About
Hi, I’m Maggie.
A.K.A. The Awefull Therapist
I'm so glad you're here and I look forward to embarking on this journey with you!
I’m Maggie Whitbread, a qualified and registered counsellor based in Canberra, ACT.
My priority is always making sure you feel safe and comfortable in your sessions with me, helping you to find the techniques that work best for YOU, and helping to get you past the point of surviving, and to start thriving. I am so pleased to be working with a diverse range of clients with different therapeutic needs, backgrounds, genders/expressions, ages, sexualities, lifestyles and neurodivergence.
Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all.
I have my own history with anxiety and feeling stuck/lost and burntout in life. I have struggled with showing up authentically as myself, instead struggling with perfectionism, people-pleasing and low self-esteem. I have had the experience of searching for a therapist that feels like the right fit (and instead found several that weren’t). I’ve had the experience of trying an approach/strategy and having it not work for me and then feeling hopeless or like a failure. Many times, I’ve wondered why things seem to ‘just work’ for others, while they didn’t for me.
With a combination of finding the right help, following my own path to healing and empowerment, trusting my gut and ‘doing the work’, I now live wholeheartedly, in a life I truly love.
And now I’m helping people just like you, to find the same thing- an awe-full life.
I have been counselling in Canberra since early 2024. I completed my Bachelor of Counselling at Griffith University on the Gold Coast in 2023, and shortly after, I moved back home to Canberra with my partner, where we have since welcomed a wonderful little daughter. When I’m not in session, I’m enjoying the very best of Canberra’s foodie scene, exploring local markets, reading questionable fantasy romances, going on walks with my family, watercolour painting, and escaping to the South Coast for a dose of ocean air whenever I get the chance.
My Approach
I take a modern, integrated and relational approach to therapy, incorporating elements of…
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY
ACCEPTANCE + COMMITMENT THERAPY
DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY
GESTALT THERAPY
NARRATIVE THERAPY
MINDFULNESS + MEDITATION PRACTICE
ART THERAPY
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY + COACHING
EXISTENTIAL THERAPY
+ OTHER MODALITIES!
…into my sessions, to support each individual’s unique needs and goals.
My Philosophy
I believe that stepping into vulnerability, though it can be scary to do, is the key to creating more meaningful connections with others, finding serenity, and aligning ourselves with what we want, while the fear of vulnerability is what is keeping us stuck in lives that fail to truly fulfill us.
With patience, compassion, open-mindedness, courage, and a sense of humour, I will walk with you down the path of vulnerability, and help you along the way to find what you’ve been searching for.
Your stories are valuable. You are capable of creating change. You still have time.
And you don’t have to take these next steps alone.
So… why is it so ‘Awefull’?
Well, it’s not to be mistaken as ‘awful’, although, at times, healing and moving forward, particularly in a therapy setting can feel daunting and ‘awful’ in the beginning!
Rather, what we are talking about is ‘awe’. That feeling of wonder, amazement, feeling a part of something bigger than yourself- a moment that takes your breath away.
Big or small, it’s in these moments of awe that you may find yourself truly appreciating what it means to be human, what it means to be on this planet, right now. This can bring up feelings of hope, gratitude, connection, healing and joy.
One of the cornerstones of my approach to therapy is helping you get past the point of just surviving, or just managing daily life. My goal is to help you take this further, to thrive, to find more moments of joy, gratitude, and awe, in your life.
Ultimately, I want to help you find your way toward an ‘awe-full’ life.
