Catharina Oberholster

Catharina Oberholster is an AASW counsellor with ten years of experience supporting people through stress, anxiety, grief and big life changes. She speaks English and Afrikaans and focuses on practical ways to rebuild confidence, manage difficult emotions and cope with caregiver strain. She aims to keep sessions straightforward and non-judgemental for anyone feeling stuck or overwhelmed.

Her style is warm and person-centred. That means conversations are guided by what matters most to the client, not by labels. Catharina draws on Client-Centred Therapy along with cognitive behavioural ideas and solution-focused techniques to shape sessions around individual goals.

In practice she helps people notice strengths they already have and use those to tackle everyday problems. Sessions often include short, achievable steps to reduce anxiety, manage mood or address unhelpful thinking patterns. She also supports people working through grief, family-origin issues and the strain of caregiving.

Catharina describes her role as collaborative; she listens first and then helps build a plan that fits the client’s life. Conversations are paced to suit each person, with a focus on clear, practical strategies and steady progress.

To start, she asks people to pick a reason to begin and then shapes work around that concern. The approach is meant to be adaptable, so goals can change as people move through recovery and growth.

How Catharina’s approaches work in online therapy