I’m passionate about creating healthy, happy, loving long-term relationships — not just with our partners, but with ourselves, our families, and even the land we live on.
Over 13 years ago, I found myself divorced, a single mum of two, crying on the bathroom floor.
“Was I just not “relationship material”? Was it him? Was it me?”
With a background in psychology, I did what any overwhelmed-but-determined woman would do… I became a full-time researcher of love. I inhaled books, attended workshops with Relationships Australia, and studied with Terry Real, Esther Perel, and the Gottmans.
But the biggest lessons came from life itself — navigating heartbreak, co-parenting, dating post-divorce, re-partnering, blended family dynamics, and the long-term impact of divorce on everyone involved.
I used to be so focused on my ex’s flaws that I never looked at my own patterns:
• my somewhat bruised self-worth
• my ‘Good Girl’ people-pleasing behaviour
• my belief that their happiness = my survival
Am I fully free from the “Good Girl” rules? Absolutely not.
But I’m committed to recognising those unhelpful beliefs and behaviours, interrupting them, and choosing differently — and that’s exactly what I help other women do too.
“A new partner can’t give you the relationship you want if you don’t know how to show up differently.”
The truth about relationships.
Life looks different now. Beautiful, chaotic, hilarious, messy, deeply real — and very loving.
But here’s the truth I want you to hear: It wasn’t “finding a new partner” that created a healthier, happier relationship. It was the work I did on myself — the same work I still do — and the work my partner does on himself. Individually, and together.
Your healing goes with you.
Your patterns go with you.
Your self-worth goes with you.
A new partner can’t hand you a new relationship if you show up the same way. But when you learn how to show up differently?
Everything shifts.
Taking a well-earned break from reno-life.
Zara, Burmese chaos gremlin and unofficial co-therapist.
If you love something, you show up — or you risk losing it forever.
How has my relationship changed?
These days, our “problems” are less about how to get along… and more about what we want to create together.
Conflict feels safer now, because we repair quickly and kindly.
We support each other’s individual goals while building meaningful shared ones.
We have more energy for fun because it’s not drained by resentment or circular arguments.
We let the small stuff go because we know what hills we want to die on, and what isn’t worth it.
We choose to understand each other’s sore spots, instead of choosing our ego’s.
We no longer avoid accountability — we welcome it.
We learn about each other more than we argue about who annoyed whom this week.
Do not get me wrong, our relationship isn’t perfect - but it is intentional and relational.
The property that helped us grow; Cooinda
There’s nothing like renovating a 4,000m² Perth foothills property, (named Cooinda) to test — and deepen — a relationship.
When we first arrived, it was abandoned and desolate.
A dying orchard.
Grass up to our knees.
A house badly in need of TLC.
Trust me, no one wanted this property. It had sat empty for two years.
To date we’ve planted over 400 native plants, built wicking veggie beds, revived the orchard, rescued a galah, wrangled chickens, volunteered at local animal shelters, endured renovation projects (like the Great Pizza Oven Collapse of 2023 that could have ended us but ultimately bonded us), invited the community to pick fruit for their families, and adopted a Burmese kitten, Zara; professional snuggler, emotional support dictator, part-time Zoom co-therapist, and certified chaos gremlin.
Happiness and connection blooms here.
A few year ago, during fruit-picking season where we invite the community to come pick their own fruit, an Aboriginal Elder visited. We were speaking to him about the propertys’ name, Cooinda. He gave us permission to continue using it, and shared that in both his language and his wife’s — from a different mob — Cooinda means: “A happy place of meeting”.
It stopped me in my tracks, because that is exactly what this land has become:
A place of coming together.
A place of acceptance and connection.
A place where we get to practice the very things I help my clients learn — nurturing, boundaries, connection, repair, self-awareness, and joy.
And it feels especially meaningful that my counselling practice is based here, on land with its own story of repair and renewal.
“Our relationships are our biospheres. We're not above them. We're in them. And it's in our interest to keep the biosphere clean and healthy.”
Terry Real
What does any of this have to do with you?
Bringing Cooinda back to life has taught me something profound: We are always in relationship with our environment.
When we nurture something, it nurtures us.
Leave it unattended, and it falls into chaos.
Bring intention, care, boundaries, and warmth — and things grow.
Relationships are the same. They are ecosystems. Living, breathing, shifting spaces that need tending, attention, compassion, repair, and patience.
And yes… sometimes pruning.
So if you’re reading this and thinking, “God, I don’t even know where to start with my relationship…” - let this be your spark of hope.
You don’t need a perfect partner. You just need to be willing to show up, learn, unlearn, repair, laugh, listen, and plant new seeds.
But if your partner isn’t ready yet, you can still begin. When you tend your side of the ecosystem — your self-worth, boundaries, and communication — the whole environment often changes.
My Approach
In our work together, I become a steady voice for your relationship — whether that’s the relationship you have with yourself or with your partner. We build emotional intelligence, explore how past experiences and trauma shape your patterns, and focus on taking responsibility for your part — while learning to show up with empathy, compassion, and firm, healthy boundaries.
Rather than rehashing old arguments or playing the blame game, our work is solution-focused. We concentrate on practical changes that improve how you relate, communicate, and feel in your relationship now.
At the heart of my approach is this belief: relationships change when we change our relationship with ourselves. Through self-awareness, emotional safety, communication skills, and breaking the “Good Girl” rules, you learn how to shift the dynamic — whether or not your partner attends counselling.
Changing your relationship isn’t about forcing someone else to change. It’s about recognising your own patterns and choosing differently. When you regulate your emotions, communicate clearer boundaries, and raise your standards, the relationship naturally responds.
This doesn’t mean doing the work for your partner — their growth will always be theirs. But when you change how you show up, you invite greater responsibility and healthier engagement from the other side.
Because while it takes two people to save a relationship, it only takes one to change its direction.
Credentials/Experience
Registered Counsellor with The Australian Counselling Association
Diploma of Coaching (ICF certified)
Training with Terry Real, Esther Perel, and the Gottmans
Certified in trauma-informed + neurodiversity-informed practices
14+ years supporting women and couples.
Approaches: Attachment Theory, Relational Life Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
Lived experience of AuDHD, divorce, repartnering, step-motherhood and single parenting.
Unregistered NDIS provider #4050173471 (for 1:1 sessions only, not couple sessions).
Get to know me more - speed dating style!
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Quality time.+ Acts of Service - but the occasional gift doesn’t hurt!
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Love Potion 31 - Thankyou Baskin & Robbins 💕 It has raspberry filled hearts. Need I say more?
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A glass of red, a good cheeseboard, my partner and fave humans sitting around our huge fire pit, and meaningful conversation.
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A hilarious comedy night with our friends, or seeing a musical theatre production complete with champagne intermissions.
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I have both, but Zara steals my heart.
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A good massage with essential oils, or an afternoon messing around in my art room, experimenting with watercolours, graphite or resin! A girl has to have choices.
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In My Life by The Beatles. My kids already know this needs to be played at my funeral. It’s reflective, like me and sure to inspire tears.
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That Love is something we cultivate within ourselves and share with those around us. And because of that, every single one of us has the power to be a healing place for ourselves and each other. We simply must just choose ‘Love’.
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Torturing my partner with another crazy renovation idea. He’s a Tradie who’s created a monster!