I have been ‘uncoupled’ now for six years. Over these last six years, I have been on some dates, had a few casual liaisons, but essentially remained ‘uncoupled.’ I am sixty-nine years old and it is the longest I have been single in my adult life. I have been married twice, had two other significant
It’s been an especially tough six weeks ! Apart from the eternally long lockdown situation here in Melbourne exhausting us all, plus a demanding job in mental health in essential services, my normally peaceful home environment has now been disturbed into nightmarish proportions. Not only is noisy construction work going on right outside my bedroom
Here we are in our sixth lockdown in Melbourne, since early 2020. Sydney is in crisis, with the whole state now in lockdown. A friend in Melbourne described to me yesterday …. “I have no words any more to say how I feel.” So I thought I would try to find some for me, in
A common theme in my clinical work as a psychotherapist over 33 years, is how people struggle with managing difficult emotions. We are rarely taught how to be with our emotional pain and suffering. Given that Life tends to serve up its fair share of disappointments, tragedies and plain old ‘unfairness’, it is helpful to
I am reading a book currently, called ‘ Fight like a Girl ‘ a memoir by Clementine Ford. She quotes a woman called Caitlin Moran who suggests the following exercise ….. Put your hand in your pants. Do you have a vagina ? and Do you want to be in charge of it? If you
Being an extrovert and a social kind of girl, I am not like Carl Jung, who apparently said that talking is often a torment for him. And he was even a clinician, into ‘the talking cure’ just like I am. It is indeed true however, that after a day with clients, I am more than
More women are coming forward for the first time to report family violence, according to new Victorian research that shows Covid -19 lockdowns have worsened the potential for abuse in many homes. The report found that 60% of family violence victim support practitioners said the Covid-19 pandemic had increased the frequency of violence against women.
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
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
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.