Basham, 45, is standing trial before the Victorian Supreme Court charged with murdering Samantha Fraser.
Her body was found at her Phillip Island home in July 2018, the day after she turned 38.
Ms Fraser told a counsellor, Terence Melvin, in December 2016 that she was suffering from tightness in chest, as well as difficulty breathing and getting out of bed due to the stresses of the relationship.
Mr Melvin, who believed there were family violence issues, devised a safety plan with Ms Fraser as the marriage broke down in 2017.
He offered to keep assisting Basham but told him to move out of the family home and respect his ex-wife's decision to split up.
Basham didn't return the counsellor's calls after April 2017.
"It struck me very early on that Mr Basham took very little responsibility for what was happening in the relationship," Mr Melvin told the court on Tuesday.
"I heard lots of blaming language. His primary belief was that the blame lay with his wife."
Defence barrister Ashley Halphen has argued that Ms Fraser took her own life after Basham turned up at her home and assaulted her on the day she died.
But Mr Melvin said that during his sessions with Ms Fraser, who had three children with Basham, he did not think she was a suicide risk.
"The children were the most significant thing in her life and I felt reassured she was not suicidal," the retired psychologist said.
"She had started to reach out to friends and family, who had regular contact with her and built a network around her. That was all part of the safety plan we devised."
The pair met in late 2005 and married in 2007.
But after years of domineering and controlling behaviour, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC previously told the court, they separated in 2017, with Ms Fraser taking out intervention orders against him.
Basham then turned up at her Cowes home and waited for 90 minutes, while she dropped their children at school and had coffee with a friend at a local cafe.
It's alleged he strangled her with a rope and then manipulated the scene to make it look like suicide.
Basham had threatened Ms Fraser after they separated, the prosecutor said, warning her that violent criminals could easily break into her home.
He also told her that "if I can't have you, then no one will".
The trial continues.
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