Counselling for Women Growing Older: Embracing Midlife, Late-life With Meaning & Mental Wellbeing
- Nina Isabella
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Counselling for women growing older offers compassionate, practical support through the emotional, physical and identity changes that often emerge in midlife and beyond. As women navigate menopause and perimenopause, changing roles, health challenges, grief, and questions of purpose, it’s common to feel unsettled or overwhelmed. Counselling provides a safe, person-centred space to explore these transitions, strengthen emotional wellbeing, and reconnect with meaning, resilience and self-trust as you move into this next chapter of life.
As women grow older, life brings a rich tapestry of experience - alongside unique emotional, relational and identity-based challenges. Women's health counselling can be a powerful support through these transitions, offering connection, clarity and renewed purpose at every stage of life.
Why Women Growing Older May Seek Counselling
Growing older isn’t just a biological process - it’s a psychological, emotional and spiritual evolution. Many women find themselves navigating:
Menopause and perimenopause, with its physical, emotional and identity shifts
Changing roles and relationships, such as children leaving home, career shifts, retirement transitions
Health challenges and chronic conditions that impact self-worth and lifestyle
Grief, loss or social invisibility, including loss of loved ones or shifting social networks
Questions of identity, purpose and meaning in midlife and beyond
Counselling provides a safe, compassionate space to explore these experiences, strengthen emotional wellbeing, and reconnect with your sense of self and agency.
A Holistic Approach: Biopsychosocial and Spiritual Dimensions of Counselling
Counselling for older adults benefits from a holistic, biopsychosocial and spiritual approach, recognising that emotional wellbeing is influenced by the interconnected layers of body, mind, relationships, and meaning. Physically, ageing can bring health changes, chronic conditions, or pain that impact mood and daily functioning. Psychologically, women may face shifting identity, purpose, or self-worth, alongside anxiety, grief, or depression. Socially, evolving roles, family dynamics, and changing support networks can affect connection and belonging. Spiritually, many women seek meaning, reconciliation, or connection with values and life purpose.
By attending to all these dimensions, counselling provides a space for deeper self-understanding, resilience, and growth, supporting older individuals to navigate transitions with clarity, acceptance, and renewed vitality.
A Person-Centred, Trauma-Informed Approach
In counselling for women growing older, your individual story matters. My practice is trauma-informed and person-centred, which means:
You are regarded as the expert in your life
Your lived experience, values and identity are honoured
We work together at your pace
Healing includes both mind and body awareness
This approach helps you build emotional resilience, self-acceptance and practical strategies for navigating life’s transitions with confidence.
Common Themes in Counselling for Women Midlife & Beyond
Counselling can help with a wide range of emotional and life transitions, including:
Identity and self-worth shifts - redefining who you are and what matters now
Health and ageing changes - supporting emotional wellbeing through evolving health landscapes
Stress, anxiety and mood concerns - tools for regulation and emotional flexibility
Grief, loss and life recalibration - restoring meaning and connection
Relationships and boundaries - strengthening communication and relational resilience
Joy, creativity, purpose and legacy - supporting growth as you continue to evolve
Counselling isn’t about “fixing” you - it’s about supporting your inner wisdom, honouring your transitions, and helping you move through life with greater ease and authenticity.
What You Can Expect in Counselling
A warm, non-judgmental, inclusive and culturally sensitive space
Evidence-based therapeutic practices (such as Trauma-Focused ACT and somatic approaches)
Tools to support emotional regulation, resilience and self-compassion
Space to reflect, express, heal and re-engage with life
Grow Older With Support, Not Alone
Growing older can be an empowering and transformative chapter - especially when you have support that honours your story and your strength. Counselling can help you:
Feel seen, understood and valued
Navigate change with clarity
Rediscover or redefine purpose
Strengthen emotional and relational wellbeing
About Me
I’m Nina Isabella - holistic women’s health counsellor, somatic psychotherapist and theraopuetic yoga instructor. My approach is trauma-informed, person-centred, inclusive and grounded in body-attuned practices.
I am available for in-person session in Macedon Ranges, Melbourne and online. Sessions can be funded through your Home Care Package.
If you’re curious about how counselling might support your journey, I invite you to book a free discovery call - a gentle, no-obligation conversation to explore what feels right for you.
References
World Health Organization. (2022). Mental health of older adults. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-of-older-adults
Age With ACT: A Pilot Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Group for Older Adults Receiving a Community Mental Health Service (2024). Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia.
Luci, K., Jacobs, L., & Hagemann, L. (2016). ACT for older adults: Group therapy for fostering psychological flexibility in older adults. The Gerontologist, 56(Suppl. 3), 59. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw162.240 OUP Academic
Wetherell, J. L., Liu, L., Patterson, T. L., Afari, N., Ayers, C. R., Thorp, S. R., … & Sorrell, J. T. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy for generalized anxiety disorder in older adults: A preliminary report. Behavior Therapy, 42(1), 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2010.07.002
