Karen Santos, PACFA
Practical, story-focused support for life changes
Details
| Name | Karen Santos |
|---|---|
| Credentials | PACFA |
| Based in | Australia |
| Registered with | PACFA |
| Session format | Online |
| Languages | English, Tagalog |
| Years in practice | 12 |
About Karen
Karen Santos is a PACFA-credentialled psychotherapist and social worker with 12 years' experience. She works with adults, adolescents and children who are facing stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, parenting challenges and major life changes. Her approach is practical and person-focused, and she aims to make sessions straightforward and useful from the first meeting.
Karen uses skills from Narrative Therapy to help people reframe difficult stories about themselves and their relationships. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to identify unhelpful thinking and on Emotionally-Focused Therapy to strengthen emotional connection where needed.
Background and approach
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ideas are part of her toolkit as she continues to develop those skills. Her background includes community mental health case management and ongoing work in trauma counselling. That combined experience helps her balance practical problem-solving with attention to how past hurts shape current behaviour.
She often helps people who struggle with self-esteem, attachment issues, eating concerns, and the emotional fallout of adoption, abandonment or caregiving stress. Sessions are offered in English and Tagalog and can be held by video call, phone, live chat or text messaging. Costs vary by location and therapist subscription options, which can be cancelled at any time.
Karen aims to work collaboratively to set clear goals and small steps that fit daily life. People who choose Karen usually want a calm, curious therapist who listens without rushing. She focuses on what matters most to each person and helps them try new ways of coping and relating that feel achievable.
What this therapist works with
Her listing names Stress, Anxiety, Trauma and abuse, Grief among the things Karen works with, alongside the areas below.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Grief
- Self esteem
- Depression
- Parenting issues
- Coping with life changes
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dissociation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches listed
- Narrative Therapy: Named in her listing among her approaches.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Client-Centered Therapy: Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT): Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Somatic Therapy: Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Trauma-Focused Therapy: Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Internal Family Systems: Listed by Karen among the ways she works.
- Training stated: This directory copies the approaches a therapist names and does not check training records. Ask Karen directly how much of the work is narrative and what a session usually looks like.
Narrative Therapy in this listing
Narrative Therapy appears in this therapist's own list of approaches. That tells you it is part of how she works. It does not tell you how much of a session it shapes, and this directory does not check or rate training.
If a narrative approach is what you are looking for, it is worth asking Karen directly how she uses it and what a session usually looks like.
Online session options
How narrative and action-focused methods work online
Karen mixes Narrative Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to support change online. Narrative Therapy helps people tell and reframe the stories that shape their daily life, which can ease shame and clarify values. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on noticing thoughts and feelings and taking actions that matter, which is useful for anxiety, stress and coping with life changes.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Karen will talk with each person about goals and preferences and then try approaches that fit those aims. She treats this as a collaborative process and adjusts methods as needs evolve rather than sticking to a single technique.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat or text messaging to give practical flexibility. Video calls suit longer therapeutic conversations, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat allows shorter check-ins and text messaging supports ongoing reflections between sessions. These options help people fit therapy around school, work and family commitments while keeping focus on progress and everyday steps.
Common questions about this listing
What concerns does Karen commonly help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, low self-esteem, depression, parenting worries and coping with life changes, plus related areas like attachment, eating issues and caregiver stress.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Sessions are practical and conversational. Karen uses story-based Narrative Therapy alongside cognitive and emotion-focused methods to help people make sense of problems and try new ways of coping.
What professional background does she bring?
She has 12 years' experience in psychotherapy and social work and has worked in community mental health and trauma counselling roles.
What credentials and location are listed?
Karen holds PACFA credentials and is based in Australia.
Which languages are available for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Tagalog.
Can international clients book sessions?
International clients are not currently accepted; services are offered within Australia only.
What session formats are offered online?
Therapy can be delivered by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging to suit different needs and schedules.
How does the cost and starting process work?
Cost varies with location and the subscription model used; subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. To begin, select Start Therapy, complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to therapist availability.
Contacting this therapist
Sessions with Karen are arranged through our partner platform. It asks a few questions about what you are looking for, then shows you the therapists available to you, including Karen where she has space. Ask about fees, and whether she holds a licence or registration where you live.
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