Ostara Occupational Therapy

22/02/2026

“flow exists when rest does too”

this is what i’m working with in 2026.

2025 was big. beautiful. busy.
and if i’m honest, i got a bit too close to another B word for comfort.

i don’t want to operate from stress anymore. or from proving. or from just keeping up.

i want to build from creativity.

because when i’m creative, or at least aspiring to be, everything works better.
i can think more clearly.
i can access problem solving skills.
i create things that actually feel aligned instead of forced.
i enjoy my kids more.
i notice moments instead of just managing them.

but flow doesn’t happen when i’m wrung out. It doesn’t happen when i’m running on cortisol and coffee.
it needs rest.

REAL rest. not doom scrolling.
not collapsing on the couch half numb (although I have been there, can return there and know why mothers end up there too).

motherhood can be a time where we are called in to really examine what it means to rest.

to challenge the often conflated idea that rest = lazy.

because somewhere along the way we absorbed that being still is indulgent. that sitting down while there’s washing to fold is selfish.
that if we’re not producing, we’re slacking off.

rest is not laziness.
it’s regulation.
it’s capacity building.
it’s what allows us to access patience, clarity and creativity.

so i’m asking myself:

how do i let myself rest before i’m desperate for it?
how do i protect space during those times when everything feels urgent?
how do i choose flow over frenzy?

i’m practising. Im a work in progress.

Maybe it looks like less cramming. more space between clients.
walking without filling the silence (I love walking without any tech!).
creating without immediately thinking “how do i sell this?” or "does this look/feel any good?"

what about you?

what does rest look like in this season? and when do you feel most in flow?

tell me. i want the honest version.

⬇️🌿⬇️✨️⬇️✌️

18/02/2026

I hold space for mothers navigating overwhelm, rage, grief, identity shifts, intrusive thoughts, matrescence.

And sometimes, in the same 24 hours, I am the mother pulling my toddler out of a public toilet bowl 🫠

Both are true.

Professional knowledge does not cancel out real life.

Knowledge does not override nervous systems.

Insight does not eliminate the sheer sensory chaos of motherhood.

What it does give me is language.
Framework.
Capacity to pause.
A way back to myself.

I don’t work with mothers from a pedestal. I sit beside you ✨️🌿

In the push and pull.
In the “I know better and I’m still losing it.”
In the love and the fatigue and the "what the hell is this season"?.

If you’re craving support that honours both the science and the lived experience, I have 1:1 sessions available.

We move gently.
We make sense of what’s happening.
We build capacity without shaming the part of you that’s tired.

You don’t have to white knuckle it.

Link in bio to book.

09/02/2026

The irony isn’t lost on me.
This message is being delivered on the very thing that fuels the pace I’m talking about.

The phone.
The scroll.
The constant pull to consume, react, move on.

Modern motherhood doesn’t just happen in our homes. It’s shaped by systems that reward speed, productivity and distraction. And mothers are expected to keep up.

Slowing down isn’t soft.
It’s a refusal.

A refusal to let urgency run your nervous system. A refusal to rush through an identity shift that deserves space and meaning.

Exploring Matrescence and the Alchemt of Change, is an intentional pause. Two hours to step out of the noise and come home to yourself.

Yarra Valley Women's Health ~ Healesville.
Feb 21 | 1–3pm
$60

Come sit. Come breathe. Connect.
✨️✨️✨️✨️
Link in bio.

08/02/2026

We’ve been taught that good motherhood looks like self-sacrifice.
That exhaustion is par for the course. That doing more, giving more, disappearing more somehow makes us worthy.

And so many of us are burning out, behind closed doors, trying to live up to a version of motherhood that was never designed to sustain us. But make profit from us.

This isn’t about loving our children less.

It’s about unveiling from and then questioning the conditioning that tells mothers our needs come last.

It’s about naming the very real changes that happen as we move through matrescence. And making sense of who we are becoming now.

If you’re feeling tired, angry, lost, or like you don’t quite recognise yourself anymore, you’re not alone. And you're not defective either. You’re changing.

I’m holding a motherhood workshop where we sit in community, unpack the messaging we’ve inherited, name the shifts in identity and begin reclaiming a motherhood that actually works for US.

✨ Exploring Matrescence & the Alchemy of Change
🗓 Feb 21
📍 Yarra Valley Women’s Health
⏰ 1pm – 3pm
💛 Investment ~ $60

This space is yours. To nurture. To nourish. To slow down, be honest, and come home to yourself 🌿✨️

Link to book in bio.

06/02/2026

When mothers burn out, we’re conditioned to look inward.
To manage better. To optimise.
To be more organised.
To try harder.

But there’s a bigger picture here.

Patriarchal motherhood is a system that relies on mothers’ unpaid labour to keep families, workplaces and economies functioning. It normalises self-sacrifice and reframes exhaustion as a personal shortcoming rather than a structural issue.

This isn’t about blaming men.
It’s about naming power, labour and systems that benefit when mothers give endlessly.

And if anger comes up when you read this, that matters.

