Therapy
My Approach
Therapy is helpful for people for a variety of reasons and at different stages of their lives: sometimes it’s specific, sometimes it’s unclear.
Themes I work with in therapy include:
general wellbeing and self-awareness, anxiety and stress, grief and loss, life transitions, healing old wounds, LGBTQIA+ experience, ecological awareness and eco-distress
Whilst Gestalt therapy underpins my approach, my trauma-informed work is deeply grounded in current evidence-based training and approaches in ecopsychology, neuroscience, group facilitation, suicide support, LGBTQIA+ support, somatic and mindfulness-based modalities. I am also greatly inspired and influenced by the natural world.
My offering is a safe, open, confidential, supportive and non-judgmental space where people can explore and acknowledge their experiences, enhance their self-awareness and wellbeing, and move towards making positive change in their lives.
I aim to ensure each person is welcomed, respected and supported regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation and expression, ability, age, faith, body and culture.
My qualifications and training include:
Masters Gestalt psychotherapy
Advanced Training Ecopsychology
Advanced Training Ecotherapy
Suicide awareness and support
LGBTQIA+ affirmative practices
Advanced Certificate Groupwork facilitation
Diploma Conservation & Land Management
Professional memberships:
PACFA (Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia)
GANZ (Gestalt Australia & New Zealand)
VAGP (Victorian Association of Gestalt Therapists)
My yearly renewal with PACFA requires I undertake regular professional development training and clinical supervision.
Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is a relational and process-orientated approach grounded in the present moment. Gestalt therapy’s primary aim is to support and deepen awareness in how we live and experience the world and our relationships. Whilst the past isn’t excluded, it’s brought into the present rather than revisited as a distant story. Gestalt therapy supports cultivating a greater awareness and sensitivity to moment-to-moment feelings, thoughts, sensations and behaviours as they arise in the present. By developing this enhanced self-awareness, we can open up more possibilities for flexibility, authenticity and choices in life – allowing for increased self-compassion, self-understanding, and more fulfilling relationships.
Gestalt therapy is not a recipe-style approach or a quick fix. Awareness, acceptance, growth, and change unfold gradually, requiring time, space, and supportive integration for lasting change. Just as every person is unique, therapy looks different for each person. Meaningful, sustainable change emerges over time as we learn to become who we truly are, rather than who we (or others) believe we should be.
Ecotherapy
Spending time in nature has long been recognised and researched for its physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health benefits.
Ecotherapy is an evidence-based, nature-centred therapeutic approach that recognises that humans are not separate from nature, but inherently part of a much broader, interconnected and interdependent living web of life. From our earliest stages of life, we form relationships with, and attachments to, more-than-human beings: be it animals, our beloved pets, trees and plants, special nature places and landscapes, and weather elements – to name a few.
Traditional therapy tends to focus on human relationships, whilst ecotherapy widens this view to include the ecological context in which our human relationships and experiences sit. Ecotherapy is a therapeutic practice that intentionally brings nature into the therapy process. Ecotherapeutic sessions may include guided time in nature, creative practices, mindfulness and sensory awareness.