Welcome
My core values of non-judgemental acceptance, belief in each individual’s resilience and compassion underpins my work as a counsellor. Specialising in the process of recovery from complex trauma, I will accompany you on your journey as you reconnect to ‘self’. I welcome people from diverse cultural, and social backgrounds. My practice is person-centred, trauma informed, LGBTQIA+ safe, and anti-oppressive.
My interest and passion for counselling started with my own therapy. Experiencing this work, I know how hard it is to open up to a counsellor and face the fears that are interfering with your life. I bring this personal experience as well as varied life experience to my client work. Having lived in two other countries outside Australia, I understand the issues of belonging, identity, and finding a place to call home, as well as universal experiences such as depression, anxiety, and grief. I deepened my understanding of how grief affects us all when I volunteered as a support worker with the National Association of Loss and Grief.
I worked as a secondary school teacher in Australia and the UK. Wanting to try something new, I embarked on a career in the corporate sector. Both these very different workplaces gave me an insight into how pressure affects us and the coping strategies we use, whether helpful or not. Feeling like something was missing in my corporate job, I returned to my first love of working with and listening to people.
Alongside private practice I have worked as a crisis counsellor at women’s centres in Sydney, with expertise and advocacy in domestic violence and trauma recovery, supporting women who were holding shame, grief, loss of identity, and loneliness. My passion to confront injustice and oppression of people through institutional and societal violence gives me an empathic understanding of the many challenges people face when they want to leave violence and start afresh. I am also a skilled group therapist, running therapeutic groups for women’s centres and various organisations around Sydney and NSW.
When not working in a counselling capacity, I am a writer, working on my own craft and supporting other writers to hone theirs.
Credentials
I am a clinical member of PACFA, upholding its standards for ethical working and professional development. I am an Intermediate level student in the SE™ Professional Training and have completed other training in Internal Family Systems and Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples. I undertook postgraduate studies in counselling through the Australian College of Applied Professions. I am an approved counsellor for NSW Victims Services and ACT Victims Support.
I am constantly deepening my skills and experience and will be undertaking further training in Somatic Experiencing® to support my clients heal from trauma by helping them to connect their emotional states and their bodies. I will also be engaging in training as a Clinical Supervisor to support my peers in their therapeutic practice.