Life Transitions Specialist · Melbourne

You are not lost.
You are in between.

Dr. Fernanda Barros is a Melbourne psychologist and psychotherapist helping people navigate life's most significant transitions with depth, clarity, and genuine support.

Book a Free Consult Learn about my approach
20+Years Clinical
PsychDDoctorate
2Languages

Therapy is not about fixing you. It is about understanding yourself well enough to move forward.

Dr. Fernanda Barros

Psychologist & Psychotherapist

English Português

"Every significant life transition is also an invitation to understand yourself more deeply."

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About Dr. Barros

A different kind of therapeutic relationship


People often come to therapy at the moments when life has changed faster than their sense of themselves can keep up. A relationship ends. A career no longer fits. A move to a new country leaves a familiar self behind.

These are not just difficult events. They are invitations to understand yourself more deeply. And that understanding, properly supported, is the beginning of genuine movement forward.

I am a registered psychologist and psychotherapist with a doctorate in Existential Counselling Psychology. I have been working clinically since 2006, across London and Melbourne, in the NHS, specialist addiction and bereavement services, and private practice.

My approach is warm, collaborative, and honest. I do not apply a single technique to every client. I listen, ask different questions, and help you begin to see yourself and your situation more clearly.

Fernanda
Dr. Fernanda Barros, Psychologist, Melbourne

Qualification

Doctorate in Existential Counselling Psychology

PsychD · PsyBA General Registration

Clinical Experience

20+ Years in Private Practice and NHS

London · Melbourne · Telehealth Australia-wide

Specialisms

Life Transitions · Relationships · Perinatal

Including cross-cultural, identity, and addiction

Languages

English and Portuguese

Sessions available in both languages

Location

517 St Kilda Road, Melbourne

In-person + telehealth nationwide

What I Offer

Services built around your chapter

Every service is tailored to the individual. This is not a menu of treatments. It is a set of doors. You choose which one to walk through.

Life Transitions

For adults at a crossroads. Career change, divorce, migration, loss of purpose, or the quieter sense that the life you built no longer fits.

Individual · Specialist Offering

Couples Therapy

For couples navigating conflict, communication breakdown, infidelity recovery, parenting stress, or re-negotiating partnership at a turning point.

Couples · 50 min sessions

Perinatal & Fertility

Support for individuals and couples navigating infertility, IVF, pregnancy, miscarriage, or postpartum adjustment. Held with particular care.

Specialist · Individual & Couples

Cross-Cultural Psychology

For clients of Brazilian and Lusophone background navigating identity, migration adjustment, and bicultural experience. Sessions in Portuguese.

English & Português · Telehealth Available

Adolescents & Families

For teenagers navigating identity, school, and social dynamics. For families managing divorce, blended dynamics, or generational communication breakdown.

Adolescents · Families

Telehealth

Full clinical services via secure video platform. Available anywhere in Australia. Suited to busy professionals, regional clients, and those who prefer the privacy of their own space.

Australia-wide · Secure Video
My Approach

Grounded in philosophy. Effective in practice.


My training is rooted in existential-phenomenology: the practice of understanding a person within the full context of their life and experience. We do not start with a diagnosis. We start with you.

Your history, your relationships, your sense of what matters, and what has shifted. From there, the work unfolds collaboratively.

I draw on multiple modalities and use whatever is most useful for each person and each moment. No two therapeutic relationships look the same.

Therapeutic Modalities

"Therapy, for me, is a collaborative dialogue. My job is not to fix you. It is to offer a space where you can begin to see yourself and your situation more clearly."

Who I Work With

The moments that change everything


Life transitions are rarely just logistical. They ask deep questions about who we are and what matters. The pain comes not from the change itself, but from the loss of the self we used to know.

Without the right support, people get trapped in the in-between, repeating old patterns in new circumstances. Therapy helps you cross the threshold, not just get through it.


Book a Free 15-Min Consultation

Career and Professional Identity

Redundancy, career change, leadership shifts, or the slow erosion of meaning at work.

Relationships and Divorce

Separation, divorce, new relationship dynamics, or re-building after loss of a significant relationship.

Migration and Cultural Identity

The particular disorientation of building a life between two cultures, or two versions of yourself.

Parenthood and Family Change

New parenthood, fertility challenges, adolescent children, or the quiet renegotiation of identity that parenting demands.

Grief, Loss and Bereavement

The death of someone loved, the grief of a life not lived, or the loss of a future you had imagined.

Identity and Meaning

The quieter but no less significant transitions: when what you believed about yourself no longer holds.

Client Experiences

What people say

These testimonials represent the kinds of experiences clients have shared. Names have been changed to protect privacy.

★★★★★

"Fernanda helped me find language for something I had been carrying for years but could not name. The sessions felt genuinely collaborative, not prescribed."

M., 38

Career transition · Individual therapy

★★★★★

"After moving from Brazil I felt lost between two worlds. Having sessions in Portuguese with someone who understands both cultures was a completely different experience."

C., 31

Migration and identity · Portuguese sessions

★★★★★

"We came to couples therapy when I thought we had already decided to separate. Fernanda helped us actually hear each other, possibly for the first time."

T. & R.

Couples therapy · Relationship transition

FAQ

Questions worth asking

Reaching out is the hardest part. These questions might help you decide whether this is the right fit.

Book a Free Consult

You do not need a referral to book. However, if your GP provides a Mental Health Treatment Plan, you become eligible for a Medicare rebate of $141.85 per session (up to 10 sessions per year). I can provide a receipt after each session for you to claim directly.

Individual sessions are $270 for 50 minutes. Couples and family sessions are $295. Initial intake assessments (80 minutes) are $340. Telehealth sessions are $250. A concession rate of $200 is available. Please ask if you are concerned about affordability.

There is no universal answer. Some people find real clarity in 6-8 sessions. Others choose longer-term work. I prefer to let the work determine the pace rather than impose a structure that does not fit. We will review progress together at regular intervals.

Yes. I offer secure video sessions for clients anywhere in Australia. Telehealth works particularly well for clients with demanding schedules, those outside Melbourne, and those who prefer the privacy of their own space. The platform is fully compliant with Australian privacy law.

Yes. I offer sessions in both English and Portuguese for clients from Brazil, Portugal, and the broader Lusophone community in Australia. Both in-person and telehealth sessions are available in Portuguese.

I ask for 48 hours notice for cancellations. Cancellations within 24 hours are charged at 50% of the session fee. I understand that life is unpredictable and apply this with reasonable flexibility.

A brief phone call where we talk about what is bringing you to therapy, what you are hoping to work through, and whether working together feels like a good fit. There is no obligation. It is simply a conversation.

Get in Touch

The first step is just a conversation.

Reaching out takes courage. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation so we can speak briefly, understand what you are navigating, and decide together whether this is the right fit. No obligation. No pressure.

Dr. Fernanda Barros
Dr. Fernanda BarrosPsychD · PsyBA General

Phone

(03) 7003 2334

Free 15-min consultation available

Email

fernanda@drfernandabarros.com.au

Response within 1 business day

In-Person

517 St Kilda Road, Level 3, Suite 5

Melbourne VIC 3004 · Wednesdays + flexible

Telehealth

Available Australia-wide

Secure video · English and Portuguese

Medicare rebates available with a GP Mental Health Treatment Plan. Out-of-pocket from approximately $128 per session. Concession rates available on request.

Request a Consultation

Free 15-minute phone call · No obligation

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