may wish to consider the following factors when deciding whether to see a counsellor or a psychologist:

• Medicare rebates with a psychologist are typically only available for 10 sessions per year. If you intend to have weekly or fortnightly appointments over several months, a counsellor may be considerably more affordable overall.
• Medicare-rebated therapy places restrictions on the types of therapeutic methods that can be rebated, and in doing so excludes many other evidence-based interventions.
• Medicare-rebated therapy requires people to share personal clinical information with a GP to access a referral. Many people feel safe and comfortable doing this, but for some people who wish to discuss culturally sensitive topics, they may prefer to see a private counsellor who does not require them to do this.