Nested Hearts

28/03/2026

Play Therapy is culturally and disability inclusive. It is a relationship therapy that meets the child where they are at. It honours a child's capacity for healing and provides the adults around that child with the tools of connection.
Play is a child's language, but actually it is a language that crosses borders, crosses abilities, and is not defined by limits. To learn how to be with, to connect, to build safety.
It's the most trauma-responsive practice for those who have experienced relational trauma, as it provides relational healing. Play Therapy facilitates hope, it nurtures capacity, it rebuilds a broken heart into a nurtured heart.
It's such a beautiful practice and it's such a privilege to share with the world.

28/03/2026

The healing power of play. ❤️ 💙 💜 💛 💚

Just finished a week of training in Timor-Leste and my heart is so full.

Spending a week alongside the NABILAN team at The Asia Foundation and the shelter partners who show up every single day for women & children who have survived violence!

This week we explored decolonising therapy in the Timorese context, the neurobiology of trauma and how healing actually happens, intergenerational trauma and the healing practices communities already hold, and how healing can be found in those playful moments of connection rooted in Timorese culture and tradition. We also explored play therapy in all its forms including non-directive and directive, individual, family and group and how to make our practice more disability-inclusive, child-friendly, and grounded in keeping kids safe.

The spirit of halimar in Timorese culture is such a beautiful thing. We laughed, we played, we learned together and I feel so privileged to support such beautiful humans who are holding such heavy stories in such beautiful ways.

So grateful to be part of this work. 🙏

24/03/2026

This incredible event in Lennox head this April combining Somatic Experiencing with Peter Levine and Indigenous Knowledge with We Al-li Programs I am so very excited to be attending!

22/03/2026

Join us at the upcoming Northern NSW Foster Carer Conference to connect, learn, and find support. Register now to be part of this inspiring event for carers and professionals.

10/03/2026

"Hope where there is nothing" by 8 year old Layla. Permission to share. This is the art work and words of my friends daughter. My friend died 8 years ago of cancer when her baby was 5 months old. From the mouth of babe's! Thanks Layla for reminding us of the most important ingredient in times when nothing feels possible! I can feel and hear your mum guiding you in this art work, she was also an artist and a deep thinker. In memory of Liz ❤️

08/03/2026

Happy International Women's Day! 💜Today I'm holding space for the complexity of this moment. We're witnessing devastating global events that put women and girls in grave danger, young girls abused by those in power going unaccounted for, to violence justified in the name of "protecting" women's rights. Young girls killed in schools. Wars used to deflect responsibility from the global elite who need to be held accountable. I don't buy it, and I don't think you do either.Yet I'm surrounded by extraordinary women! my friends, colleagues, clients, sisters, daughters, aunties. Strong, capable, soft, caring, kind, and relentlessly hardworking. Holding way too much. We need to be the ones guiding our world toward peace. The wars destroying our communities are so often the work of patriarchal, colonial power, dark and dangerous. Here's to a softening. A rise of the matriarchal. A respect for the divine feminine. To every woman carrying the weight of the world, I see you! And especially to our international sisters caught in war, in fear and famine. I'm sorry. Happy International Women's Day. 🌸

Happy International Women's Day!

Today is a day to celebrate women throughout the world and to remember so many women and trailblazers who have gone before us to pave the way for greater equality, inclusion, opportunity and respect.

There is still a long way to go and this year's theme, 'Balance the Scales' highlights the urgent need for fair, inclusive, and accessible justice for all women and girls, tackling entrenched barriers to equality. As we celebrate this day, let us be mindful of women who are oppressed in any way and remember in particular the women of the Iranian soccer team presently playing World Cup qualifiers in Australia. We pray for their safety and the safety of their families.

Image ~ 'Women Singing Earth' by Mary Southard CSJ

01/03/2026

I’m really looking forward to facilitating this upcoming workshop, **Understanding Children Through Play & Connection**.

This full-day training is designed for foster and kin carers, parents and professionals who support children impacted by trauma. Together, we’ll explore how behaviour makes sense through a trauma lens and share practical, play-based strategies to build connection, reduce overwhelm, and support regulation in everyday moments.

