Angela Richardson Goodwin

Angela Richardson Goodwin is a PACFA-registered counsellor with 15 years of focused clinical practice in Australia. She works with stress, anxiety, relationships, intimacy issues, parenting concerns and self-esteem. Her background also includes work on abandonment and attachment issues, body image, caregiver stress, chronic illness and disability, communication problems and life purpose.

Her earlier career as an IT business analyst and service in the Defence Forces give her a practical, problem-solving way of working. She brings those skills into sessions as clear structure and tools rather than abstract theory. She also draws on mindfulness practices and Gestalt principles from postgraduate study to help people notice patterns in how they relate to themselves and others.

Sessions often include targeted worksheets and psychometric assessments to clarify behaviour and interaction styles. Angela uses these tools to help clients practise new skills, manage difficult feelings and change unhelpful routines. Conversations move between immediate coping strategies and longer term ways to rebuild connection and confidence.

She offers direct, task-oriented guidance alongside reflective work on attachment, intimacy and control issues. Practical topics she addresses include communication breakdown, divorce and separation, guilt and shame, impulsivity, isolation and midlife reassessment. Her approach aims to build resilience through concrete steps and measurable progress.

Outside clinical work she has extensive sailing and surf lifesaving experience and a long history of training and mentoring others. That hands-on background influences how she structures learning in sessions, with clear goals, practice tasks and real-world application.

Therapeutic approaches and working online

Angela integrates evidence-based techniques with mindfulness and Gestalt-informed practices. Mindfulness work involves simple attention and breathing exercises to reduce reactivity and support clearer decision-making; it can help with anxiety, stress and managing intense emotions. Gestalt-informed practices focus on noticing present-moment behaviour and interaction patterns, helping people see how habits in relationships and communication keep problems repeating.

She also uses structured assessment tools and worksheets to map behaviour and set practical goals. These tools make it easier to identify patterns like attachment or control issues and to track small changes over time. Choosing which approaches to use is collaborative - the therapist and client agree on techniques that suit the client’s needs, goals and preferences and adjust them as progress is observed.

The biography does not list specific online formats, so confirm available session types before booking. Many clients find online sessions helpful for fitting therapy into a busy life because they avoid travel, allow shorter check-ins when needed and make it easier to schedule around work or caregiving. The therapist will discuss which session length and style best fits a person’s day-to-day routine and therapeutic aims.