- Values focused
- Practical steps
- Calm reflective style
About Marguerita
Marguerita Van Der Meer is an ACA counsellor with 15 years' experience. She draws on a wide career across mood disorders, grief, family and relationship strains, and the needs of cultural and minority groups. Her style is adaptive and plain; she listens, asks direct questions, and helps people work out practical next steps.
Clients can expect a calm, philosophical approach that also uses hands-on techniques. Marguerita blends Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Narrative Therapy and mind-body methods to address stress, anxiety, depression and adjustment after life changes. She also supports people dealing with grief, addictions, codependency and identity concerns such as LGBT issues.
Her sessions focus on everyday skills as well as making sense of difficult experiences. Conversations often include values-based planning, noticing unhelpful patterns, and short practical exercises to try between sessions. She frames work as collaborative rather than prescriptive.
Marguerita has particular experience with adoption and foster care issues, attachment concerns, autism and intellectual disability, caregiver stress, chronic illness and family of origin problems. She is also experienced in communication and commitment difficulties, infidelity, shame and control-related behaviours.
People who find her helpful tend to want thoughtful, reflective counselling that still keeps a focus on clear steps forward. To begin, she asks about current struggles and what matters most, then together they build a plan to support change and improved wellbeing.
How these approaches translate to online counselling
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on helping people notice what matters to them and take small steps toward those values. It can be useful for anxiety, depression and navigating life changes. Client-Centred Therapy places the client's experience at the centre of the work and relies on active listening and empathy to help someone feel heard and work through challenges. Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and manage stress in daily life.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will work collaboratively to choose methods that match a client's needs, goals and preferences. That might mean trying ACT exercises for values-based change, practising mindfulness skills between sessions or using narrative work to rewrite how a problem is understood.
Session formats are not listed explicitly here, so please confirm current options before booking. Online counselling can make it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules, allow shorter check-ins when time is limited, and remove travel time on workdays. It also supports practising mindfulness and ACT exercises in real-life settings with guidance from the counsellor.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
15+ years
Credentials
Listed on profile
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she commonly help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression and grief and also supports people with relationship issues, addictions, codependency and self-esteem problems.
What is her counselling style like?
Her style is adaptable and collaborative, combining reflective conversation with practical exercises and values-based planning.
How much experience does she have?
She has 15 years of clinical experience across mood disorders, family and developmental concerns, and work with cultural and minority groups.
What credentials and location are listed?
Marguerita is listed with the ACA and practises in Australia.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can people from other countries work with her?
International clients are not currently accepted.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time.
How do I begin a therapy process with her?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to therapist availability.
Profile details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. Credential and registration rules differ between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.