jude hatfield counselling
making meaning + nourishing life
hey, I’m Jude.
welcome.
I’m glad you’re here.
Maybe something that once held your whole life has shifted. A faith, a community, a version of yourself that no longer fits. And now you’re wondering who you are, and where you belong.
I’m a registered, trauma-informed counsellor and I offer support for people in the middle of this kind of change. I work with compassion and presence, trusting that you’re the expert on your own life.
I support people with:
rebuilding identity after leaving a faith community
loneliness and the loss of belonging
grieving what gone, including grieving God
letting go of beliefs you’ve outgrown
exploring what feels right for you now
learning to trust yourself again
building a life that’s meaningful and nourishing
I have particular experience supporting people through religious trauma, spiritual abuse and faith deconstruction.
If this sounds like where you are, or you’d like to know more, please reach out. I’d love to connect with you.
Member of Australian Counselling Association (Level 1).
Member of the Religious Trauma and Cults Association (Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa).
My work exists at the intersection of spirituality, trauma and meaning-making. My purpose as a therapist is to support my clients to rebuild a meaningful life after spirituality has become interconnected with harm.
As an ex-pastor, I understand the religious landscape from within.
As a survivor of religious abuse, I understand how damaging and multi-layered religious harm can be.
As a therapist, I understand the psychological processes beneath this harm, and am committed to doing what I can to help people process and recover from these kind of experiences.
I don’t impose any agenda on my clients. I use my extensive knowledge of christian spiritual formation combined with my therapeutic knowledge and skills to support my clients in working towards their own therapeutic goals.
I help my clients identify what matters to them now,
and imagine, create and live a nourishing, meaningful life.
(In case you’re wondering)
what do I mean by “presence” & “person-centred” counselling:
It’s about creating a therapeutic relationship with you through unconditional valuing and acceptance. You are the authority on your own life, and I am a supportive witness and compassionate presence. Together we will gradually explore what it’s like to be you: what you feel, think, need and desire. At a pace and in a way that’s right for you. And to explore the gap between your feelings, thoughts, needs and how life is for you right now.
There’s no “one-size suits all” in counselling. It’s about growth, and gradully learning to be and become more aligned with your genuine self, then and making choices based on this.
It’s about the life-long process of tending to and befriending your own life.
My ethos of care is grounded in the restorative power of self-compassion, unconditional kindness and being gentle with ourselves.
My aim is not to impose anything on you, but to listen with you to what your life / inner self is seeking.
I practice from a flexible, inclusive, trauma-informed perspective which respects diversity of belief and the Sacred within all beings. I honour the Sacred in whatever form They present themselves to us.
LGBTQI+ affirming. All genders are welcome here.