Vive Counselling
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Joel Griffiths, Psychodynamic Counsellor

A little
about me
and my approach.

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  • GradDip. Counselling and Psychotherapy
  • ACA Registered
  • Kink & ENM informed
  • LGBTQIA+ affirming

Introducing Joel

I’m Joel Griffiths, an ACA-registered counsellor based in Perth. I work online with adults across Australia.

Counselling is my second career. I changed direction because I’m passionate about mental health and wanted to work with adults dealing with anxiety, low mood, trauma, shame, self-criticism, relationship difficulties, or concerns around sex and intimacy. General counselling remains a central part of my practice.

My specialist interests grew from seeing that people in kink, LGBTQIA+, non-monogamous and sex-work communities did not always have the same access to counselling. I heard from people living with relational or sexual trauma who had trouble finding a therapist they felt they could talk to. Some had avoided therapy. Others had tried and come away feeling misunderstood, judged or pathologised. I wanted to provide a place where people could be taken seriously without the rest of their lives being treated as the problem.

How I work

My work is psychodynamic and attachment-informed, held within an integrative frame. In practice, that means looking beneath the immediate problem to what shaped it, what purpose it has served, and how it now shows up in relationships, work, shame, desire, anger, and the session itself.

The work balances what feels immediate and pressing with developing a clearer, more honest understanding of yourself. Some sessions may be about untangling something happening right now. Others may slow down around the way you respond, withdraw, overthink, accommodate, protect yourself, or lose contact with what you want.

Psychodynamic

Psychodynamic work pays attention to the parts of experience that are active but not always obvious. These can include old conflicts, defences, shame, desire, anger, avoidance, and familiar forms of coping that keep recurring even when they no longer fit.

The work is not about forcing a tidy explanation onto your life. It is about understanding what sits beneath the visible problem, including the feelings, protections, and expectations that can operate unconsciously and shape how you relate to yourself, to other people, and to the work between us.

Attachment

Attachment work looks at how you learned to manage closeness, distance, dependence, trust, and self-protection. These early lessons can keep shaping adult relationships, often through strategies that once helped you stay safe or connected, but now create strain.

This can include how you manage conflict, jealousy, rupture, repair, need, withdrawal, people-pleasing, or the fear of being too much. The point is to understand the strategy before trying to change the strategy.

Integrative

Integrative counselling recognises that people are complicated and no single theory explains everything. A problem may involve old relational learning, current stress, shame, grief, desire, avoidance, nervous system responses, identity, or the reality of the situation you are living inside.

Working integratively means we can move between these levels without losing the thread. I may draw on psychodynamic, attachment, trauma-informed, relational, practical, or skills-based ideas, but the focus stays on what is useful for understanding you and supporting meaningful change.

Some of the issues I work with

  • Anxiety, panic & overwhelm

    Worry, dread, overthinking, shutdown, physical tension, irritability, or feeling unable to switch off.

  • Depression & low mood

    Flatness, numbness, hopelessness, exhaustion, loss of interest, or not feeling much like yourself.

  • Trauma & CPTSD

    Past experiences, abuse, dissociation, hypervigilance, numbness, or memories that still feel active.

  • Shame & self-criticism

    Feeling wrong, too much, not enough, exposed, constantly at fault, or unable to be at ease with yourself.

  • Perfectionism

    High standards, fear of mistakes, procrastination, over-responsibility, or never being able to rest.

  • Relationships & attachment

    Conflict, distance, jealousy, trust, people-pleasing, fear of closeness, or repeating the same painful pattern.

  • Sex, intimacy & desire

    Desire, avoidance, shame, boundaries, sexual confidence, intimacy, or things that feel hard to say out loud.

  • Kink & BDSM

    Power exchange, dynamics, consent, shame, conflict, secrecy, or kink as one part of ordinary life.

  • Polyamory & ENM

    Agreements, jealousy, comparison, disclosure, boundaries, repair, breakups, or relationship strain.

  • Something else?

    Sometimes what's going on doesn't quite match any of these. It may be more specific, a bit of a mix, or just difficult to explain.

Get in touch.

Make an appointment if you’re ready, or request a free 15-minute consult if you’d rather speak first. You can also send me a message with any questions. I’m happy to answer them.

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