COUNSELLING FOR WOMEN

Do you feel stretched thin, burnt out, wired, frazzled, emotionally overwhelmed or just plain exhausted from carrying so much for so long?

I see you.

I LOVE working with women who feel like they’ve been running on empty — tending to everyone else’s needs while quietly losing touch with their own energy, joy, and sense of self. Together, we co-create a personalised, compassionate roadmap to recovery that helps you reconnect to your body, reclaim your vitality, and feel more like you again.

My counselling approach gently weaves together your life story with the wisdom of your body. We explore not only what has happened in your life — but how your nervous system has experienced and responded to those events. Stress, trauma, grief, burnout — they all leave an imprint on our physiology, often shaping how we show up in the world long after the event has passed.

Using the science of Polyvagal Theory — which helps us understand how the nervous system responds to safety, threat, and connection — we make sense of the patterns you experience in your daily life. Originally developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, and thoughtfully translated into the therapy space by Deb Dana, this framework gives us practical tools to understand and work with your nervous system in everyday life and healing.

One of the core truths of this work is:
“Story follows state.”

That means the state of your nervous system shapes how you experience the world, your relationships, and yourself. I help you track and understand these states with curiosity, not judgment — and build the tools and self-awareness to shift them gently over time.

Together, we’ll map your unique nervous system profile:
what throws you into survival mode,
what keeps you stuck in protective states like fight, flight, freeze, shutdown, or collapse,
what helps you feel safe again,
and how to gradually create more capacity for regulation, connection, and vitality.

Counselling with me is more than just talk — it’s a space to feel, to be deeply seen, and to reconnect to your body's innate wisdom. I deeply value lived experience — both yours and mine — and when it feels supportive, I may share pieces of my own journey through burnout and deep depletion. You're not alone, and your experience makes sense in the context of everything your body has lived through.

You don’t have to keep pushing through.

Let’s begin your healing journey — slowly, gently, and with deep compassion.

I'm here to hold a compassionate, therapeutic space and gently walk alongside you as you navigate life with chronic illness and fatigue.

Having lived through my own experience of chronic fatigue in my early thirties — alongside other complex health challenges — I know how invisible, relentless, and isolating it can feel. The weight of trying to function in a world that often doesn’t understand your exhaustion, pain, or limitations can be overwhelming. I understand the grief that comes with a body that no longer responds the way it once did, and the longing to feel like yourself again.

What I’ve learned — and what I now offer others — is that healing begins when our nervous system feels safe enough. In the words of Deb Dana, our system doesn’t need to feel completely safe all the time — just enough safety, enough of the time to begin to rest, restore, and rewire. 

That’s what I help you cultivate.

Through the lens of Polyvagal Theory, I support you in understanding how your nervous system has been shaped by illness, stress, trauma, and life experience. We gently track your body’s cues, map your survival responses, and explore the small, nourishing steps that can help you build more moments of connection, calm, and capacity. Together, we explore how your story is shaped by the state of your nervous system — not as something to fix, but as something to understand and work with.

This is a space where you can soften.

Where your symptoms aren’t dismissed.

Where you’re not expected to push through or explain your experience away.

I’m passionate about creating a space for you to land — softly, safely, and with deep compassion. 

A space where you feel heard, validated, and supported exactly as you are. A space where your nervous system can begin to exhale.

Let’s begin your journey toward nervous system healing, regulation, and wellbeing — together, one gentle step at a time.

A Nervous System-Informed, Relational Approach to Mental Health Support

Over the past five years, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside NDIS participants across South Australia, offering counselling support through two community organisations and within my own private practice. 

In my work across organisations, LETSS (Lived Experience Telephone Support Service), and private practice, I’ve supported people through many forms of distress. This includes anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, PTSD from domestic violence, hearing voices, and deep grief and loss. I’ve also worked with single parents — mums and dads — overwhelmed by the stress of parenting. Many have turned to alcohol or quick comforts to numb pain or self-regulate. Together, we explore these survival patterns, coping mechanisms and begin to build more safety,  more resources, capacity, and connection in the nervous system. 

In these roles, I’ve written therapeutic support letters for NDIS participants and worked closely with Recovery Coaches and Support Coordinators to support individuals in meeting their goals and reclaiming a sense of self, safety, and agency.

My approach is trauma-informed, polyvagal-aware, and deeply relational. I understand how our nervous system holds the story of everything we’ve survived — and how, when we feel supported, safe enough, and seen, we can begin to gently move toward healing.

Counselling with me isn’t about fixing or rushing — it’s about slowing down enough to listen to your nervous system and honour your story. We begin by building safety and connection — because when we feel anchored and accompanied, new possibilities become available.

