My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.
Maya Angelou
Cultivating Clarity & Coherence
In a realm where true connections of meaning are scarce, and where coherence in context often lays implicitly stagnant, mental and physical wellbeing has plummeted to the point where, within most societies, the prevalence of disease and illness has surpassed health and wellness.
Indeed, I personally can no longer negate the incoherent sense of being that inhabits this epoch in time: a permeating awareness of disconnect from the very things that make us who we are – from our systems to our DNA, individually and socially, we have slowly separated from our trust in the self-organising aspect of the Self and the Other that innately finds restorative balance: individually and collectively we are suffering.
And so, it is my heartfelt desire not to negate this disconnect, instead I choose to live a life intentionally cultivating compassion, connection, and coherence.
It is my passion to explore the neurobiology of humanity, my vision to contribute to wellbeing, and my aspiration is to honour Self, Other’s, and the World by being the change I seek.
MY ASPIRATION
To honour Self, Other, & the World by being the change I seek
Since the early beginnings of my journey, I have come to fathom that although there is, and always will be suffering in the world, the key to health and wellbeing resides in compassionate connections.
Connections that empower us to make coherent sense of our lives and all that has shaped our identity.
As a therapist and as a mother I now know that when I am connected with a “stronger Other” I feel empowered to trust the inherent knowing that is within me; I flourish in health and wellbeing, in flexibility and resilience no matter what the milieus of my life throw at me.
My aspiration as a therapist is to honour my Self, Other’s and the World by being the change I seek. In respect to this aspiration my therapeutic process of practice reflects and honours who my client is, who they were, and who they are becoming.
Such entails that I too, honour who I was, who I am, and who I am becoming. This includes a reflective awareness of my innate propensities: that I have been bequeathed with a slow-paced, highly sensitive, intuitive, depth and detail orientated nature that allows me to utilise myself in the service of presence, attunement, resonance, trust, and truth.
With reflective and reflexive awareness, such ‘utilisation of self’ in therapy is that which aims to create a safe haven. A haven that holds distress and delight, and a haven creates a secure base for supported autonomy and exploration.
This is a space that connects in co-regulated compassion; listens to hear with an embodied understanding; offers warmth, authenticity, inclusion, respect, patience, and integrity; collaborates in relational and restorative practice rather than “fix-it” practices; and a space that cultivates coherence amidst a world of chaos.
This is a space facilitated by a virtuous therapeutic culture and an ever-increasing ethical maturity that promotes better outcomes for you.
Ultimately, it is my therapeutic aspiration to offer hope: to be with you as you move toward creating a sense of contextual coherence through co-regulated connection and compassionate collaboration.
To be someone who, because she has seen the darkness, now sees the light within and between.
MY PASSION
To explore the Neurobiology of Humanity
There was a little girl I once knew, still know, though she is different now. This little girl was someone who had a sensitive seeking soul. She was a kind little one who was quite cautious yet paradoxically so full of delight her smile would brighten the room. Someone who was always so curious, fascinated by the small details of how and why things were the way that they were.
This little curious one was someone who grew up to find a love for exploring the intricacies of being human – a deep desire to know what it truly means to be a human living in this time and place. This was a curiosity that developed into a passion for understanding the neurobiology of development; of coming to fathom how each of us unfolds in meaning and significance through the dynamic processes of attachment and the life experiences that impact who we are: interconnected complexities of the biopsychosocial systems that surround us.
This little curious one was and is… ME.
Not so long ago, as I began discovering more and more about who I am and why I am the way that I am, I realised that there was a fire within me that propelled me toward understanding the complexities of traumatic experiences. And, whilst I find myself drawn to working with beautiful humans who have experiences of significant interpersonal trauma (i.e. DFV, CSA, overt dysfunction and/or egregious neglect), so too I find myself captivated by the more hidden amongst us: I am drawn to working with the exquisite humans that find themselves with more ambiguous levels of trauma – ongoing psychological distress without any apparent ‘causation’ (read: causation that is neither recognised or appreciated by our current medical model).
Indeed, I hold a deep passion for working with people who have, throughout their lifespan, been continually misperceived, misinterpreted, and misattuned to by significant Others; the more hidden ones amongst us who have had repeated relational interactions that, over time, have created various, often paradoxical personality propensities (ways of coping). Such propensities based in ambiguous adverse childhood experiences including inadvertent familial misattunement, mistreatment, neglect, and/or sibling subjugation and violence.
Certainly, it is my passion to explore the neurobiology of humanity in order to fully appreciate how adverse life experiences affect our developing mind and how we relate to Self, Others, and the World.
MY VISION
To contribute to wellbeing
My practice framework acknowledges that wellbeing resides within a coherent and connected (integrated) sense of Self; a uniquely individual flow of being (right brain) and doing (left brain): a fluidity of physiological, psychological, and relational synchrony and equanimity that produces health and wellness throughout the ever-changing milieus of life.
The term wellbeing is a linguistic expression used to accentuate the dynamic synchronisation of flowing energy and information that allows for continued equanimity within and between our diachronic sense of Self, an Other, and the World; this is a continued equanimity that empowers the Self to feel resonantly seen, heard, understood, accepted, valued, and delighted in, which in turn opens opportunities for moment-to-moment attuned reciprocity to the humanness within and between. This ever-evolving embodied and relational flow is informed and regulated by the neurobiological way in which we sense, perceive, interpret, and adaptably react or respond to situational stimuli (internally and externally; interpersonally and intrapersonally).
Most vitally, wellbeing is not-not suffering. Rather, it is a bringing forth of safe communicative reciprocity that opens an unfolding of the Self’s innate ever-emerging ability to find motivational clarity and an intuitive knowing of what is needed to restore idiosyncratic equanimity. That is, with dynamic synchronisation the Self’s inherent capacity to move toward optimal functioning by way of enhanced flexibility and resilience emerges.
These notions are informed primarily by Dan Siegel’s Interpersonal Neurobiology, Jaak Panksepp’s Affective Neuroscience, and Steven Porges’ Polyvagal Theory; however I am continually inspired by the works of Carl Rogers, Allan Schore, Louis Cozolino, Bonnie Badenoch, Deb Dana, Diana Fosha, and Sarah Payton (Interpersonal Neurobiology); as well as the works of Iain McGilchrist (The Divided Brain); Janina Fisher (Fragmented Selves); Richard Schwartz (Internal Family Systems); Marshall Rosenberg (Compassionate Communication); Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing); Doc Childre and Rollin McCraty (The Science of the Heart); Richard J. Davidson, Daniel Goleman, Roshi Joan Halifax, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Matthieu Ricard (Mind and Life Institute); Christopher Peterson, Martin Seligman, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Positive Psychology); among many others and ultimately, God.
