I am a registered art therapist with ANZACATA and this is my main and preferred therapeutic approach to working together. Before this I worked as a speech pathologist in stroke and aphasia research and youth mental health. These experiences also inform my work as an art therapist and have influenced some of my offerings below. I really value communication and language access when working together.
English is my first and primary language, and what I speak during sessions. I am currently learning and studying Auslan at Melbourne Polytechnic and am at community level (Cert ll). I will work with interpreters if you need/want that, please let me know what is best for you.
Please see the CV tab above for more info about my work experience and studies.
Services
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Art Therapy
Art Therapy uses creative processes to explore and express things that might be hard to articulate in words e.g. grief, trauma.
Sessions are led by your curiousities, interests, and needs. Talking is also okay if you prefer words. Storytelling, poetry, metaphors, language can be very creative! There are no rules!
It’s about us exploring together and experimenting with different materials and ways of doing something, practicing being comfortable not knowing what comes next, opening up new possibilities of ways to look at a situation, learning to listen to what your body wants to explore, understanding your emotions in other modalities e.g. paint, clay, collage, sand, flower petals, scrunches of paper…literally anything!
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Neurodivergent Mental Health Support
For teens and adults who want some specific support around autistic burnout, unmasking, late-identified identity and connection to self, embracing what communication styles feel authentic and natural to you, learning about your brain using creative processes.
**I don’t do Autism/ADHD assessments but know of some magical humans who do and can make referrals/connections if that is something you need or want to explore. I am offering more exploration in the post-processing stage, to unpack this experience with you creatively.
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Family & Systems Support
Family and Carer support for parents and carers of neurodivergent and/or disabled kids and young people.
Sessions might look like a phone call or telehealth once a month (or as needed) while I also do art therapy sessions with your child. This is something we figure out together based on what your needs are and how they change while we are working together.
This is a non-judgemental space for us to reflect together on how you are going, what you might need to resource yourself or your family differently, unpacking ableism and systemic structures that are causing you, your child or your family harm, learning about what’s new and changing in your family, supporting you to understand your child’s needs from different perspectives
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Communication & relationship support after Stroke/ABI
Support for people with aphasia and/or their family, partner, adult children to understand acquired disability and changes to communication and relationships after stroke or ABI.
This work draws on both an art therapy approach and my previous work as a speech pathology researcher in aphasia and stroke research. Adjusting to life after stroke/ABI can be a massive psychological adjustment, and there can be lots of grief and change in family systems while adapting to new daily life, relationships, different ways of communicating, post-stroke identity.
Sessions can be in-person or telehealth, and can include partners, family members or friends.