Together, we’ll explore:

• How your nervous system responds to the world (e.g., fight, flight, freeze, collapse, fawn)
   
• What anchors and resources can support you in coming back into regulation
   
• How trauma, stress, or chronic overwhelm may be shaping your thoughts, behaviours, relationships, and wellbeing
   
• The legacy of  trauma, grief, loss, and adversity — and how we can meet these experiences with self-compassion and care
   
• Your values, hopes, and goals — and how counselling can support you in moving toward the life you want
   

You are the expert of your own experience. My role is to walk beside you with curiosity, compassion, and respect — and to co-create a space where your nervous system can begin to feel safe enough to explore, process, and heal.

• NDIS Counselling for Self-Managed & Plan-Managed participants
   
• In-person sessions in Gawler South
   
• Telehealth (video) and phone counselling for participants across South Australia
   
• No GP referral needed (Mental Health Care Plans not accepted)
   
• Support letters provided upon request, in collaboration with your Recovery Coach or Support Coordinator
   

Common areas of support include:

• Complex trauma, PTSD & developmental trauma
   
• Domestic & family violence recovery
   
• Depression, anxiety & emotional overwhelm
   
• Burnout, shutdown, and disconnection
   
• Grief & loss
   
• Chronic self-criticism, shame & inner critic patterns
   
• Nervous system education & regulation practices
   

Step 1: Get a sense of me
Feel free to explore my services and read my lived experience story here. This is a space where you can get to know how I work, and whether it resonates for you.

Step 2: Reach out with your support team
You (or your Recovery Coach, Support Coordinator or / and family) are welcome to email or call me directly. I’ll respond personally and warmly — no automated replies.

Step 3: Book a free Clarity Call
Let’s have a short, confidential conversation or even have a friendly meet and greet over a cuppa. This 15–20 minute call gives us a chance to connect, sense how we feel together, and decide whether working together feels right for you.

Step 4: Book your first session
If it feels like a good fit, we’ll arrange your first counselling session — either in person, by phone, or via telehealth, depending on your preference and needs.  Then I’ll prepare your counselling service agreement for us to explore together in our first session. I’ll also send a copy to you, and—if you’d like—to a family member, your support coordinator or recovery coach and plan manager. 

Supporting  individuals on their mental health journey is not just my profession — it’s deeply personal. I bring to this work my lived experience of navigating mental health challenges and healing from burnout and chronic health conditions, alongside professional training in complex trauma, grief and nervous system regulation.

My practice is built on trust, respect, and presence. I offer a gentle, collaborative space for you to reconnect with yourself, understand your nervous system, and take steps toward a more meaningful and regulated life — one that honours your strengths, your story, and your capacity to heal and begin to create a life that feels meaningful, safer, and aligned.

I invite you into a space where your grief is honoured, your emotions are heard, and your healing journey is supported with compassion and care. Grief and loss are deeply personal, and I’m here to walk alongside you through it. With warmth and empathy, I offer you a safe environment to explore the complexities of your grief, and together, we will find a way to move forward.

What to Expect in Grief & Loss Counselling:

• A safe space to express your grief and process your emotions.
• Compassionate support to understand and navigate different types of grief.
• Coping strategies and tools to help manage your grief with care.
• Exploration of existential themes like love, fear, and mortality.
• Insight into how grief evolves through different life stages.
• Meaningful rituals to honor your loss and connection to your loved one.

Types of Grief You May Experience:

• Anticipatory & Non-Finite Grief: If you're facing end-of-life or a life-limiting illness, I’ll gently support you through the changes and ongoing grief of this time.
• Grief & Trauma: Sudden, unexpected loss can feel overwhelming. Together, we’ll combine grief and trauma-informed support to guide you through the pain.
• Prolonged Grief: If grief has become prolonged and deeply affects your daily life, we’ll explore existential challenges and help you rediscover meaning and hope.
• Grief Through Life’s Stages: From childhood to old age, grief changes throughout life. I’ll support you in navigating these transitions, offering tools and strategies to help you cope and heal.

A Journey of Healing and Meaning

In our sessions, we will explore your grief with tenderness and insight, finding ways to integrate it into your life and honouring the profound loss you're experiencing. I bring both my personal experience with loss and my professional training in Existential Therapy with Dr Greg Roberts to offer a unique, empathetic approach. You’re not alone on this journey. Let’s begin healing together.
 

Leaving a high-demand group—whether a religious organisation, a self-development program, or a yoga/spiritual community—can feel disorienting and emotionally overwhelming. These environments often appear legitimate, even benevolent, which can make it incredibly hard to recognise their harmful influence until you’ve stepped away.

If you’re feeling confusion, grief, shame, or a lost sense of self after leaving such a group, please know: you are not alone, and your responses make sense. Your nervous system has been shaped by what you’ve lived through—impacted by experiences of control, fear, rupture, and often deep disconnection from your own inner knowing.

Cult recovery counselling offers a compassionate, trauma-informed space where your story will be held with care and respect. One of the core foundations of our work together is bringing your nervous system into the room—honouring how it adapted for survival, and gently helping it find new rhythms of safety, connection, and choice.

