Ground Zero Counselling

30/05/2026

*Southside Brisbane Dementia Carer's Support Group*

Many people caring for someone living with dementia quietly carry enormous emotional weight – stress, exhaustion, grief, isolation, guilt, uncertainty. All whilst trying to stay strong for everyone else.

One of the hardest parts of dementia caring is feeling like no one truly understands what daily life is really like. This is why support matters and my key reason for facilitating this support group.

From July 14, Ground Zero Counselling will be facilitating The Southside Dementia Sharing Circle at Coopers Plains Library thanks to the generous support of BCC.

I warmly welcome you to come and experience a safe and supportive space where carers can connect and feel understood over a light morning tea.

You do not have to navigate this alone.

This group is free to attend and if you would like more information, please reach out to me at [email protected]

Warmly
Kate

23/05/2026

Introducing the Brisbane South Dementia Carer Support Group

Caring for someone living with dementia can be incredibly isolating. Many carers quietly carry stress, grief, exhaustion, uncertainty, and responsibility while trying to support the person they love. Over time, it can feel like no one truly understands the emotional complexity of the journey. That is why connection matters.

From July 14, 2026, I will be facilitating a FREE monthly Dementia Carers Support Group at Coopers Plains Library in Brisbane. The ‘Southside Dementia Sharing Circle’ is an initiative of the Brisbane Southside Dementia Network and proudly sponsored by the Brisbane City Council’s Age-Friendly Community Development Grant.

This will be a warm, supportive space for:
🌿 Shared stories, experiences and understanding of dementia
🌿 Emotional support
🌿 Education and reflection
🌿 Connection with others on a similar journey who truly “get it”
🌿 Building friendships, offering and receiving peer support

This is a dedicated space for families impacted by dementia, NOT a space for aged care service providers.

If you would like more information or would like to express interest, please contact me at [email protected] or consider following my Page for updates. I would love to see you there.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling 🌿

19/05/2026

Since sharing about Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), I’ve had a few messages asking, “What does a CST session actually look like?”

It’s a great question—because CST is often misunderstood. A session isn’t clinical or confronting. There are no tests. No pressure to “remember properly.”

Some examples of what a session might encompass include:

• Engaging in conversation about everyday topics like food, seasons, or current events using selected stimulus material
• Word association games
• Listening to music or watching a video clip, followed by sharing thoughts or memories

Essentially, it could include any simple yet engaging activity that sparks conversation and connection – food preparation, identifying and categorising objects or content, making art, building or constructing an object, describing pictures, creative writing, comparing or critiquing items…. the list goes on!!

In answering this question, I am transported back to my previous profession as Head of Thinking Skills in an educational setting (so long ago!) reminding me that all sorts of creative and critical skills can be adapted to create meaningful CST activities for participants – it is limited only by your facilitator’s imagination and skill.

The goal isn’t perfection—it’s participation. As is the case so often in life – the value is in the process of doing and connecting.

It’s about helping someone feel:
✔️ Included
✔️ Capable
✔️ Mentally engaged
✔️ Less alone

Every session is adapted to the person—their pace, their personality, their life story. And typically, in the small, shared moments of CST, something quite meaningful happens.

If you are based in Brisbane and wondering whether CST could support someone in your inner circle, you can read more about CST on my website blog or are welcome to reach out with any questions.

You can access CST privately, or you may be able to use your NDIS/ Support at Home funding, depending on your package.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling 🌿

16/05/2026

If you are caring for someone with dementia, you may be searching for ways to keep your care receiver meaningfully engaged… while holding everything else together.

The good news is that Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) offers meaningful engagement for the participant and a break for caregivers. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) is one of the few evidence-based approaches shown to improve both thinking skills and quality of life.

Ground Zero Counselling offers personalised CST sessions that are engaging, respectful, and tailored to the individual—whether at home or in residential care. CST:

✔️ Supports memory, communication, and confidence
✔️ Reduces isolation through meaningful engagement
✔️ Backed by strong clinical research.

It’s not about testing memory or correcting mistakes. It’s about creating moments of connection, confidence, and gentle mental stimulation—through conversation, shared activities, and meaningful interaction. Many caregivers notice that following CST sessions their loved one has a brighter mood, is more engaged, or that communication has improved.

CST can be accessed privately, or you may be able to use your NDIS/ Support at Home funding, depending on your package. If you’d like to explore whether CST could support both you and your loved one, please read more about CST on my website blog or reach out with any questions.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling 🌿

09/05/2026

When we think about palliative care, many people picture cancer or acute illness. But one of the most important and often overlooked areas for palliative care is dementia.

