Meet the Team

River Capra (she/they)

ACA Registered Counsellor - Level 1

Available in person at Sandgate or telehealth services Australia-wide

ABOUT ME

I’m a registered counsellor and non-binary trans woman. I grew up a military kid and moved around a lot but spent the most time in Darwin. When I came out as queer in my teens there weren’t many options for connection or support with other queer people my age, so I cofounded a queer youth suicide prevention and social support group, the first of its kind in Darwin. This was the start of my lifelong commitment to community-focused work and supporting people. Since then, I’ve explored many different jobs including holistic massage, support work, sex work, peer education, and mental health support work. Across all my roles I’ve gravitated towards working in a way that centres authentic connection and growth. Even working hospitality or retail I found myself connecting with people and offering a compassionate ear.  

At the same time, I’ve struggled with my own experiences of mental ill-health, disability, and discrimination. As an adult I’ve explored various descriptions including Borderline Personality Disorder, C-PTSD, chronic suicidal ideation, drug addiction, Autism, and ADHD. I’ve found that diagnoses can be a double-edged sword. On one hand they can offer context, strategies, and community for my struggles. On the other hand, they can be the cause of discrimination and feelings of powerlessness. I now see psychiatric diagnoses as being one of many ways to understand the complex human experience. I’ve also been diagnosed with chronic pain, migraine, hEDS, POTS, and fibromyalgia. All of this has given me unique lived experience, and an embodied sense of the ways our physical, mental, and emotional experiences all interact with each other.  

Rather than using exclusively one type of therapy, I tailor what I do based on you and what you want (or don’t want). I don't follow a prescribed form of therapy, instead we create a genuine relationship where we explore what matters to you and how to help your life better reflect that. I believe you are the expert of your life, and that everything you think, feel or do makes sense in the context of your life story.

My aim is to understand that story and help you build on the things that are already working, or to help find new things when it feels like nothing is working. We might do more traditional things like DBT handouts if you choose, or we might scribble on paper or play with sand or sit outside and weave a basket from invasive plants.  

Rather than using exclusively one type of therapy, I tailor what I do based on you and what you do (or don’t) want. I don't follow a prescribed form of therapy, instead we create a genuine relationship where we explore what matters to you and how to help your life better reflect that. I believe that you are the expert of your life, and that everything you think feel or do makes sense in the context of your life story. My aim is to understand that story and help you build on the things that are already working, or to help find new things when it feels like nothing is working. We might do more traditional things like DBT handouts if you choose, or we might scribble on paper or play with sand or sit outside and weave a basket from invasive plants.  

I navigate the world from an anti-oppression perspective, and I bring this to my counselling work. I believe there are very real systems of harm and that these systems have a tangible impact on us all. Climate change, genocide, colonisation, patriarchy, racism, capitalism, queerphobia. All systems of harm impact and hurt every single one of us. I don’t seek to pretend they don’t hurt, or to professionally gaslight you into thinking about it differently. I’m not interested in creating resilient victims, rather I try to use counselling and therapy as tools of connection, survival, and resistance. We are harder to exploit and to harm when we’re empowered and connected to each other, our environment, and ourselves.  

In my personal life I have the joys of polyamory and relationship anarchy, community organising for the trans community, playing in the garden, and making art for the sake of making art.  

WHO DO I SUPPORT?

  • People looking to create a life they want to live 

  • People with complex trauma, or persistent suicidal feelings 

  • LGBTQIA+ communities, including people exploring their identity 

  • People who are Autistic, ADHD or otherwise neurodivergent 

  • People navigating alcohol and other drug use 

  • People connected to kink, polyamory, non-monogamy, and sex work 

  • People impacted by criminalisation, incarceration, policing, or the justice system, including people who have used violence 

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

  • Diploma of Counselling

  • ACA Level 1 Registered Counsellor

  • Neuroaffirming and anti-oppressive practice

  • Lived-experience-informed approach

  • Extensive experience with complex trauma and suicidality

  • Extensive lived and learned experience with sex work and AOD

Self-Referral Form