Youth counselling · Geelong · since 2021
Not every teenager is ready to sit in a room and talk.
That doesn’t mean they’re not ready to get better. Shake is counselling that happens while you’re doing something else — walking, shooting hoops, fixing a bike. For young people aged 10–25 across Geelong.
Why we bother
Counselling is not a sign of weakness.
Most of the young people we meet have already decided that needing help means something is wrong with them. Changing that is the actual job. We want a generation of teenagers who are comfortable with therapy — who turn up without being dragged, and are not embarrassed to say so.
Everything else on this page is downstream of that.
Where this came from
He kept watching the same three things happen.
- Where
- MacKillop Family Services — residential care for teenagers removed from their parents
- His job
- Carer. Driving them to appointments, and advocating for them once they got there
- What came of it
- Shake Counselling, Geelong, 2021
Before Shake, Jaxsyn was a carer for teenagers in out-of-home care, driving them to appointments with psychologists. The professionals were good and the young people were not ready. Sitting in those waiting rooms, he saw the same three responses over and over.
Avoidance
Lying, so the uncomfortable conversation never has to start.
Aggression
Telling the professional, in as many words, to get lost.
Abstinence
Simply not turning up, until no relationship can form at all.
Then he noticed something. The same boys who had nothing to say in an office would start talking after a game of basketball, or halfway through a walk. Not because anyone had asked better questions — because their guard was down.
“Because they were comfortable, we were able to have an uncomfortable conversation.”
That is the whole method, and he describes it better than we could: the counselling is the vegetables you sneak into the pasta. The therapeutic work is real and it is deliberate. It just arrives inside something a teenager would have said yes to anyway.
Nobody ever opened up because a room was quiet enough.
Sessions happen on bike trails, basketball courts, walking tracks and in the workshop. The activity is not a reward for doing the work — it is where the work happens.
What we work on
Three things, under everything else.
Gratitude
Teaching teens to recognise and appreciate positive moments in their lives, building resilience and emotional awareness.
Values
Helping young people identify what truly matters to them, and align their actions with their authentic selves.
Self care
Practical strategies they actually enjoy, and that still line up with their therapeutic goals.
What we offer
Six ways in. Whichever one they’ll actually say yes to.
The Shake Space
It does not look like a waiting room.
A warehouse in Newtown with a sport court, a hoop, gym gear, a mural down one wall and a graffiti piece down the other. Sessions that do not happen outdoors happen here.
And there are usually dogs, which for a lot of young people is the reason they get through the door the first time.
- Full sport court
- Basketball hoop
- Gym equipment
- Bike workshop
- Quiet room
- Therapy dogs
Who we work with
Neurodivergent support is not a side service here.
“We don’t see you as a ‘participant’ or a ‘client’ — you’re a young person with dreams, challenges, and incredible potential.”
- Nick Bourke
- Four years working with neurodivergent teenagers. Autism support and crisis response — the calm one when everything is going off.
- Wes
- Specialises with neurodivergent teenagers. Came out of teaching at Armstrong Creek Secondary, which is where the trauma-informed practice comes from.
Sensory-friendly by default
Sessions outdoors, in the workshop, on the court — not a fluorescent room with a clock in it.
Flexible communication
Side by side rather than face to face, and no requirement to make eye contact or explain yourself on cue.
Capacity building that gets used
Cooking, budgeting, public transport, appointments. Living skills that show up in an actual week.
Plan-managed, self-managed and NDIA-managed. We invoice plan managers directly, so there is no paperwork at your end.
What the NDIS supports actually coverAnd if they’re not?
Then we work with that too — anxiety, depression, stress, relationships, and the everyday things every teenager runs into. Not sure where your teen fits? Most parents aren’t. We’ll work it out with you. No labels required.
For support coordinators
We’re a registered NDIS provider, and we only work with young people.
Counselling and psychosocial support, independent living skills, social and community participation, and movement-based therapy. Delivered by people who work with 10 to 25s every day — not a generalist service that also sees teenagers.
Make a referral- Registered NDIS provider for therapeutic supports
- Plan-managed, self-managed and NDIA-managed
- We invoice plan managers directly — no paperwork for you
- A straight answer on fit within one business day — including when the answer is no
Who they’ll actually see
Kicking the footy with Joe. Going for walks with Will.
Jaxsyn Scholes
Founder & lead therapist
Started Shake in 2021 after watching too many teenagers bounce off traditional therapy.
Will Wright
Lead counsellor
Here since day one. Has a gift for reaching teenagers who have completely shut down.
Joe Fama
Youth counsellor
Brings a footy coaching background into the room. Works with boys 13–16 through grief and loss.
Nick Bourke
Senior peer mentor
Four years with neurodivergent teenagers. The calm one when everything is going off.
Wes
Youth counsellor
Taught at Armstrong Creek Secondary. Golf, basketball, the Barwon River, and cooking.
Who runs it
Jaxsyn Scholes
Founder and director
He is careful about one thing, so we will be too: none of this is a criticism of psychologists or psychiatrists. In his words, they hold a vital space for people who are ready to heal. Shake exists for the stretch before that — when a young person is not ready yet, and everyone is waiting.
He founded Shake in 2021 to build the thing he had been improvising in car parks and on basketball courts: counselling that incorporates movement and physical self-care directly into the session, so the environment does some of the work of getting a teenager to open up. He has since built a team who work the same way.
- Teen engagement
- Self-worth
- Anger regulation
- Depression
- Emotional literacy
- Back at school
- Boys aged 14 to 16 who have successfully reintegrated into mainstream schools.
- Into work
- NDIS participants who built the interpersonal skills to get a job, and keep it.
From other parents
You should probably hear this from someone other than us.
“The staff have given my son the most amazing support, tools and guidance to confidently navigate the challenging times along with the good fun times teenage life brings. I could go on and on but there isn’t enough words to express my gratitude as a parent of a teenage boy transitioning into manhood.”
Charlotte LloydGoogle review, a month ago “My son absolutely LOVES Shake and has built an amazing friendship with Will. The approach and connection from the shake team with the kids is phenomenal. Can’t thank the team enough for the work they do with our kids!”
Marney Mcrandall & Jodie VaggGoogle review, a month ago “We have been using Shake Counselling for a few years now. Shake Counselling have been a wonderful resource that has supported myself and my youngest son through some extremely difficult circumstances. I am tremendously grateful for the support Shake Counselling has given us.”
Lara DormainGoogle review, a year ago
And three young people filmed their own:
Geelong
Based in Newtown, working across Greater Geelong.
We work alongside the City of Greater Geelong on youth mental health, which helps us reach young people who would not otherwise find their way to a service like this. The studio is on Newcastle Street; most sessions happen somewhere else entirely.
Registered NDIS providerfor therapeutic supports
Start here
“You may as well check it out. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Jaxsyn’s words, and the honest version of a call to action.
You don’t need a diagnosis, a referral, or the right words. A rough description of what’s going on is enough for us to work out whether we’re any use to you.
- We call or email you back within one business day.
- A free 20-minute chat — not a session, not a sales call, no charge.
- If we’re a fit, we book them in. If we’re not, we’ll tell you who might be.
- Phone
- 0477 997 470Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm
- shakecounselling@outlook.comWe reply within one business day
- Where we are
- 11 Newcastle St, Newtown VIC 3220Please don’t drop in unannounced — there may be a counselling session running.
If you need help right now, call 000, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.