Mental Health Studies/ Practitioner

I completed a 4-year Psychology degree (Monash University) accredited by the Australian Psychological Society (APAC) and have worked in the field of mental health over the last 20 years, in Not for Profit, Community Mental Health, NDIS and private settings. I’ve worked with people living with a range of mental illnesses including Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Schizophrenia and complex trauma. I have also conducted research in the field of Wellbeing and Positive Psychology, with my Psychology Honours thesis completed in this field.

Why I take a holistic approach to supporting clients: 

I had always thought that I would end up becoming a Clinical Psychologist but a significant turning point came when I became involved in working with a newly arrived refugee community. I began to notice some of the gaps that can occur in mental health support, when only looking though the medical model lens. I believe the medical model is important but it addresses emotional suffering in an individualised and de-politicised way. This can pathologize peoples experiences rather than addressing the root causes of their suffering, which are often the result of marginalisation and power imbalances within social structures. I decided to complete my PhD in Psychological Anthropology, a field that allowed me to explore mental health/emotional suffering in a way that considered the ways in which systems/structures and individuals interact. On the advice of some of the local refugee leaders I encountered through my work, I decided to head to their homelands to better understand the struggles they encountered prior to resettling in Australia, and conducted my PhD fieldwork in that location.

PHD Psychological Anthropology 

A bit about the research:

My ethnographic PhD (Monash University) research was a thesis on emotional suffering. While I was witnessing the suffering of others, I also became more aware of my own and so the terrain that I traversed was not merely academic. I dove deep into immersive research, based in South East Asia. The work was focused around a community of undocumented migrant women who I came to know well and who taught me so much. I documented their stories of emotional suffering over the course of a year and re-connected with them over subsequent years.

 The women shared a lot about how they navigated their lives in the shadows:

 One way to describe their approach to coping and survival, would be to say that their suffering was managed with wholeness. These women survived by connecting to land, community, body, timelessness, ritual, dreams and spirit. They drew on their ability to think and feel in non-linear (whole) ways, these were the things that supported them to survive, even when the structures and systems were brutally pushing up against them.

In a way, my thesis was a critique of the medical model of mental health. I acknowledge the importance of this reductionist model but I also see so much potential in moving beyond it (looking at the bigger societal/political/environmental picture). Moving beyond- means viewing the individual as one part of an interconnected (eco) system.

When it comes to more ‘holistic’ forms of healing, those of us who have been immersed in an individualist culture might be quick to dismiss or judge them. However, ritual, ceremony, honouring land and place—coming back to wholeness—is something seen historically in all cultures. As society globalises and we become more connected in many ways, we have become more disconnected than ever from our roots, our ancestors, our communities, from nature, and from feeling whole. This is why I do this work- to support people to remember whole ways of being, so that they can feel more fulfilled, and be better placed to nurture themselves, those around them, and the land they walk on.

Meditation studies & practice

Meditation has been a major part of my life for the last 25 years or so. I was introduced to meditation through yogic traditions, learning Yoga Nidra early on and practiced with teachers of Kashmir Shaivism. I also connected with Buddhism first as a teenager and then resisted it many times over, being somewhat averse to organised religion. Yet I knew that Buddhism held something meaningful for me, so continued to read and practice for many years without getting involved in a formal capacity..

However, something shifted for me when I began learning about Socially Engaged Buddhism through the teachings of Roshi Joan Halifax (and of her teacher, Bernie Glassman Roshi). In 2021, after 12 months of intensive study with Upaya Zen Center, I received the Precepts from Roshi Joan Halifax. This means that I took vows to practice meditation (and the Precepts/Buddhist ethical guidelines) to the best of my ability over the course of my life, and to practice with the intention of it benefiting others.

I continue to informally study Buddhist philosophy/meditation in Zen, Tibetan and Insight Traditions.

I am a certified meditation teacher, awarded by BIYOME (BioMedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation), also completing a Yoga Nidra specialisation as part of my training. I have Full Membership/registration with the Meditation Association of Australia.