LGBTQIA+ Counselling, Australia-Wide
From a Practice That’s Queer-Founded
Halo Journey Australia was founded by Natalie and Chloe who are partners both in life and in business. More than half of our team have lived experience as members of the community, so when we say we offer LGBTQIA+ inclusive and affirming services, we're not just talking about a policy we adopted - we really do!
We're fully online, right across Australia, seven days a week from 6am to 10pm. No waitlists. And you will never be asked to explain your own identity to your own counsellor, mediator, coach, or yoga teacher.
What “Inclusive” Actually Means Here - Specifically
Plenty of practices say "all welcome." That's a low bar, and you've probably found out the hard way that it can mean nothing more than we won't turn you away. Here's what it means with us, in practice:
Your name and pronouns are used from the first contact
Not after you correct someone twice. Not on the third session once you've built up the nerve. From the first email, form and phone call - and they stay right in your file so you're not doing it again next time.
You will never be your practitioner’s education
Not after you correct someone twice. Not on the third session once you've built up the nerve. From the first email, form and phone call - and they stay right in your file so you're not doing it again next time.
Your identity is never the presenting problem
If you come to us about work stress, we work on work stress. If you come about grief, we work on grief. Being queer or trans isn't automatically the thing underlining everything - and we don't drag every session back to it.
Nobody gets pathologised, and nobody's identity gets treated as a phase
We don't test it. We don't wait it out. We don't "explore whether you're sure" as a therapeutic strategy (which we believe to be fundamentally wrong and damaging). Affirming means affirming - and there is no version of what we do that involves changing, questioning or discouraging who you are.
Being online means there’s no waiting room
No reception desk. No sitting in a shared space being read and assessed by strangers on your way in. For a lot of trans and gender-diverse clients - and for anyone who isn't out yet - that alone can be the difference between seeking support and not. You attend from your car, your bedroom, your kitchen, wherever the door locks and you feel safe.
Not being out is completely fine
You can be anywhere on that journey, including nowhere. You don't have to have language for it, a label for it, or a plan. "I don't know yet" is a perfectly good place to start a session from if this is what you are coming to seek support for.
This part matters, and we'd rather be straight with you than waste your time.
If you're searching for gender affirming therapy because you need an assessment letter, report or recommendation for medical transition — hormones, surgery, or a formal gender dysphoria assessment — we can't provide that. Our practitioners are qualified counsellors and psychotherapists, not psychologists, psychiatrists or medical doctors. We don't prescribe, we don't diagnose, and we don't write letters for medical pathways.
Gender Affirming Therapy - What We Do, and What We Honestly Don’t
For that, a GP, a psychologist or a specialist gender clinic is the right door, and we'd rather point you there now than after you've paid for an intake.
What we do offer is the therapeutic part, which is often the part nobody makes room for:
Someone to talk to while you're working out who you are, with no deadline on it
Processing family reactions, the good, the awful, and the complicated middle
Minority stress: the exhausting daily arithmetic of who's safe, where, and how much of yourself to bring
Coming out - planning it, surviving it, recovering from it, or deciding not to
Grief: for time, for relationships, for the version of your life you thought you'd have
Support alongside a medical transition you're already navigating elsewhere
And ordinary life stuff, work, anxiety, sleep, a breakup, your mum, as a queer person, without translating
LGBTQ Counselling Online - Our Services Through This Lens
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Counselling & Psychotherapy for Individuals
One-to-one support for anything you're carrying. Our counselling clients currently range from young children right through to elderly Aussies, and we work with neurodivergent clients too - including people who are both queer and neurodivergent, which is a very common overlap and shouldn't require two separate explanations.
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Couples Counselling - For every relationship shape
Queer couples, poly and non-monogamous relationships, long-distance, newly out, together twenty years. We're not going to spend the first session getting our heads around your structure. We'll spend it on the actual problem.
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Children's/Youth Counselling & Art-based Therapy
For young people who are questioning their gender or sexuality, or who are out and finding it hard going. Art and creative-based therapy gives kids a way in when talking directly is too big an ask. Note for parents and carers: like all Australian practitioners working with children, our practitioners have Working with Children Checks and are bound by child safety mandatory reporting obligations — we'll explain plainly what that means at intake.
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Family therapy - for a coming out, or a transition
This is one of the most underserved needs we see, and we want to give it proper space.
Usually the family arrives looking like this: a young person who needs to be respected and is tired of being discussed, and parents who genuinely love their kid and are quietly panicking — sometimes grieving something they can't say out loud, sometimes just terrified of saying the wrong thing and losing them.
That's not a family that needs to be sorted into goodies and baddies. It's a family that needs a room where the young person's identity is not on trial, and the parents can ask the clumsy questions they've been too ashamed to ask anywhere else. Both of those things at once. That's the work.
We won't treat a parent's fear as bigotry to be lectured out of them. We also won't let "I'm still adjusting" become a reason a young person has to keep shrinking. The identity is not the negotiation — the relationship is.
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Parent & Adolescent Mediation
Where the conflict at home has become about identity - pronouns, clothes, a name, who gets told, what's allowed under this roof. A structured, facilitated conversation instead of another fight in the kitchen.
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Family Dispute Resolution & Mediation
For separating same-sex couples, rainbow families and co-parents working out what happens next. Our mediators are accredited, registered, and experienced. Rainbow families often don't fit the default template - donor arrangements, non-biological parents, co-parenting across more than two adults - and we're not going to make you draw a diagram from scratch every time.