Anger isn’t something to suppress or “work on”. It can be information. A signal that something isn’t sitting right. When we listen to it, rather than turning it inward, it can become a pathway to agency, clarity and action ~ setting boundaries, asking for support, sharing the load, or simply naming what’s not okay. When we talk about liberated motherhood, this is what it can look like. Small actions that create cracks...that push back...that make ripples.

Burnout isn’t a personal failure.
It’s a very human response to an unreasonable setup.
Save this if it put words to something you’ve been stuck on.

Share it with a mother who needs to hear this.

Or tell me ~ what does this stir in you?

06/02/2026

When mothers burn out, we’re conditioned to look inward.
To manage better.
To be more organised.
To optimise.
To TRY harder.

But there’s a bigger picture here.

Patriarchal motherhood is a system that relies on mothers’ unpaid labour to keep families, workplaces and economies functioning. It normalises self-sacrifice (hey there superwoman) and reframes exhaustion as a personal shortcoming rather than a structural issue.

This isn’t about blaming men.
It’s about naming power, labour and systems that benefit when mothers give endlessly.

And if anger comes up when you read this, that matters!

Anger isn’t something to suppress or “work on”. It can be information. A signal that something isn’t sitting right. When we listen to it, rather than turning it inward, it can become a pathway to agency, clarity and action ~ setting boundaries, asking for support, sharing the load, or simply naming what’s not okay. This is what we mean when we talk about a liberated motherhood. The small actions that create cracks....that push back.

Burnout isn’t a personal failure.
It’s a very human response to an unreasonable setup.
Save this if it put words to something you’ve been stuck on.

Share it with a mother who might need to hear this.

Or tell me ~ what does this stir in you?

04/02/2026

Inspired by my beautiful friend Yana ~ I want to share what Yana would call, "Golden Moments".

I often call them glimmers ✨️

Here are mine. May this simple post bring you as much joy, as these posts bring me when I witness the glimmers or golden moments of others 🧡
🌻 sunflowers the size of my hand
🐌 Taking it slow with curated magazines, giving my brain space to breathe
🍦 icecream on hot summer days after school with my love
🌿 marvelling at nature's creations
🕯 New rituals (Indian for 2 by candlelight), found in small pockets amongst the busyness of parenthood

This.is.rich.

03/02/2026

Some kids need more from us.
Not because they’re “difficult”.
Not because we’re doing it wrong.

But because they arrive with different nervous systems, sensitivities, temperaments and capacities for the world.

Some are orchids.
Some are dandelions.
Some are roosters.
Some are lambs.

None of this is a deficit story about children. It’s a reality story about caregiving.

When a child needs more co-regulation, more time, more emotional holding, more advocacy… the load on the parent is heavier. Love doesn’t cancel that out.

And pretending otherwise leaves too many mothers feeling isolated, ashamed or like they’re failing at something that was never equal to begin with.

Naming this matters!

Because when we stop flattening parenting experiences, we create room for honesty, support and care.
Do you relate?
Does this land in your lived experience?
I’d love to hear what this brings up for you in the comments 🌿✨️

01/02/2026

Hi friends. Being a local to the outer east my whole life. And now working in the area, supporting local businesses is something I am so passionate about. Something I also have, now, a deep understanding of. It can be so challenging to stay afloat.

The Local Umbrella is needing our help to keep doing the incredible work they have been doing for our community in the last three years. They have a go fund me page up and running, asking for donations to keep their doors open. As a neuroinclusive space I both applaud and admire what they have created and continue to offer individuals of all abilities.

Please, if you can, dig deep and send them some support. They deserve to stay open and so many in our area really rely on them to do so!

Here's the link: https://gofund.me/1b59b687f

Cheers
Tess

The Local Umbrella is a sensory-friendly, inclusive café in C… Robyn Killey needs your support for Keep our neuroaffirming community cafe & training space open

01/02/2026

There’s an ache many mothers carry.
One for unfiltered. Hertfelt. Genuine connection.

For spaciousness.
For softeness.

Not for more unsolicited advice.
But for time to be better understood. By others and by self.

This workshop is a breath of fresh air. A few hours amongst the trees.
Warm tea waiting.
Nourishing food on the table.
TIME... to reconnect. To come home to self. To reacquaint with who you are now. The mother.

✨ Exploring Matrescence & the Alchemy of Change

A two-hour gathering for mothers craving depth, tenderness and to harness their own inner wisdom.
📍 Yarra Valley Women's Health.
32 Symon's Street, Healesville.
🗓 Feb 21 | 1–3pm
💛 $60 | Afternoon tea and workbook included.

If you are ready to be held, I warmly welcome you in ✨️
Just come as you are.

28/01/2026

What do you get when you work with me?

A one-woman show.
I’m your therapist....AND I’m also the admin, the emails, the scheduling, the thinking, the reflecting.

There’s no team behind the scenes.

When you reach out, it comes straight to me.

And that matters!

Because this work, whilst professional, is deeply relational.

Your voice, your engagement, your lived experience, they shape our work together. They also shape how I grow as a therapist.

I pay attention. I remember the details (even when I can't remember my own to do list). I care deeply about doing this work with integrity.
If this feels like the kind of support you’re looking for in your motherhood experience, you can follow along here or book 1:1 sessions via the link in my bio 🌿✨️