My name is James Dokona, I have worked in the counselling collaborative field a little over 20 years. Of those years, I have worked in various sectors, communities and organisations. Listed below are the areas I have worked whilst wearing varying counselling hats: - Department of Education: working with "at risk youth" cohort in a school setting as a -Student Wellbeing Counsellor - Aboriginal community: working with Individual, couples and families as a Family Therapist and Family Violence Counsellor - Refugee Community: worked with various ethnic groups as Counsellor Advocate - Mainstream NGO worked with Australian families as a Family Relationship Counsellor My passion for Brief Therapy afforded me co-authorship of a chapter in Single Session Work world. I was given an opportunity to share my skills in joint collaborative work Following the Rivers Flow: A conversation about single session approaches with Aboriginal Families I believe that my job as your counsellor​/​coach is to ask one important question, and the only person that can answer this important question is you. Your life and story… your pain and hurt… and your hope and hardiness can only be told by you. One of my neurodivergent superpower -ADHD- is making sense of this world by use of metaphors and asking useful questions that elicit meaningful answers. I liken counselling to catching a taxi-cab. You as a client would hail a taxi, and I as the taxi driver would ask, "where do you want to go?". You then tell me where, and then I would drive off to the destination only after you tell me where to go. Only you, and you alone knows where you want to go. And as your taxi driver​/​counsellor, I will only go where you want me to go. Your destination is anywhere that feels safe and healing for you. Remembering always ,this is your life and story… your pain and hurt… and your hope and hardiness…

Why the Spoony community matters to me

In 2020, I was formally diagnosed with ADHD, it was a relief to finally make sense of the inner workings of my mind, however, it was also a lonely time to digest, process and accept. Knowing that there is a space like Spoony to share experience, strength and hope is very comforting.

Qualifications

Post Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy- La Trobe University Diploma in Alcohol and Other Drugs Work- Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE Certificate in Solution Focus Brief Therapy- Brief International