Iyengar Counselling Services St Leonards

Menaka Cooke has been in private practice as a Counsellor for over 15 years. She holds a Masters in Applied Psychotherapy and Counselling from the Jansen Newman Institute (part of Torrens University). She also works as an Educator at the Australian College of Applied Psychology, as well as doing group facilitation and management consulting. Before moving to Counselling, Menaka had a successful corporate career, working as H.R. Manager and later as H.R. Director for well-known Australian and multi-national corporations. During her HR career, she won awards for ‘Best SME for involving staff in strategy' and for Australia's first Family friendly policy. Her consulting work in Change Management, then HR Transformation in Education (UWS) won awards followed by her work in Diversity on behalf of the Indigenous Employment Unit of UWS. She has coaching qualifications and loves coaching people to achieve personal and professional goals. She believes in helping people become the ‘best versions of themselves, not copies of someone else'. She is a member of WCEI, NSW (Women Chiefs of Enterprises) and of Zonta International through its North Sydney Club. She has served on the Management Committee of eS4W (Economic Security for Women) a government-funded Women's Alliance, NSW Convenor of WAVE (Women in Adult and Vocational Education) and a director of The Junction Works (a disability services organisation).