Professional support, with warmth and humanity
About Leif Lawson Psychotherapist in Sydney
I believe good therapy begins with feeling heard-not assessed, rushed or reduced to a label.
Meet Leif
Founder & Lead Psychotherapist
Hello, and thank you for stopping by.
Choosing a counsellor can feel like a big decision. Before qualifications or therapeutic approaches, I believe it's important to know a little about the person you'll be sitting opposite.
I'm Leif Lawson, a counsellor, psychotherapist and relationship therapist based in Sydney. I work with individuals and couples both in person and online across Australia and the United Kingdom.
My path into counselling has taken me from Scotland to Oxford and eventually back home to Sydney. Along the way, I've worked with mothers and babies, university students, couples, workplaces, and individuals from all walks of life. I've also experienced many of life's challenges firsthand - including divorce, raising two sons, moving multiple countries, rebuilding after loss, and learning to love myself again in all my stages.
These experiences don't make me an expert in your story, but they have taught me something about being human.
My role is to offer a calm, confidential space where you can speak freely and make sense of what may feel overwhelming, repetitive, or difficult to put into words.
My work is primarily informed by psychodynamic therapy, helping clients understand how past experiences, relationships, and patterns may continue to influence life in the present. Alongside this, I draw on CBT, somatic approaches, emotion-focused work, and trauma-informed counselling to support meaningful and lasting change.
For couples, my work is informed by Gottman Method Couples Therapy training and ongoing professional development in relationship repair, communication, affair recovery, and strengthening emotional connection.
I am registered with both the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Alongside private practice, I work as a Student Counsellor at St Andrew's College, supporting young adults as they navigate identity, relationships, academic pressures, and life's many transitions.
I bring more than professional training into the therapy room. I bring a life lived — one that has included change, loss, growth, uncertainty, and starting again. These experiences help me meet your story with warmth, humility, and genuine respect for the courage it takes to seek support.
The practice welcomes people of all genders, identities, cultures, backgrounds, and relationship structures.
Why I Began The Therapy Practice Sydney
Therapy that feels genuinely human.
I started this practice because I believe therapy works best when it feels genuinely human.
Life rarely unfolds exactly as we imagined. Relationships change. Families grow and shift. Careers take unexpected turns. Loss, uncertainty, and questions about identity can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves and from the life we hoped to be living.
In those moments, it can help to sit with someone who is willing to listen carefully, understand your story, and hold space for both the pain and the possibility that exist together.
For me, therapy is not about having all the answers. It is about building a relationship that allows you to better understand yourself, reconnect with your strengths and values, and move toward the life you want to create.
The Therapy Practice Sydney was created as a place where you can bring your whole self — complicated, unfinished, uncertain, and human — and be met with warmth, honesty, curiosity, and genuine care.
Qualifications & professional development
- Postgraduate Diploma in Human Relations & Counselling — UK
- 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, Scotland — under Dr Karen Kirkness
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy — Levels 1 and 2
- Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor — Tertiary students & Workplace
- The Couples Institute — relationship repair and affair recovery
- Perinatal loss training — Centre of Perinatal Excellence and The Perinatal Loss Centre
- CBT training
- ASD and ADHD within relationships — ongoing study
- Registered with the ACA and BACP
Beyond the counselling room
Mental Health First Aid instruction.
I love supporting people one-to-one, but I also enjoy helping communities build confidence around mental health.
Alongside my counselling work, I'm an accredited Mental Health First Aid Instructor, delivering interactive training that gives people practical skills to recognise when someone might be struggling and how to respond with compassion and confidence.
Whether I'm sitting with one person in a therapy room or teaching a room full of people, my hope is always the same — to help people feel more connected, understood and supported.
Client experience
"Counselling sessions with Leif are incredibly positive, supportive, and helpful as she creates a safe, non-judgmental environment where I feel comfortable discussing difficult topics. Leif listens attentively, she provides valuable insights, and offers practical strategies that have helped me better understand myself and navigate challenges. I leave each session feeling heard, empowered, and more confident in my ability to make positive changes."
— Sherece, 30
"I see Leif because I have difficulty believing the facts of scenarios I foster in my head. I can usually dissect an issue and comprehend the course of action, but cannot believe my own remedies. Leif reinforces my comprehension and puts her professional spin on resolutions, supporting my ongoing mental health journey."
"I always thought I wouldn't need therapy — I'm often told I have a tough, burly persona. Through seeing Leif I understood my mental health is as important as my physical health. I was nervous at first because of others' reflections I placed on myself. Now I understand I am actually a tougher bloke than before. Leif is so comforting and caters to your needs in a way that settles any nerve."
— William, 21
"As all first times meeting with therapists and people alike I was incredibly nervous, cautious and had my guard up in a sense. The softness and gentleness I found myself feeling from Leif empowered me to extend to her my feelings where she could put my thoughts into words, and I could leave our meeting feeling confident, seen and considered despite anything I'm going through."
— George, 22
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