Stephanie Schiftan

Relationship Counsellor (she/her)

Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours)

Graduate Diploma of Education

Master of Counselling (Couples Specialisation)

Specialist Course in Integrative Couple Therapy - Relationships Australia

Prepare/Enrich Facilitator Training - Relationships Australia

Level 2 Member - Australian Counselling Association

Services

Couples / Relationship counselling

Background and Experience:

Stephanie holds a Master of Counselling and has undertaken specialised training in couples therapy through Relationships Australia. At the core of her work is a deep interest in relationships - how they shape us, and how they are carried within us in ways that influence patterns of connection and disconnection, often outside of conscious awareness.

Prior to working as a counsellor, she worked extensively in education and has training in the arts. This background informs her understanding of development across the lifespan and how people make meaning of their experiences, and continues to shape her sensitivity to subjective experience, emotional nuance, and interpersonal dynamics in her clinical work.

Therapeutic Approach

Stephanie brings a warm, attuned and thoughtful presence to her work, creating a space where clients feel safe to explore both the immediate difficulties they are facing and the deeper emotional and relational patterns that may sit beneath them.

Her work is grounded in an integrative, attachment-informed framework that pays close attention to the interaction between present-day relational dynamics, earlier experiences, and the emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses that arise in moments of conflict or disconnection. She supports clients to slow down these lived experiences in real time, helping to make sense of recurring patterns, the emotional meanings within them, and underlying attachment needs and narratives driving them. From this place, she works with couples to develop more flexible, connected, and fulfilling ways of relating.

Stephanie draws on a range of evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), alongside Gottman, cognitive behavioural, narrative, and neurobiologically informed frameworks, tailoring her approach to the unique needs of each individual and relationship.

Stephanie supports clients in all stages of their relationships and warmly welcomes LGBTQI+ clients and diverse relationship structures.