Sarah O'Sullivan , AASW

Sarah O'Sullivan draws on long personal and professional experience to support people navigating complex mental health challenges. She began her career as a lived experience worker within Queensland Health more than 15 years ago, and her own history of chronic mental illness has shaped the way she listens, advocates and collaborates with those she supports. She believes that even similar events affect people in different ways, and that each person’s pathway toward wellbeing is individual.

Sarah has worked across government and non-government organisations, and that background informs her practical approach to systems, supports and advocacy. She offers advocacy services alongside therapeutic work, including complex report writing for court or NDIS matters, domestic violence perpetrator mapping using the Safe and Together model to assist family court work, and functional capacity assessments informed by the Allen Cognitive Levels Model.

Her clinical interests include parenting and parental capacity building, chronic and complex mental health, addictions with relapse prevention planning, and recovery coaching. She holds the AASW credential - membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers - and combines lived experience, service navigation expertise and therapeutic skills to support clients toward clearer goals and stronger daily functioning.

Therapeutic Approaches in Online Practice

Sarah integrates attachment-based methods that explore how early relationships shape current patterns, helping clients address attachment issues, parenting challenges and relational trauma through greater awareness and new ways of relating. She also uses client-centered therapy, which focuses on empathy, nonjudgmental listening and supporting the client’s own goals so people feel understood and able to make progress at their own pace. Mindfulness therapy is another element of her work, teaching practical skills to stay present, manage stress and reduce reactive patterns that often accompany anxiety, depression and addiction recovery.

Finding the right approach is treated as a collaborative process. Sarah works with clients to identify which methods best suit their needs, goals and preferences, adapting techniques over time rather than prescribing a single path.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can take place by video call, phone, live chat or text-based messaging - which makes it easier to fit support into busy lives, maintain continuity when schedules change, and access therapy from different locations. These options allow clients and licensed professionals to focus on meaningful progress without unnecessary travel or logistical barriers.