COVID clarity leads to new counselling chapter for businesswoman Julie Sack

She has now opened her own counselling business, Emerald Nest Counselling, which is run through both online and in-person services.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, Ms Sack will be operating in-person counselling sessions from Zenspa Bathurst, along Rankin Street.

And for her new business venture and lease on life, she has an unlikely source to thank - COVID.

"I decided my COVID hobby was to start counselling. Lots of people baked sourdough bread but I decided to do some more study," Ms Sack said.

This study was to become a counsellor, and it was all because the pandemic allowed her to find the time for introspection.

In that time, she realised the things that were most important to her.

"I used to be a teacher and I was really passionate about that and then I got into higher education, and when I came down to it I was looking inward and looking at myself and what it is that drives me," she said.

And she found that this drive is for helping people, something she has been doing for many years in her role as a mother and grandmother.

But she recognised it was time to take a different approach.

"I think one of the biggest personal things for me is that being a mum and a grandma and having a big family, I am a problem solver, and I jump straight in to solve problems," she said.

"But this has helped me to take a step back and listen more, and I know that I don't have to solve everybody's problems, but I do have the skills to help them solve their own."

Since then, she has become a qualified counsellor with the Australian Counsellors Association, and she has been putting her skills to good use, breaking down the stigmas associated with mental health.

This involves allowing people to understand that such services are not just for those suffering complex mental health issues.

"It's also for people to recognise that they don't have to be completely broken, they don't have to have had enormous amounts of trauma or awful things happen in their life to get benefit from counselling," Ms Sack said.

"It can be as simple as stress management, workplace issues, goal setting, those sorts of things that can be helped before they become really significant."

And Ms Sack believes that Zenspa is the perfect place for in-person counselling sessions.

"Being able to walk into a place like Zenspa, there is no stigma in walking into a holistic day spa, like what some people might feel when walking into a medical practice," she said.

It's also an appropriate setting as it helps to differentiate between counselling and psychology, as Ms Sack cannot provide any formal diagnoses, but can provide an objective voice in a judgement-free zone.

Both online bookings and bookings via the Zenspa clinic can be made online through the Emerald Nest Counselling website.