The Wild Orange Tree

24/11/2025

Happy Monday and welcome to Perinatal Mental Health Week. A super important week that recognises the crisis we are experiencing around the wellbeing of mothers and all parents during the periods of pregnancy and early postpartum.

Something incredible about Perinatal Mental Health Week is that it is a partnership between 67 different organisations.

The stats don’t lie. We know we have an issue that impacts individuals, children, families and communities.

And we have so many groups of people trying to shift the dial in this space.

The work that is being done is to be commended.

And it seems that effort alone isn’t enough.

I see the difference that I make at an individual level with the work that I do. And I’m also not seeing a collective, societal change in the wellbeing of mothers.

What we need is systems change. A shake up of how we support new parents. A shift in expectations. A valuing of care work. An acknowledgement of biological needs.

I look forward to seeing the conversations, creativity and innovations that can emerge from this Perinatal Mental Health Week.

Because something needs to change. And it’s certainly not the mums 🧡

21/11/2025

When I saw reminders that World Prematurity Day was acknowledged this week, it made me think about the mothers I have supported through early birth and NICU experiences.

Medical care for baby is paramount, but I also see so many occupational impacts for mothers and parents that don’t always get addressed.

🧡 The occupational change is so sudden. There is no planned maternity leave or space for work hand overs. No time to make paced preparation for other children. Bam. Baby is here. And so often mothers find themselves juggling the new unexpected tasks of mothering (hello kangaroo care, pumping, hospital visits, medical appointments etc) but also navigating the responsibilities of pre baby life. It’s intense. And really hard. Sometimes having someone help you mind map and schedule what is important right now can be really helpful.

🧡 Mums can be pushed and pulled between so many different roles so suddenly, and they feel like they are doing them all poorly. Some self compassion, curiosity about values and leaning into “good enough” can be critical to help a mother build her self efficacy during this unexpected turn of events.

🧡 The trauma is real. And while NICU’s do an amazing job of giving medical care to babies, there isn’t so much going on for the emotional wellbeing of parents. The worry, the guilt, the lack of sleep even though baby isn’t home waking them up. This all needs tending to. And ideally sooner rather than later.

🧡 I also see these mums missing out on supports that mums with full term baby’s can more easily receive. The first night with their baby might be at home alone rather than on the hospital ward, where there is no one to ask questions or get reassurance they are doing OK. The classic is how the Medicare rebate for lactation support is only available when the baby is under six weeks. So by the time baby is discharged Medicare may consider baby too old for rebated support. And if finances have been impacted by finishing work early, this is another blow and possible barrier to accessing support.

Did you have a premature baby?

I’d love to hear what supports would have made a difference for your own wellbeing during that time 🍊

19/11/2025

A hero! The birth comb!

Have you seen them before? Or maybe you have seen them and had no idea what it was or what to do with it.

I’m sure you could brush your hair with it, but there are so many other uses - and not just when we are in labour!

13/11/2025

We have such high expectations of ourselves don’t we.

Always striving to do more. Be more. Achieve more.

And we have to face the reality doing our best, or giving our 100 percent, can only be relative to the capacity we actually have today.

When you are tired, feeling off, or grief is heavy - your 100 percent might be reading your a kid a book in bed, having a nap with them and ordering take away for dinner.

Another day your 100 percent might be a trip to the zoo in the morning, craft in the afternoon and homemade sausage rolls for dinner.

Both are 100 percent.

So rather than getting critical and “shoulding” on yourself, why don’t you ask yourself - what is my actual capacity today?

And what would it look like to really honour that 🧡🍊

08/11/2025

Ever felt like a hot mess?

Yeah. Me too.

And so many clients when they first come to see me describe themselves this way too.

We live in a world that prioritises the destination rather than the journey, and sells us the falsehood that we should know what we are doing.

Especially with motherhood.

The brain changes. Hormonal shifts. Physical recover. Emotional and physical adaption. The new routines and habits. Forgotten and ignored.

And how convenient that the pathology is placed with women rather than the conditions and timeframes we are given.

Because I think we are meant to be a bit of a hot mess - matrescence or mother becoming is awkward and hard. It tears us down and forces us to unlearn. Before we can rebuild and come through.

And while mothers benefit when they better understand the reality of these changes. And there are strategies that can help us show up in the ways that we need and want to along the way.

Rite of passage tells us that sometimes the most valuable thing that we need is to be seen in our hot mess. To be told it’s OK to not have it together. To be given permission to not know. To be held and allowed to break open. To be reminded this is a part of the process. To find our old and new selves as they emerge.

Hair in rollers is not the finished product. And neither are you.

I see a seed planted and starting to grow. I see a hot mess on its way home to itself 🧡

06/11/2025

I’m a published author!!

