Counsellor profile
Heidi Vial, AASW
Australia
AASW social worker - relationships and anxiety
Continue with HeidiWhere Heidi stands
- Credentials
- AASW
- Registration
- AASW, Australia / 471246
- Experience
- 10 years
- Languages
- English
- Location
- Australia
About
- Stress and anxiety
- Relationship struggles
- Codependency patterns
About Heidi
Heidi Vial is an AASW-accredited social worker with 10 years of counselling experience and 20 years practising as a social worker in Australia. She works with stress, anxiety, relationship concerns, grief, anger and self-esteem. Heidi also supports people dealing with codependency, abandonment, adoption and foster care issues, and the effects of chronic illness.
She focuses on practical conversations about what feels hard right now. Sessions look at everyday patterns - boundaries, people-pleasing, loss and being overwhelmed. Heidi helps people name what they want to change and try simple steps that fit their life.
Her approach treats the person as the expert in their own story. Sessions combine listening with straightforward suggestions and check-ins about what helps. Heidi encourages building on strengths already present, and testing small changes between meetings.
People often come for help managing strong emotions, restoring a sense of self, or coping with repeated crises around another person's behaviour. Heidi draws on two decades of social work practice to make discussions concrete and manageable. She supports clients who want clear options rather than jargon.
Appointments include setting practical goals and reviewing progress. Heidi aims to keep work focused and understandable, so steps taken between sessions feel doable. She asks clients to try things, notice results, and bring observations back to the next meeting.
How sessions work
Approach and how online sessions work
Heidi uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on practical change. One commonly used approach involves identifying patterns in relationships and daily life, then testing small behavioural experiments to shift those patterns. This helps with people-pleasing, boundary setting and repeated reactive behaviours. Another common technique is focused emotion work that helps name and sit with difficult feelings, and then develop simple coping strategies for managing strong reactions.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Heidi will discuss different ways of working and choose methods together based on your goals, needs and what feels manageable. The process is collaborative and adjusts if something isn’t helping.
Session formats are not specified in the original biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online sessions can make it easier to fit appointments around work or family commitments, avoid travel time, and choose a shorter check-in when that suits a busy day. They also let people continue regular support when life is unpredictable, while keeping conversations practical and focused on real-life steps.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Experience
10+ years
Listed in
Australia
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, relationship concerns, grief, anger and self-esteem issues, and also supports people with codependency and related patterns.
What is her therapeutic style?
Her style is practical and conversational, focusing on everyday patterns, boundary skills and small steps clients can try between sessions.
How much experience does she have?
She has 10 years of counselling experience and 20 years practising as a social worker in Australia.
What credential does she hold and where is she based?
She is an AASW-accredited social worker and practises in Australia.
Which languages can sessions be held in?
Sessions are offered in English.
Can people outside Australia work with her?
She does not accept international clients at this time.
How are sessions arranged and what does it cost?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be cancelled at any time; pricing details depend on the chosen location.
How do I start a first appointment?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Details come from information the counsellor supplied to BetterHelp. A registration can be checked with the body that issued it.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are not safe at home, use the crisis and helpline numbers.