Dads · Men · Couples · Families · Macedon Ranges & Telehealth

Support for dads, men, couples & families.

Specialist clinical counselling for the modern dad — and for the men, couples and families around him. The identity shift of becoming a father. The invisible load. The relationship that changed when the baby arrived. One practice, built for every stage.

Book Free 20-Min Consult Find Your Starting Point ↓

8–12%

of new fathers experience postnatal depression — almost none are screened

67%

of couples experience significant relationship decline within 3 years of a baby

22yr

Grossmann study — engagement in year one shapes outcomes for two decades

6yr

average time men wait before seeking support — the cost compounds silently

Start Here

Most dads arrive through one of three doors.

You don't have to know which one is yours. Read them. See what fits. Each has a clinical pathway.

01 · Most common · New fathers

Something shifted when the baby came and you can't quite name it.

"I love my family. I just feel like I disappeared somewhere in becoming a dad and I don't know how to get back."

The First 1000 Days →

02 · Very common · Peripheral dads

You've become a passenger in your own family and you know it.

"I don't feel like I'm really in my kids' lives. I'm around — I'm just not really there."

Father Activation Arc →

03 · Common · Under load

Work, relationship, fatherhood — running all three and none of them well.

"I don't know if I'm burned out, depressed, or just tired. Probably all three. I haven't talked to anyone about it."

Men's Counselling →

What change looks like

You won't be the first dad
to walk this back.

These aren't testimonials. They're the kinds of shifts that happen in this work — described honestly, without identifying anyone. If one of them sounds like the future you want, that's the place to start.

"A way back in."

A father who'd spent two years on the edge of his own family — present but peripheral, helping when asked, never quite in it — left with a clear, practical way back into the centre of his kids' lives. Not a feeling. A method.

First 1000 Days · Father re-engagement

"We stopped having the same fight."

A couple who had been circling the same argument since the baby arrived — different words, identical pattern — learned to see the cycle underneath it. The fight didn't vanish. But it stopped being a threat to the relationship.

Couples Counselling · The negative cycle

"I didn't know it had a name."

A new dad who thought he was just tired, just stressed, just not coping — discovered that what he was carrying was recognisable, common, and treatable. Naming it was the first time the weight got lighter.

Men's Counselling · Paternal mental health

Composite descriptions based on common presentations. No real client is identified, quoted, or depicted — your privacy would be held to the same standard.

Original clinical framework · Gabriel Carazo

"Wherever there is mental load for mum — there was an Invisible Start for dad."

Gabriel Carazo · Australian Fatherhood Research Symposium · Deakin University, 2026

The mental load doesn't begin when the baby arrives. It begins the moment the father's development is left out of the picture — and by the time most couples recognise it, the asymmetry is structural.

The Invisible Start Program →

Clinical services

Everything available — built for where you are.

In person in Kyneton and telehealth across Australia. Free 20-minute consultation precedes all work — no commitment.

Perinatal clinical flagship

The First 1000 Days — Perinatal Men's Mental Health

Paternal postnatal depression. The Invisible Start. Identity rupture. The neurobiological transformation that only happens through engagement. Clinical support from pregnancy through toddlerhood — before, during and after.

Paternal PND assessment and treatment — not just maternal

The Invisible Start — named, understood, and reversed

Individual therapy and father-inclusive couples work

Learn more →

New program · In person · Kyneton

Baby Massage for Dads

Not a baby class. An oxytocin activation session delivered through your hands. The most direct route to paternal neurobiological transformation in the first year. 4-week in-person program, small group, Kyneton.

4–6 dads maximum · peer learning format

Ages 0–12 months · low cost · MCHN referral welcome

Couples · EFT & Gottman

Couples Counselling

EFT and Gottman integrated for couples at every stage — from first signs of disconnection through to repair after the baby changed everything. The pursuer-withdrawer cycle named and interrupted. Father-inclusive.

Parenthood transition, antenatal, and post-birth repair

Couples who've been in survival mode for years

Enquire →

Individual · ACT & EFT

Men's Counselling

Individual therapeutic support for men at transition points — fatherhood, identity reconstruction, work-life pressure, emotional health. Not generic therapy delivered to men. Built for where men actually present.

Identity after fatherhood — who am I now?

Anger, anxiety, mood — understood, not just managed

Enquire →

Free · private · instant results

Name the pattern before the first session.

