Clinical depth and cultural understanding in trauma therapy

About Shine

Shine Xiao, complex trauma counsellor at Shining Together CounsellingAustralian Counselling Association Registered Level 3 badge

Shine Xiao, MACA

ACA Level 3 Registered Counsellor · 20 years of counselling experience

I specialise in Complex PTSD (CPTSD), childhood, developmental and relational trauma.

I also work with how family roles, intergenerational expectations and migration experiences can shape trauma responses, boundaries and relationships.

Education

  • Master of Counselling (Australia)
  • Master of Mental Health Practice (Australia)
  • Master of Developmental and Educational Psychology (China)

My approach

I identify recurring automatic responses, trigger–response chains and what keeps them active, establishing a clear clinical focus.

Each session builds on the last. I draw on somatic and nervous-system-informed trauma work, parts-based approaches and DBT-informed skills, adapting interventions to the active pattern and current capacity. We track changes in regulation, boundaries, self-trust and agency.

Bilingual and culturally responsive

Therapy is available in Mandarin and English. I consider how culture, migration, family systems and intergenerational expectations shape trauma responses, identity, boundaries and relationships.

Selected professional training

  • Janina Fisher — Complex Trauma Training
  • Complex Trauma Certification Training (CCTP/CCTP-II)
  • Somatic Therapy for Complex Trauma Certification Training
  • Frank Anderson — IFS Trauma Training
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy Certification Training (DBT)
  • EMDR Basic Training — Level 1 completed (2026)
  • Three-Year Gestalt Therapy Training
  • Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Training

Private health insurance

If you have Extras cover with any of the following private health insurers, you may be eligible for a Counselling rebate:

  • Bupa
  • Medibank
  • ahm
  • HCF
  • Police Health Fund
  • Emergency Services Health
  • Phoenix Health
  • St Lukes Health
  • GMHBA
  • see-u by HBF (telehealth only)
  • Teachers Union Health
  • AIA
  • Doctors Health Fund
  • Westfund

Let’s connect

Online across Australia or in person in North Lakes, Brisbane.

Regular appointment times · Brisbane time
Monday · Tuesday · Friday · Saturday
10:00–11:0012:00–13:0014:00–15:0016:00–17:00

For your initial enquiry, a brief overview is enough. You do not need to describe traumatic experiences in detail.