I meet so many people who say to me “I never expected my life to turn out this way”. Whether it be, they thought they would be married by 30, have everything sorted by 40, dealing with broken relationships, broken hearts, suffering from wayward children, illness or an accident and so the list goes on.
I am just an ordinary woman who longs for connection, love and warmth with another. I have been trying to not feel ashamed of this fact, in the face of meeting many single women my age who say they don’t need an intimate love relationship anymore. Sure, I can hold my hand, be a good
Three recent events in the news have made me think about having a “good old feminist rant “ One was a news story about a well-known man in the football world. This man who resides in Melbourne was having a relationship with the ex-wife of another well-known man in the footy world. The two men
A friend sent me an article the other day which impacted me very much. It was one of those restorative moments when the perfect thing comes your way. The author of the article is Kelly Brogan, a psychiatrist who specialises in women’s health. She speaks of how difficult it is to sit with emotional pain,
Last night I was having dinner with a friend and talking about sadness. I was telling her how sad I often feel in our society which is obsessed with the notion of happiness. It was a lovely experience to sit with her, talk about my sadness and not experience any pressure from her to be
I was on holiday in January 2016 in New Zealand with my family. This included my youngest granddaughter Pearl. She is six-years-old. One morning she was cuddling up to me in bed and said: “Grammy, were you a little girl once ?” “Yes,” I said. “Well,” said Pearl, “now you are old, and then later
I was walking to my writer’s group this afternoon in busy Melbourne city when an aboriginal woman, indigenous to this land, came alongside me and asked me for some small change. I was flustered, didn’t know what to say, muttered that I didn’t have any, she pleaded with me, said she needed something to eat,
What does it mean to be courageous? Some words the dictionary uses are brave, bold, daring, gallant, gritty, mettle, nerve, lion-hearted and valiant. I have been planning to write about courage for some time. However, I seem to keep putting it off. Perhaps I am trying to find the courage to write about courage. In
I am still in recovery from the Narcissistic ex-partner! Why does it take so long, sigh! I am working so hard at it, and yet I know that recovering from deep grief, loss and disappointment takes as long as it takes. I feel completely shattered by my experience with him and at the same time, I’m
Many of the clients I work with talk about experiencing loneliness. Some say that the therapeutic space is the only place they feel safe enough to admit that they feel lonely. Mother Teresa once said that loneliness is the biggest poverty in the Western world. She was commenting on the reality that people died in their
Professionally I have 33 years experience as a Clinician, Lecturer, Group Facilitator, Educator and Supervisor in Education, Social Services and Mental Health. I currently live in Melbourne, Australia and work in Mental Health. I have a particular interest in supporting and empowering women and men to be all they can be, by assisting the discovery of tools that help them find strength to transform difficulties into opportunities, enriching their lives both personally and professionally. I am a New Zealand Registered Psychotherapist with PBANZ, member of the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists and have a Masters of Health Science (Psychotherapy) First Class Honours. My research thesis was about the long term consequences of intimate partner violence for women. I am influenced and informed by both my professional experiences and my own personal journey, which has involved many challenges and celebrations along the way.