Four clinical tools. 2–8 minutes. Anonymous.

The Conflict Curve

Maps the negative cycle — how you fight, not what you fight about. EFT-informed, five dimensions.

9 questions · ~5 min · Free

Start →

Father Activation Arc

Maps your position on the paternal identity arc. Where you are and what moves you forward.

~8 questions · ~5 min · Free

Start →

Parenthood Pulse

Five questions on what matters most — invisible labour, connection, identity shift. Two minutes.

5 questions · ~2 min · Free

Start →

The Four Horsemen

Identifies which Gottman patterns are present and the specific antidote for each one.

10 questions · ~5 min · Free

Start →

What changes

The work is quiet.
The shift is not.

These are not testimonials. They're honest descriptions of the kind of change that happens in this room — written carefully, without identifying anyone, because the privacy of the people who do this work matters.

A father who'd been on the edge of his own family for nearly two years arrived not knowing if anything could change. He left with language for what had happened to him — and a way back in that didn't require him to become someone else.

New father · The First 1000 Days

A couple who'd been in survival mode since their first baby came said the most useful moment was simply naming the Invisible Start — realising the distance between them was a system that had failed them, not a failing in either person.

Couple · Parenthood transition

A man who came in unsure whether he was burned out, depressed, or just tired found that the answer mattered less than he expected. What helped was having one place, once a week, where the whole weight could be put down and looked at honestly.

Individual · Men's counselling

These accounts are composite and de-identified — drawn from the patterns of real clinical work, never from any single identifiable person, and shared to show the kind of change that's possible. Your experience will be your own.

About Gabriel

ACA-accredited relationship counsellor & family therapist. Victorian Father of the Year.

Victorian Father of the Year 2023 ACA Accredited Gottman Method EFT Trained BBH Certified Forest School L3

"The dads I see are not disengaged because they don't care. They're disengaged because nobody built a clear entry point for them."

Gabriel is an ACA-accredited relationship counsellor and family therapist based in Kyneton. He is Gottman Method trained, EFT-trained, and a certified Bringing Baby Home facilitator. He founded RAD DADS — Australia's first council-funded father-specific bush playgroup program — and presented original research at the Australian Fatherhood Research Symposium, Deakin University, May 2026.

Book Free 20-Min Consult RAD DADS →

For referring professionals

A clinical home for the presentations you can't place.

Perinatal men's mental health. Paternal PND. Father disengagement. No referral letter required. Warm handover available.

MCH Nurses

Maternal & Child Health

Father peripheral at 4-month consultation

Edinburgh elevated — couple conflict as a factor

Minimal visible partner support

Referral enquiry →

GPs

General Practice

New father presenting with mood, sleep or irritability

Relationship breakdown post-birth

Work-life strain with identity confusion

Referral enquiry →

Midwives

Midwives & Obstetric

Couple disagreement about birth or parenting roles

Father disengaged in antenatal care

Second pregnancy with known first-birth deterioration

Referral enquiry →

No referral letter required. A phone or email is sufficient. Warm handover calls welcomed for complex presentations. Telehealth available nationally.

You don't have to know
what you need.
Just reach out.

A free 20-minute phone call — no forms, no clinical language. A conversation about where things are and whether there's a fit.

Book Free 20-Min Consult Try a Free Assessment First

0406 020 577 · info@rangescounselling.com · Wed–Fri 9am–8pm · Sat 9am–12pm

Support for dads, men, couples & families.

Most dads arrive through one of three doors.

Something shifted when the baby came and you can't quite name it.

You've become a passenger in your own family and you know it.

Work, relationship, fatherhood — running all three and none of them well.

You won't be the first dadto walk this back.

Everything available — built for where you are.

The First 1000 Days — Perinatal Men's Mental Health

Baby Massage for Dads

Couples Counselling

Men's Counselling

Name the pattern before the first session.

The work is quiet.The shift is not.

Bringing Baby Home.

ACA-accredited relationship counsellor & family therapist. Victorian Father of the Year.

A clinical home for the presentations you can't place.

Maternal & Child Health

General Practice

Midwives & Obstetric

You don't have to knowwhat you need.Just reach out.

You won't be the first dad
to walk this back.

The work is quiet.
The shift is not.

You don't have to know
what you need.
Just reach out.