I’ve never thought of writing as one of my superpowers, but when I was asked to contribute to a textbook on matrescence and the ways that occupational therapists support girls, women and mothers through changing life seasons I was definitely in.

There were many writes, rewrites, edits, tweaks and going back to the drawing board.

But I am so proud of this project led by Dr Hannah Slootjes, and involving people from all around the world.

This textbook is definitely a game changer for occupational therapy and the work that I am blessed and honoured to do each day.

06/11/2025

Thinking about working with me?

There is still time to make it happen this year. However my work runs from home and around my kids so my availability does change with the school holidays.

Telehealth appointments will continue to be available through November and December, with some space still available for new or existing clients.

Face to face appointments on the Sunshine Coast will only be available during November, returning in February 2026 (unless by special arrangement). If you would like to see me face to face before Christmas, please get in touch and let’s make something happen.

And for my interstate friends…

I am offering appointments in Melbourne (North Warrandyte) on Tuesday December 30, 2025.

And I will be back in Wollongong March 4-8 next year.

Those interstate appointments can be booked online through my website or using the link in my bio.

If you currently need space holding or support as you navigate life’s changing seasons, I’d love to be a part of your team.

04/11/2025

My smoothie this morning looks disgusting.

That weird green brown colour 😜😬

But all the ingredients are awesome. And it tastes yum. Sometimes it’s not about the look, but what we have put in.

I think motherhood can be a bit like smoothies.

We get bombarded with beautiful images of mothering. The equivalent of pretty pink, yellow or purple smoothies. With fruit garnish and a paper umbrella.

And we look at our own smoothie of motherhood and see something that is a weird green brown colour.

But when we mix all the colours of the rainbow we tend to get brown. To keep a beautiful colour we have to leave something out.

And I don’t want to take anything out of my mothering experience. Amidst the hard I’m finding the ways of being and doing that work for me and my family. And if that smoothie is poopie brown coloured 💩 then so be it.

I wonder what colour your smoothie of motherhood is today. Are you trying to change it? If so, is that only because it doesn’t look how you thought it “should” look?

Here’s to the good tasting, gross looking smoothies 🧡🍊

03/11/2025

Do you know how Medicare plans work?

A lot of my clients use these care plans from their doctor to access my services, but not everyone knows exactly how they work.

Medicare likes to divide people up into their physical body and headspace (so opposite to me!!).

A mental health care plan focuses on mental health challenges like anxiety and depression, but also covers challenges with adaptation to new seasons of life (hello pregnancy, mothering, return to work, kids starting school, perimenopause….) and you can access rebates for up to ten sessions per calendar year.

The chronic conditions care plan is more focused on physical challenges that have been ongoing for six months than or more. So often covers pelvic health, body based support and menstrual cycle symptoms. Rebates are available for up to five sessions per calendar year.

Sessions on a care plan do roll over to the next calendar year (ie you don’t need to get a new referral but it doesn’t add to the number of sessions you can access the next year). However if you are needing support and use up all your sessions on your care plan this year, you are eligible for another care plan for another ten/five sessions respectively in the new calendar year.

If you have some sessions remaining on a Medicare care plan, or are interested in getting a care plan and accessing some intensive support for the rest of this year, I’d love to chat. Happy to help you understand any questions you have about how care plans work, and see if we are the right fit to work together 🧡🍊

31/10/2025

Happy OT week!

It’s been a crazy one and I haven’t had a chance to say anything about it yet, but I am so proud to be an occupational therapist working in the women’s and maternal health space.

As part of the multidisciplinary team, or sometimes as the main place people are accessing support, I love how awareness of our role is growing.

And that’s hugely thanks to you. For having the courage to engage with occupational therapy as part of your mothering or feminine journey, and then spreading the word to others about what we offer.

The theme of OT week is “occupational therapy in action”. And sometimes you have to experience the occupational disruption of a life transition, or experience OT in action yourself, to get the different lens that our profession brings to women and mothers.

Thanks so much for being here. Can’t wait to see what OT is doing as a profession in this space this time next year!!

30/10/2025

22/10/2025

Really honoured to be asked to be a key speaker and panel member for the Spotlight on Continence event that is happening today.

It is currently exciting times in Australia for pelvic health and the role that occupational therapists can play.

The other week I was the co-author with on an article published in the OTA Connections Magazine highlighting the gaps that occupational therapists can fill for clients experiencing pelvic health challenges such as leaking, prolapse or pain - and the frameworks that we need to promote the OT role.

Overnight the OT Association from the state of New York published their position statement on the role of OT in pelvic health, adding to the existing document from California.

We have so much international precedence, and a growing published evidence base specific to occupational therapy, that support the need for occupational therapy in the continence and pelvic health space.

Love bringing this support to the women and mothers who I work with; and love seeing so many others joining me in this space too 🧡🍊