📅 8 May 2026
📍 Ballina RSL
⏰ 9:00am – 3:00pm

Spots are limited, and early bird registrations close April 1. I’d love to see you there!

Please see the flyer for full details and registration information.

26/02/2026

Do not reject a sense of rejection,
or abandon a feeling of abandonment.

Do not resist your resistance,
or run away from the urge to run away.

Do not make sadness sad by leaving it,
or enrage anger by disconnecting,
or make loneliness more lonely
by pushing it away.

Hold the broken heart
with as much love as the happy heart,
never lose the sense of being lost,
and do not doubt the presence of doubt.

Do not fear fear,
or desire the absence of desire,
or worry about worry.
(And if you do, don't worry).

All parts of you are sacred,
the light and the dark alike;
all are worthy,
deserving of unconditional love.

- Jeff Foster

23/02/2026

Yesterday morning was a big one for my daughter. Her worst fear came true. She vomited on the school bus.

It was really distressing, but she got through it. Her sister stayed with her and looked after her, and she was able to come to my work and spend the morning with me in the playroom. That time together felt very special.

She chose to play in the sandtray and said I could film and share on here with all of you to help you understand the healing qualities of play.

In her tray, the vomit emoji was locked safely inside a jail, with guards nearby. Around it she placed the things that help her feel safe and like herself again. Bunnies, books, sewing, cups of tea, and comforting food. Her world of comfort and joy surrounding the fear.

Later she added anxiety too, symbolised as a volcano, and put that in the jail. Once anxiety had been “trained”, it was released and transformed into a green monster. No longer overwhelming, but something she could see, understand, and relate to.

What stayed with me is this. Her worst fear happened and she survived.

Children have such a natural capacity to move toward regulation, meaning, and a sense of mastery when they are given safety, presence, and a way to express their inner world.

Sandtray can be such a powerful tool for children, and for adults too. It allows big feelings to be externalised, held at a distance, and sometimes transformed.

Sometimes courage looks like getting through the thing you feared most. Sometimes healing happens through play. The most important thing was she was not alone through out this process.

22/02/2026

Thanks We Al-li Programs "We’ve been taught to “regulate our nervous system” as if the work is to control ourselves however our bodies are not problems to fix. They are responding to context, history and relationship. What looks like dysregulation is often wisdom shaped by experience. In our Culturally Informed Trauma Intergated Healing Approach (CITIHA) we shift the frame from regulation to relationship. Instead of asking someone to calm themselves, we ask:

What would help your body feel safe?

What support or connection is needed?

What environment will allow settling?

The nervous system steadies in safety, it softens in connection, it settles when it is met. Healing is not self-management...it is relational"

We’ve been taught to “regulate our nervous system” as if the work is to control ourselves however our bodies are not problems to fix. They are responding to context, history and relationship. What looks like dysregulation is often wisdom shaped by experience. In our Culturally Informed Trauma Intergated Healing Approach (CITIHA) we shift the frame from regulation to relationship. Instead of asking someone to calm themselves, we ask:

What would help your body feel safe?

What support or connection is needed?

What environment will allow settling?

The nervous system steadies in safety, it softens in connection, it settles when it is met. Healing is not self-management...it is relational.

22/02/2026

I’m in Sydney for a short but really worthwhile trip to deepen my learning in attachment-informed EMDR.

As a Relational Integrative EMDR (RI-EMDR) therapist, my work is grounded in two key foundations: Resource Therapy (parts work) and Attachment-Informed EMDR. What I value about this approach is the way it holds space not only for distressing memories, but also for the earliest attachment wounds, not just what happened, but what was missing.

I attended Day 3 of the training, advanced AI EMDR on intergenerational trauma and working with dreams. Much of it affirmed the way I’m already practicing, and it was meaningful to come away with some new tools and perspectives to support the work even further.

It was also lovely to reconnect with colleagues in the field and make some new connections along the way. Grateful for the learning and the community.