• Bringing Your Nervous System into the Space
  We'll gently include your nervous system in the counselling process—getting to know how it adapted for survival, learning to track your state, and cultivating a felt sense of safety, connection, and autonomy over time.
   
• Awareness & Education
  Understanding the nature of high-control groups—how they operate, and the psychological, emotional, and relational patterns they often create.
   
• Evaluating Influence
  Exploring the group's beliefs and dynamics with curiosity, and noticing how they impacted your identity, sense of safety, and relationship with your body and intuition.
   
• Healing Strategies
  Engaging in trauma-informed, somatic practices that honour your pace and support you to safely process emotional pain, grief, fear, and loss.
   
• Reclaiming Identity
  Reconnecting with your true self—your values, voice, intuition, and sense of inner authority—and rebuilding self-trust from within.
   
• Building a Life of Choice
  Creating a life grounded in authenticity, nervous system regulation, meaningful connection, and self-defined purpose.
   

Healing from religious or cult trauma is not a process you need to navigate alone. I offer a relational, body-aware approach grounded in the understanding that your nervous system seeks safety before it can seek change. Together, we’ll build the conditions that allow healing to unfold—at your pace, in your way.

This work is informed by specialised training in Religious and Cult Trauma with Dr. Quincee Gideon, and supported by the lens of Polyvagal Theory, as taught by Deb Dana. In our sessions, we’ll honour both your story and your body’s wisdom—tracking survival patterns and slowly restoring your capacity for connection, safety, and belonging.

If you're feeling the pull to begin this work, I invite you to take the first gentle step. Whether you're in the early days of leaving, or have been out for years but still feel the echo of the group's control, you are welcome here.

Let’s work together to reclaim your voice, reweave your sense of self, and create a life that feels truly your own—one safe step at a time.

 The Road Trauma Support Team of South Australia (RTST) offers free, professional counselling to anyone whose life has been touched by road trauma. Whether you’ve experienced a vehicle collision firsthand, supported a loved one, or were involved as a witness, bystander, or emergency responder, you don’t have to navigate the emotional aftermath alone.

If you’re in the Williamstown, SA area or surrounding regions, I can assist with your referral through RTST and provide counselling to help you work through the challenges and trauma connected to your experience.

To connect with a counsellor in your area, reach out to the Road Trauma Support Team of SA (RTST) at 0400 705 066 . For more information about RTST's services, visit RTST’s website.

Restore & Reconnect Group Therapy Program

A 6-Week Online Journey for Women Ready to Move from Burnout to Balance

I’m thrilled to invite you to my upcoming Restore & Reconnect program. This therapy group will be limited to six women.

This carefully designed six-week group therapy journey is all about moving from burnout to balance, helping you rediscover energy, joy, and connection.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or stuck in patterns of people-pleasing and perfectionism, this program will offer the tools and support you need to heal and thrive. Combining trauma-informed therapy, nervous system awareness, and somatic practices, the program provides a transformative space for growth, connection, and self-discovery.

Key benefits:

• Calm Your Nervous System: Develop personalised tools to regulate stress and create lasting calm.
• Reconnect with Yourself: Rebuild your relationship with your emotions, body, and mindfulness.
• Transform Burnout: Shift from exhaustion to sustainable energy and nourishment.
• Strengthen Boundaries: Break free from patterns of people-pleasing by setting meaningful, values-aligned boundaries.
•  Explore Relational Patterns: Understand where you may give away your personal power in relationships and uncover the origins of these patterns. 
• Cultivate Authentic Expression: Reclaim your voice and express your true self.
• Build Resilience: Establish routines and tools that support long-term emotional and physical wellbeing.
• Experience the Power of Group Therapy: Share insights, receive support, and create meaningful connections with a small group of like-minded women.

Through six 90-minute group therapy sessions, weekly workbooks, guided meditations, and lifetime access to resources, you’ll be supported every step of the way. Together, we’ll explore practical, sustainable ways to heal and reconnect with the best version of yourself.

If this sounds like the kind of transformation you’re looking for in the new year or if you’d like more details about the program, please let me know—I’d love to share more about this opportunity to support your journey toward balance and connection.

 As a private counselling practitioner, I don’t offer Medicare rebates — which means we can work together without the need for a referral or a mental health care plan. 

Sessions are available Australia-wide via Telehealth or Zoom, and in person if you're local to the Gawler, SA region.

Once you reach out, we can often begin our work together within two weeks. Saturdays, during the week and some evenings are all possible. At the moment I have a two week waitlist. 

To support a smooth and grounded process, I kindly ask that payment is made via online bank transfer before your session.

I am a registered counsellor with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and have been verified by Psychology Today. Counselling endorsements by work colleagues can be found on Psychology Today and on my 'Kind Words' webpage.