Liisa Hiltunen, PACFA

Liisa Hiltunen is a PACFA clinical counsellor with more than 20 years of experience supporting individuals, families, and professionals through personal and workplace challenges. As a clinician accredited with PACFA - the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia - she combines clinical training with practical coaching skills to help clients find clarity and resilience.

Liisa holds dual master’s degrees in Counselling and Business Coaching and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design, which informs a holistic approach that links emotional wellbeing with work, leadership, creativity, and life direction. She works with a broad range of concerns including stress, anxiety, relationship difficulties, self-esteem, brain fog, life transitions, and the unique pressures of leadership roles.

Having lived and worked across Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia, Liisa brings specialist experience in expat adjustment, relocation and cultural identity shifts. She also provides executive and C-suite coaching and supports employees through EAP-style professional coaching, grounded in evidence-based practice.

Her work is trauma-informed, collaborative, and practical. She blends evidence-based counselling with tools such as SMART goal-setting, creative problem-solving, and design-thinking, and supports clients to reconnect with their values and sense of purpose. As a mother of three adult children, she draws on real-world experience of family dynamics and long-term relationships while treating each person as the expert in their own life.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Liisa uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and to move toward actions that reflect what matters most. This approach is helpful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions where clarity about values supports change.

Attachment-Based Therapy is used to explore how early relationship patterns influence current connections and emotional responses. It can be particularly useful for relationship difficulties, abandonment issues, and patterns that repeat across relationships.

Liisa also draws on client-centered principles that place the client’s experience at the heart of therapy, offering empathy and support to strengthen self-esteem and coping. Choosing the right approach is part of the work - Liisa collaborates with each person to identify which methods fit their goals, preferences, and practical needs.

Online sessions by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging offer flexibility for busy lives, leaders, parents, and people relocating within Australia. These options make it easier to access therapy around work and family commitments and to maintain continuity of care when schedules or locations change.