A little about me
My career as a psychologist has taken me across Australia and overseas, working with people from many walks of life in settings ranging from remote communities and youth mental health services to specialist healthcare and private practice.
It's brought me into contact with people whose lives and circumstances have been remarkably different, yet whose experiences have often felt familiar in unexpected ways.
There is always more to someone's story
I've worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in remote Queensland, supported drought-affected farmers, and worked with women and children affected by human trafficking in the Philippines. My experience also includes working with veterans and their families, young people in out-of-home care, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from other cultural backgrounds and LGBTIQA+ communities. I've held clinical leadership roles in youth mental health and, outside of psychology, spent time teaching English in China.
Earlier in my career, much of my professional development focused on working with diversity and understanding people within their cultural and social contexts. Alongside this, I've long been interested in how our early experiences, relationships and emotional lives shape who we are. Over time, my training has increasingly focused on relational, psychodynamic, experiential and somatic psychotherapy, with each approach contributing to my understanding of people and the processes of psychological change.
Another longstanding thread in my life has been an interest in spirituality, particularly yoga, meditation and contemplative wisdom traditions. In 2008 I completed my initial yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India, and have since undertaken further training in trauma-sensitive yoga, restorative yoga, Yoga Nidra and other mind–body approaches. These practices remain an important part of my personal life and continue to inform my approach to psychotherapy.
More recently, my work has extended into psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy within a multidisciplinary, psychiatrist-led hospital setting, separate from my private practice. It brings together several areas of longstanding interest, including early life experiences, emotional processing, the relationship between mind and body, and the spiritual dimensions of human experience.
- Royal Flying Doctor Service, remote Queensland
- Anti-trafficking support, the Philippines
- Veterans and their families
- Young people in out-of-home care
- Clinical leadership, youth mental health
- Program development and delivery
- Psychiatrist-led multidisciplinary team, hospital setting
Complicated, messy and meaningful
Of course, my understanding of people hasn't come from professional experience alone. Like anyone, I've navigated my own share of life's complexities, including relationships, family dynamics and questions of identity, belonging and the roles we occupy in our lives.
These experiences have shaped me in ways that professional training alone cannot. They've also reminded me that being human is a wonderfully complicated, sometimes messy business — and knowing a thing or two about psychology certainly doesn't make you immune to any of it!
I also engage in my own psychotherapy, something I value both personally and professionally. It offers an opportunity to explore my experiences, relationships and patterns, remain curious about what I think I know, and continue developing a deeper understanding of myself.
I consider this ongoing work an important part of being a therapist. After all, our own histories, emotions and ways of relating inevitably accompany us into the therapy room.
When I'm not in the therapy room
When I'm not in the therapy room (or contemplating the complexities of being human!), you'll likely find me sipping tea amongst my family of trees, animals and people; decorating my home, curating my wardrobe, or dreaming up the next gathering around a table with people I love.
I enjoy listening to the land I live on and humbly tending to what she asks of me (usually watering and weeding), soaking up the sunshine, finding my way to the snow or surf, and wondering what and where in the world to explore next.
“I'm endlessly intrigued by how complex we are as humans, and by how much usually sits beneath what first brings someone to therapy. The privilege of this work is being alongside someone as they come to know themselves more deeply, and live just that little bit more freely.”