11/07/2022
A short article……
Two things which bring me to try to understand the magnificence of God - a beautiful flower and a towering mountain range. There is something very delicate and simple in the flower; and stunning, towering and terrifying in the mountains. For me, both highlight the same nature and majesty of God.
My name is Hansi Yasaratna. I am Sri Lankan born, completed my higher studies in England, and came to Western Australia more than eight years ago. My practice is called LightHouse Counselling & Therapy WA.
As a young adult in the UK, I was not practising my Christian faith with intent. I attended church regularly but was struggling in many areas in my faith during that time. My boyfriend at the time, who is now my husband, Nishan, asked me what I thought was my calling. His prompting really got me thinking and I navigated my way back to the Lord.
I believed I was meant to help people, although at the time I hadn’t even looked up the word ‘counsellor’. Google was not prevalent then! But in my gut, in my spirit, I knew that was what I wanted to be.
Nishan felt strongly that God was calling us out of England, to adventure out somewhere else. So we simply prayed. We prayed and applied even though we didn’t know a single person in Australia. We’d never been to Australia. It was one Sunday afternoon, we had fasted and prayed, and as soon as we said “amen” the approval letter from the Australian Government was brought to our hands. It was such a confirmation!
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I became part of the WA CCAA State Committee. People in the organisation were wonderful and they helped me become very comfortable and confident as a person, as a board member and as a counsellor. I am very thankful to my two supervisors Keren Masters and Noreen Lange, and other fellow committee members Susan Johnston, Naomi Wheeler and Lee Lee Crowe.
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There is a lot of trust and faith required when it comes to COVID. Trusting the government is doing the right thing by us, and in knowing that God has all of us in His hands - my clients as well as my practice. Due to COVID, I was happy to learn online platforms such as Zoom and What’s App, as they became necessary. It was about being flexible with my clients and doing what suited them.
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I provide multiple types of therapy, but the main four areas I tend to cover are couple’s counselling, trauma counselling, issues of addiction, and anxiety.
I prepare for a session in an aesthetic sense by making sure the room temperature is perfect, and that the seating arrangement is fine. After every client I sanitise the chairs. The tidiness and appearance of my office is quite important to me. I check everything is clean and that there is drinking water available. Outside of this I read my notes before the client comes in and, most importantly, I pray for them. I pray it will be a successful session.
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Nishan and I own two beautiful cats, Louie and Ellie. They are brother and sister.
And I am a gardener. I love gardening. I love my flowers and plants. And, as mentioned, I enjoy looking at mountain ranges.
A photo could never capture what I see from my naked eyes, and what I experience as I take a deep breath basking in the complexity and creativity of nature. Man can do nothing to capture or recreate the vastness of the Lord’s beauty and majesty.
Get in touch with Hansi at lighthousecounsellingtherapywa.com.au
or through findacounsellor.org.au
