About
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
Socrates 400BC
My practice experience spans over 4 decades and my greatest learning has come from the many challenges and joys of my own life experience.
After 40 years as a social worker, counsellor, mediator and trainer, I have developed an acute understanding of human behaviour and relationships, which enables me to provide meaningful and effective counselling to people from many different backgrounds.
I started my practice in Central Australia where I worked with aboriginal and white communities in the early 1970s. Subsequent work in Social Security in country areas gave me an understanding of ‘systems’ and social problems. My clinical practice was enhanced through training and work with the Marriage Guidance Council in the mid-late 1970s and work in Children’s Oncology in the late 1970s and in 1980 developed my deep understanding of grief and loss. This understanding, along with an appreciation of the experience of children in separating families, has been enhanced by work in the family law area over 30 years as a counsellor, mediator and expert witness.
Teaching and training has been a theme throughout my professional life. At various times I have lectured and tutored at university and TAFE colleges. I conduct training and professional development workshops and run seminars in a range of areas.
I enjoy international professional collaboration as a former Board member of the ICCFR (The International Commission of Couple and Family relations), a European based organisation of counsellors, lawyers, mediators and policy makers who meet annually to exchange knowledge, ideas, and professional practice initiatives.
My interest in and deep respect for the ancient culture of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia was consolidated in my early life and work in Central Australia. In the early1990s I had the privilege to exhibit the art of the Utopia Community, which provided an invaluable means of communicating about aboriginal culture.
“Bread for one yen, for the other, white hyacinths”
This beautiful Japanese quote has been inspirational for me in appreciating the need for balance in life.