Ruth Sanders, AASW

Ruth Sanders is an AASW social worker with eight years of experience in the mental health field. She works with adults who are dealing with stress, anxiety, addictions, grief and major life changes. Ruth also lists compassion fatigue and life purpose among her core concerns. She practises in Australia and offers sessions in English.

Ruth focuses on practical conversations about what feels stuck and why. She helps people name feelings, map patterns, and identify small steps they can try between sessions. Her approach is client-centred and strengths-based, drawing on a mix of evidence-informed methods rather than a single technique.

In practice Ruth uses skills from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people notice thoughts and make behaviour changes. She also uses elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Motivational Interviewing when motivation and emotion regulation are central to the problem. Narrative Therapy skills help people reframe difficult experiences and painful stories about themselves.

Sessions typically involve a mix of listening and practical exercises. Ruth helps people plan experiments, try new ways of communicating, and practise coping strategies for grief, addiction triggers or overwhelming stress. She supports people who want to reconsider work, relationships or meaning without promising a particular outcome.

People who choose her often want straightforward, down-to-earth support to work through a midlife crisis, caregiving strain, family-of-origin issues or ongoing mood challenges. Ruth asks new clients to complete a short questionnaire before the first session so she can tailor early sessions to current needs.

How Ruth uses evidence-informed approaches online