Dementia is a life-limiting illness and it is terminal. Because it often progresses slowly, it isn’t always recognised this way. This can mean that people living with dementia—and those who care for them—miss out on the benefits of early, holistic support.

A common misconception is that palliative care is only introduced in the final stages of life; however, palliative care can begin at the time of diagnosis. You might use the services of a dementia doula or counsellor specialising in dementia to be part of the support team to express fears, share concerns and have challenging conversations with family members who may not be on the same page. For someone living with dementia, as well as family members, this can be incredibly valuable.

Palliative care for dementia ideally involves a team approach, including:
• GPs and specialists
• nurses and community care teams
• allied health professionals
• counsellors
• dementia or end of life doulas

This support can help with:
• adjusting to diagnosis
• planning for future care
• navigating changes in communication
• supporting carers and family members
• reducing distress and uncertainty over time

Without early support, many families find themselves navigating dementia in a reactive way, responding to crises as they arise. This causes more distress.

Palliative care offers a different path – one that is more proactive and more supported - allowing people to make decisions with time, clarity, and care, rather than under pressure. Instead families feel informed, have clarity, gain peace of mind and have continuity of care – rare for many people I speak with who find themselves navigating this space.
This week, for National Palliative Care Week May 10-16, I have shared on my website a more detailed post about what palliative care really is and why understanding it matters.

If you or someone you love is living with dementia, support does not need to wait until things feel critical. You can begin earlier. Reach out if you don’t want to continue navigating it alone.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling

01/05/2026

There’s a kind of grief that doesn’t get spoken about enough and it is the grief of losing someone while they are still here.

In dementia, this can feel like a long goodbye. There isn’t one moment of loss, but many – a missed memory, a change in personality, watching your loved one struggle to do tasks that were once automatic.

For families and loved ones, this can feel confusing and confronting. You’re still caring for the person and still loving them while also quietly grieving the parts of them that are changing or no longer accessible. And for many, it is the quiet grief is the hardest.

This experience is sometimes called anticipatory grief or ambiguous loss—a grief that doesn’t have a clear beginning or end. And because of that, it can feel incredibly isolating.

The relationship still exists but it is changing. Connection looks different now – it might be found in small moments such as sharing a smile, linking hands, or sitting quietly together outside.
It may not be the relationship you once had, but it still has meaning.

If you’re walking alongside someone with dementia or any life limiting illness, it is hard. Because you are doing two HUGE tasks simultaneously – supporting your loved ones needs day to day, while also responding to your own very real, ongoing loss.

If this resonates with you, you don’t have to carry it all on your own.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling 🌺

27/04/2026

Have you or a family member received a life changing diagnosis? Are you caring for someone and feeling completely overwhelmed? Are you currently experiencing grief even if nothing has 'officially' ended? Does life no longer look the way you expected?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, Ground Zero Counselling is here to help you feel less alone, isolated or confused.

I'm Kate, a registered clinical psychotherapist and dementia doula, currently supporting individuals and families navigating grief and loss, big life transitions and the impact of dementia.

My work is about creating a space where you can slow down, make sense of what you're feeling and find a clear, more supported way forward.

I offer:
- individual, couples and family counselling
- dementia and carer suport
- end of life and anticipatory grief support

Based in Brisbane.
You are welcome to reach out via message to learn more more or visit my website https://www.groundzerocounselling.com.au

Warmly
Kate

Ground Zero Counselling - Counselling support for individuals and families experiencing grief, loss, change, anxiety and trauma. Specialist support for those living with dementia, cognitive change or a life limiting illness. Caregiver support, individual and group therapy, cognitive stimulation ther...

25/04/2026

Change is a natural part of life - but that doesn't mean it's easy.

With change, there is always loss. Sometimes it's obvious like losing a loved one. Other times, it is more subtle - like a shift in identity, routine, or even the future you thought you might have.

These losses can absolutely impact our wellbeing. You might notice it is your mood, energy levels or your relationships.

But I encourage you not to minimise your loss just because it's not visible to others or they don't choose to acknowledge it.

So many of us are expected or told "to get on with it" and this is when wellbeing suffers. Not because you are weak, but because your experience has not been acknowledged.

Unprocessed loss often shows up as :
-Anxiety and overwhelm
-Disconnection
-Exhaustion
-Feeling stuck

The cure is not to push through it but to work through it!

At Ground Zero Counselling, we support people through change, loss and the impact of these challenges on wellbeing - whether that's grief, dementia -related loss, caregiving or end of life transitions.

Loss is loss - and it matters. You don't have to wait until you're at breaking point.

Warmly
Kate
Ground Zero Counselling 🌿