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
Last week I went to the David Bowie exhibition in Melbourne. This is an amazing exhibition of a very talented man! One of the things he said was that at one stage of his life, he found himself to be in “emotional and spiritual trouble “. I thought this was a very apt description of
Today, I recalled a beautiful piece of writing, “The Invitation” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Someone at my workplace reminded me of it. I had read the piece years ago and re-reading and hearing it again strengthened me. Here is an extract that particularly touches me. “It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if
Today I have been thinking about what a friend recently said. She had wanted to speak the truth about the doubts she had about her relationship with her partner. Instead, she was silenced from doing so due to feelings of obligation towards him. This is not a live-in relationship. It has left me thinking that
The birth of this blog came while going through a painful, and complicated relationship break up. I know that what I am experiencing right now is the effects of the shattered dreams; the heartbreak of grief and loss. The shameful thoughts of “I thought I had got it so right this time and I didn’t
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.