As of June 2024 I am no longer accepting new clients. If you wish to be in contact, please use the contact form. Thank you.

 Career Background

I was drawn to complementary therapies early on in my medical career. Pharmaceutical drugs, and how they were treating many chronic illnesses, seemed so intuitively wrong to me. I was a fish out of water….. After graduating from medicine in 1992 I trained in General Practice, receiving my Fellowship in 2000. I always sensed the root of the problem was more than western medicines could address and so was fortunate to study Ayurveda early on in 1994 which gave me a wonderful framework for helping people more holistically alongside my general practice. 

I then formalised my qualification in 2016 as an Ayurveda lifestyle consultant. I have also trained extensively in nutritional medicine and energy medicine.

While working in General Practice I wanted to do longer consultations to find out what was causing peoples “dis-ease”.  I could naturally detect energetic disturbances inside people, including unhealed traumas and emotional blocks. This led me to study Psychotherapeutic techniques and I left General Practice in 2012 to focus solely on my Therapy work. My main modalities I have trained in over the years include Hakomi, Mindfulness Based Trauma recovery, PolyVagal Informed approach, Inner child work, EMDR, FLASH technique, 12 step work (mainly codependency Recovery) and Focused Psychological Therapies. I continue to work holistically incorporating nutritional and lifestyle advice where appropriate. 

I have a particular interest in the interface between complex trauma, codependency and spirituality.

Personal Background

I have always been deeply interested in life and its many dimensions. I love learning and spending time in nature or on retreat. Personally I had many transpersonal experiences beginning with a major meditation experience in 1996 that forced me on a massive journey to understand who we are as energetic beings. Western medicine and psychology largely ignores the unseen worlds so I looked elsewhere to make sense of my experience of these worlds and to find a way to address the energetic root cause of dis-ease.

I have explored many Ancient Indigenous, Spiritual Traditions and healing modalities some of which I have listed below. I have also trained in and practiced spirituality & meditation for more than 30 years and have an ongoing daily Buddhist meditation and Yoga practice  

In my spare time I love spending time in nature and with loved ones as well as delving into Astrology, Gardening, Cooking and reading all sorts of fascinating and informative non-fiction. 

“Things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

~ Pema Chodron ~

From her book When Things Fall Apart

Philosophy

I believe the journey to healing is not a linear path, it is a Spiral Path. The Spiral Path is a cyclical path of continuous change. At the centre core of ourselves is our Spirit that is the power that supports our life. Our Modern Age places a lot of unrealistic expectations on how things should look or be. On the other hand, the Ancient Traditions hold the wisdom of how to work in alignment with our True Nature and Natural Lore to maintain harmony and balance. We need to find our own way to find peace with our selves in relation to our past, present and future. Medicine Tree Healing focuses on Therapies that cultivate awareness and strategies to make room for ourselves, to let go of what no longer serves us and cultivate new strategies. All approach to therapy is honouring and making space for Ancient Wisdom traditions to support healing and balance.

A Holistic Client Centred Approach engages all parts of us

☯️ Spiritual - Modern medicine largely ignores the unseen worlds which are an integral part of our Being. Yet, Ancient and Indigenous cultures recognised that our wellbeing depends on awareness of the profound Energy that creates the Universe. Medicine Tree Healing holds a central place for healing and recovering your own connection to this Energy. Other names for this energy may be Spirit, Higher Self, True Self, God, Tao, Buddhanature, Natural Law.

I believe our Spiritual Self cannot be separated from any health modality as it is intricately connected part of our being and needs to be nurtured and cultivated for wellness. The Ancient traditions are steeped in wisdom about how to do this so I honour and make space for Ancient Wisdom to be part of the therapy session if people are open to that. I respect others beliefs and I do not impose any requirement of faith or belief on others. 

☯️  Emotional - Emotions are “energy in motion” and are potent indicators of our needs and important guideposts to turn towards. A core part of therapy work is becoming aware of emotions and how to work with our emotional brain. 

☯️  Mental - Core beliefs and thoughts literally create our world, making our mind an incredible creative tool. However, this can work for or against us. In therapy we discover what core beliefs are shaping our world and once we discover our thoughts then, if we wish to, we can make choices about how to cultivate new habits and thoughts

☯️  Physical - Our physical body holds memories and responds to our thoughts and emotions through the nervous system. The mind body are one … our mind affects the body and the body affects the mind. We can balance the physical body to affect the mind and vice versa. Attention to the physical body is an important part of therapy.

☯️  Social - We are social mammals and our nervous system is wired for connection with each other. Social includes all parts of relationships with our world, how we behave and relate with one another. PolyVagal theory incorporates a helpful understanding how our nervous system regulates through connection with one another.

By changing how we think, feel and behave will change outcomes in our life.

Qualifications and training: 

The following listed are a summary of my main healing qualifications and training I have done in Ancient Wisdom Modalities. I acknowledge with deep respect and gratitude all that my teachers have taught me. The full summary of courses and training I have completed are too extensive to list here.

Healing Qualifications

  • 1992 MBBS Queensland University

  • 2000 Fellowships of the Royal College of General Practitioners

  • 2009 Graduate of 3 year Hakomi Body Based Psychotherapy training.

  • 2009-2011 Hakomi professional training in Experiential Disidentification from states with Halko Weiss (now called H.E.A.R.T) & Right Use of Power training with Cedar Barstow

  • 2016-2018 Study with Dr Margaret Paul’s Inner Bonding including the 30 day “Learning to Love Yourself”& 5 day Intensive with her in Colorado.

  • GP Training in Focussed Psychological Strategies Level 1 & 2

  • Training workshops in treatment of psychological trauma with Dr Pat Ogden, Babette Rothschild, Bessel Vander Kolk

  • 2014 Level 1 Training in working with Psychological Structural Dissociation with Dr Janina Fisher;

  • Level 1 (2014) & 2 (2018) EMDR training

  • 2015 Somatic Attachment Training workshops with Diane Poole Heller

  • 2021 - 2022 FLASH Technique Basic and Advanced training .

Ancient Wisdom Modalities

  • 2016 Certificate IV in Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultation with the Australasian Institute of Ayurvedic Studies. My first Ayurveda course was in 1994 with extensive study and living a lifestyle according to Ayurveda principles since then.

  • 1998 til Current time studying and practicing Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation

  • 1992 til Current time studying and practicing 8 limbs of Yoga and other Vedic Sciences such as Jyotish. Part of this was completing level 1 & 2 Yoga teacher training with Radiant Light Yoga from 2010 til 2011. In 2014 I completed a 3 year diploma in Jyotish with Komilla Sutton.

  • 2017 - 2022 Studying energetic healing according to Ancient Shamanic methods. This includes an 18month in person training with One Tribe and Online Training in Shamanic Breathwork with Venus Rising.

Professional Affiliations

  • Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

  • Australian Society of Psychological medicine

  • International Institute for Complementary Therapists