I’m Katrina James, a narrative-therapy-informed counsellor supporting people navigating identity shifts after major life changes.

Migration, illness, injury, career disruption, or other unexpected events can shake the foundations of who you thought you were. When life changes suddenly, it doesn’t just alter circumstances. It can disrupt identity, confidence, relationships, and your sense of safety in the world.

Many of the people I work with appear to be coping on the outside while privately feeling disconnected from themselves.

Often, they find themselves quietly asking:

Who am I now?

Sometimes this question emerges after moving to a new country.

Sometimes it appears when a body changes through illness or injury.

Sometimes it follows the loss of a career, role, or future that once felt certain.

These experiences often bring invisible pressures: the need to prove yourself, adapt quickly, hold everything together, and make sense of a life that suddenly feels unfamiliar.

My work is to help you make sense of all of this.

Together we explore the emotional landscape you’re carrying: the self-doubt, the pressure, the grief, the confusion, the exhaustion, and the hope that things can still feel meaningful again.

A central part of our work is separating what truly belongs to you from what belongs to systems, circumstances, and expectations around you. When this becomes clearer, many people begin to release the quiet blame they have been carrying for things that were never theirs to hold.

In our sessions, you don’t have to impress anyone, fit in, or work hard to be understood.

You get a soft place to land.

Free of judgement.

Spacious enough for your story to unfold in your own words and your own rhythm.

From here, we rebuild: identity, confidence, safety, and a sense of belonging that doesn’t require shrinking, performing, or trying to return to who you were before.

My role is to help you reconnect with the parts of you that remain strong, capable, and resourceful, even when life has changed.

My path to this work

My interest in identity, belonging, and life transitions comes from both professional and personal experience.

I have lived overseas and experienced what it is like to navigate daily life in a country where I didn’t speak the language well. Even simple interactions can become exhausting when you are constantly translating culture, expectations, and meaning. Experiences like this deepened my understanding of how easily a person’s confidence and identity can shift when the familiar disappears.

More recently, I was diagnosed with a neurological condition that affects movement and energy. Living with a progressive condition has brought its own questions about identity, capability, pace, and what it means to adapt when the body changes. It has strengthened my belief that identity is not fixed, and that people are far more resourceful than the stories they sometimes hold about themselves.

Before becoming a counsellor, I spent more than a decade working as a professional photographer. Photography gave me access to spaces and moments I would never normally have entered, allowing me to observe people closely and witness the complexity of human experience. It taught me to pay attention to small details, quiet emotions, and the stories that exist beneath what is immediately visible.

In many ways, counselling continues that same work: creating space for people’s stories to be seen, understood, and explored with care.

My approach

My work is informed by Narrative Therapy, an approach that understands people as more than the problems they face.

Life events, systems, and circumstances can shape the stories we hold about ourselves. Over time those stories can begin to feel fixed or limiting, especially after experiences that disrupt identity or belonging.

Narrative Therapy helps us step back and look at those stories more closely. Together we explore how they formed, how they have shaped your experience, and how alternative stories grounded in your values, strengths, and hopes can begin to emerge.

The goal is not to “fix” you, but to help you reconnect with the parts of your identity that support growth, meaning, and possibility.

Belonging isn’t a place you arrive at.

It’s a practice you build.

And you don’t have to build it alone.

"As the founder of Reframe Counselling, I'm all about being a social enterprise with a clear mission. My goal is to help migrant professionals thrive in Australia by breaking down emotional barriers, helping them reach their career goals, and live fulfilling lives. My commitment is to assist individuals as they navigate the challenges of migration, adjust to a new culture, and grow personally. I'm here to support you on your journey to success in your new home!"