Madonna Keightley

Currently: Beyond Betrayal Counselling, PORT MELBOURNE, Australia

Website1: beyondbetrayal.com.au|Nationality: Australian

About me

I'm a degree-qualified Counsellor, a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist through APSATS, and a woman who has personally walked through the storm of betrayal trauma. My work is grounded in both lived experience and formal training, but more than that, it's focused on deep compassion for the women I support.

Every day, I walk alongside women who have discovered their partner's infidelity, hidden online behaviour, or sex and porn addiction. Maybe he's been using dating apps, visiting sex workers, or secretly watching pornography. Perhaps it's a friend or work colleague he swears is harmless, or a pattern of lies you can feel, but still struggle to name.

If this is you, I want you to hear this: you are not alone, and you are not imagining things. Betrayal trauma is real. It disorients you, breaks your sense of safety, and shakes your sense of self. I know - because I've lived it.

When I discovered my own husband's secret behaviours, the relationship I knew ceased to exist. It was the kind of heartbreak that arrives without warning, demanding answers you can't find. At the time, I had already begun working as a counsellor, supporting women through life's many challenges. But this was different. Personal. Raw. It sent me searching for help, for understanding, for someone who could sit with my pain without needing it to be fixed or explained.

That search led me to APSATS. Their model didn't pathologise betrayed women - it honoured them. Their training gave me the tools to support others in the ways I most needed myself. I became a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist and also trained in guiding my clients through the Full Therapeutic Disclosure process. I found the clarity to offer what I had longed for during my healing: trauma-informed care that recognises the betrayal for what it is.

And in my practice - Beyond Betrayal - I support women in the aftermath of sexual betrayal. I sit with them in their grief, anger, numbness, confusion, and shame. I help them make sense of the senseless, not by rushing to fix it or offering answers, but by walking gently beside them as they rediscover what is true, what is possible, and what they have the power to choose. I bring to this work not only my formal training, but a kind of wisdom shaped by life itself - a life spent raising three children and working in roles that called me to listen, lead, adapt and hold space with calm and care. Long before I became a counsellor, I was doing this work in workplaces and communities. My lived experience continues to help me recognise what often goes unsaid, and to honour each woman's story with presence, patience, and care.

Whether you're still in the relationship or out of it, whether this happened last week or years ago- if it still hurts, it still matters.

My clients often tell me what a relief it is not to have to justify their pain. To not have to explain why they stayed - or why they left. To be able to speak about things like porn, compulsive sexual behaviour, or emotional abandonment without shame or judgment, this is what I provide.

I offer counselling both online (across Australia and New Zealand) and in-person in Melbourne. My work is trauma-informed, grounded in safety and consent, and tailored to meet each woman exactly where she is.

You're the expert of your story. My role is to hold space, offer tools, and help you reconnect with the parts of yourself that may have been silenced or shattered along the way.

As Brené Brown so beautifully said, “We don't have to do it all alone. We were never meant to.”

I'm here, if and when you're ready.