About our work

As a holistic clinical psychologist I offer psychotherapy as a powerful tool for navigating the transformative time of mothering. Along the way we might also:

• consider the role of integrative and conventional medicine approaches in your healing,

• learn about the needs and rhythms of your baby,

• engage with your community in new ways,

• explore the teachings of wisdom traditions and

• trial mind-body activities and practices.

Rachelle has a special interest working with people experiencing:

• antenatal + postnatal depression & anxiety,

• anxiety about birth and post-traumatic stress disorder following a difficult birth,

• grief & loss counselling following pregnancy losses and counselling around adjustment to complex fertility experiences,

• helping parents build a secure relationship with their child.

About yoU

There’s nothing quite like conceiving, growing, loosing, birthing and tending to new life on Earth to make us question ourselves. It is normal to ask many questions about your capacity to raise humans, your human-hood distinct from mothering, your community and their capacity to support your humans and the nature of humanity itself.

It’s also normal to feel a lot along the way.

Feelings about:

your body.

your own parents and family.

your purpose.

your friends.

your community.

your past and your future.

your relationships.

your work.

your finances.

I could continue

Because in times of deep transformation (and that’s what mothering is all about at its core) there is also the possibility for a deep and honest review of what your body has experienced to date and what you believe is possible for you and your children.

It is possible for any woman to feel really frightened, overwhelmed, sad, numb, disconnected, despairing, hopeless or exhausted in this period of her life. How could we not feel that way when we are thinking things like…

“I’m not cut out for this”

“I’m lost, I don’t know where I went”

“This world is too messed up, what have I done bringing children here”

“I’ve ruined my life, I’m ruining theirs”

“I have no idea what I’m doing”

“Other mothers wouldn’t think this or feeling this”

“They deserve the best and I’m not it”

Perhaps you hear yourself here, noticing how you can relate to these thoughts and the feelings that accompany them. Maybe you felt this way last week, or maybe you have been feeling and thinking like this for a long time. Maybe you’ve thought…

“Am I depressed? Is this what post-natal depression is?”

“I have lost my mind”

“I could NEVER tell ____ what’s actually going on”

The opportunity of this time and, if you chose to work with me, therapy is to learn about what is happening inside and around you (we talk often about practical things too…). I have so much hope for you that things can be easier and that we will find a way through together.

I’m integrative in my approach which means I draw on Attachment Theory, Psychodynamic psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, Self-Compassion and sensorimotor psychotherapy principles but, ultimately, hold you and your unique life experiences at the forefront of our work.

When it comes to existential questions, and it almost always does come to the existential questions at some point in therapy, I am guided by your curiosity, openness and direct experience of your own spirit. If it’s relevant I might encourage you to explore your questions about the human spirit through your direct experience of what you know to be real, truthful and right. There is much healing available when we can reconcile our direct experience with ancient teachings about humanity and consciousness.

I believe good therapy feels tender, risky and brilliant all at once and becomes a relationship that feels life giving and hopeful.

About me

Before embarking on my formal studies in Clinical Psychology, it was my relationships that schooled me in joy and meaning, as well as terror and isolation. I know what it is to feel really mentally unwell and seek good quality help for it. I also know what it is to feel really well and connected to life. I bring all of this to our work, in my bones as the saying goes.

A few interesting facts, I am an ex-boarding school kid who spent the majority of her teens between the art room and the basketball court. I have traveled solo to many places, and have learnt that there are many ways to live a life and that we are more alike than we are different. I have walked the 990km Camino de Santiago pilgrimage across Spain which was a simple, blessed and precious time. Now as a mother of two young boys, I am learning more deeply about relationships, manhood and womanhood (as well as playdough, Bluey and communicable diseases!).

I am interested in good design, menopause and sexology, the role of colon / digestive health on our wellbeing and the contributions of Human Design to understanding ourselves.

I live on Kabi Kabi country on the Sunshine Coast with my young family and look forward to working with you.