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Health & Wellness coaching
Forward-looking, practical support for the life you're building.
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Yoga & Mindful Movement
Gentle, body-based practice - online, in your own space, with nobody watching you in a mirrored studio
Who You’d Actually Be Talking To
We’re a close-knit team of eight accredited practitioners who came together in April 2025 (feel free to read about everyone here!).
We run this practice on five core values: Together, Respect, Integrity, Beyond, and Empowerment. Out of all of them, "Beyond" is our guiding star. It simply means we’re committed to going past the minimum standard of care to show up for you in a way that actually matters.
Queer Counselling in Australia - Times, Fees and the Practical Bits
When we're available
Seven days a week, 6am to 10pm. Evenings and weekends included, because coming out to your therapist shouldn't also mean coming out to your employer about why you need Tuesday afternoons off.
No waitlists. We know affirming services often mean months of waiting. Not here.
Fees
Counselling: $200 per hour, or $300 for 90 minutes
Payment in full at the time of booking or 24 prior to your session, via Stripe or bank transfer
Cancellation with less than 24 hours' notice: 50% of the fee. No-shows: full fee. (Your practitioner is still paid for that time and the slot can't be refilled at short notice.)
FAQs
Do you offer LGBTQIA+ counselling online across all of Australia?
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es. We're a fully online practice, so it doesn't matter whether you're in an inner-city apartment or six hours from the nearest town. Sessions run through a secure practice platform integrated with Zoom, seven days a week, 6am to 10pm Melbourne time.
Can you write an assessment letter or report for hormones or surgery?
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No, and we want to be clear about it. Our practitioners are counsellors and psychotherapists, not psychologists, psychiatrists or doctors - we don't conduct formal gender dysphoria assessments, write recommendations for medical transition, or prescribe anything. A GP, psychologist or specialist gender clinic is the right path for that. What we do offer is affirming therapeutic support alongside whatever medical pathway you're on.
Is everyone at Halo Journey LGBTQIA+ friendly, or just some practitioners?
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The practice is queer-founded and the standard applies across the whole team — correct name and pronouns from first contact, no one asked to educate their practitioner, identity never treated as the problem. If you'd like to be matched with a practitioner with particular experience, just say so when you get in touch and we'll sort it.
I'm a parent and I'm struggling with my child coming out. Can I get support too?
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Yes, and you're not the first to ask. You can see someone individually, or bring the family in together. We won't shame you for finding it hard, and we won't ask your child to wait patiently while you catch up. Both of those things can be held in the same room.
Do you work with LGBTQIA+ young people?
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Yes. Practitioners working with under-18s hold Working with Children Checks and are bound by mandatory reporting obligations under Australian child safety law. We explain exactly what that means, in plain language, before we start.
What if my relationship isn't monogamous, or isn't just two people?
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Then that's the relationship we work with. Poly, open, non-monogamous, more than two people involved in co-parenting — bring it as it is. We're not going to treat the structure as the pathology.
What does an LGBTQ therapist cost, and what if I can't afford it?
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Counselling is $200 per hour or $300 for 90 minutes, paid in full 24 hours before the session. If cost is the thing standing in the way, ask us about a payment plan — we offer them for genuine hardship, and asking won't change how you're treated.
What if I'm in crisis right now?
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If you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call 000. Our sessions are booked appointments, not a crisis line — we're not able to respond instantly outside a scheduled session. There are also specialist LGBTQIA+ support services operating in Australia that can help in the moment via phone or chat support such as Qlife [link qlife.org.au].
Language Support, When you need it
At Halo Journey, we want you to feel comfortable, understood, and truly heard — every step of the way.
If English isn’t your preferred language, we’ve got you. Interpreter services are available across all of our sessions to help make things easier, clearer, and more supportive for you. Just let us know when booking, and we’ll organise it for you.
Interpreter services are available at an additional cost.
The Halo Experience
We’re really proud of the feedback we’ve received from our clients. Every person so far has said they’d be very likely to recommend Halo Journey, and our practitioners are consistently rated between 9–10/10 by people who trust us with those closest to them.
It’s a real reminder of why we do what we do — to make a positive difference, one journey at a time.
If you’d like to see more of what people have shared about their experience with us, read more here.
“I’ve used Halo Journey Australia’s online counselling service before and had a very positive experience. The team was professional, empathetic, and easy to connect with. The online format made it convenient to access support, and I felt genuinely listened to throughout the process.
I would highly recommend Halo Journey Australia to anyone seeking accessible and caring counselling services”
— Counselling & Psychotherapy Client (South Australia)
"Thanks for your support. I felt respected and provided information to help me make an informed decision. This service was highly supported and non judgmental , whilst maintaining neutrality and procedural fairness. Thanks for providing genuine support to those in need."
— Family Dispute Resolution Client (South Australia)
“So easy to talk to, quick response and was able to get me in and fulfil my needs straight away. Very lovely.”
— Counselling & Psychotherapy Client (Western Australia)
Send a Halo
Whether you’re ready to book or just want to learn more, we’re only a message away
Email: info@halojourney.com.au
Phone or Text: +61 485 042 221
Monday to Sunday 7 days a week 8:00am - 10:00pm (AEDT)
Supporting Australia-wide, wherever you are