Jo Lockhart - Hartfelt Healing Services

Jo Lockhart - Hartfelt Healing Services Jo is a proud autistic counsellor.

She has 20 years experience in supporting adults and children to overcome trauma, become empowered, love and express themselves, and live the life they choose for themselves.

In case you missed it… Christmas is coming! Christmas falls into what I call ‘days with titles’: birthdays, Christmas, M...
10/12/2025

In case you missed it…
Christmas is coming!

Christmas falls into what I call ‘days with titles’: birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.

These days are full of triggers, expectations, memories, comparisons, hopes and hurts for adults and kids.

My survival hot tips are:

1. Go in aware.
Know what has triggered you in the past.
Know what your expectations COULD be. Own that they may be unreasonable. Days with titles are not reasonable times.

2. Go in armed.
Know what would likely best support you through a reaction like you’ve had before.
Put in place everything thats possible to put in place - sensory supports, scripted responses, helpful self talk.

3. Give yourself permission to bail.
If being with people gets too much, you can leave. Take short breaks to the bathroom, somewhere quiet or a short walk outside.
If this isnt enough, leave.
If it’s yourself you’re sick of, leave yourself and get company.

4. Give yourself recovery time.
Acknowledge that you will need time and self care to recover. You wont automatically be your ‘normal self.

5. All of these tips apply to children.
Support the children in your care, or in your company to cope as best they can. And if it’s too much, support them to be able to leave.

I have a Saturday cancellation now available on Saturday 13th December at 2:30pm. Highly unusual for this to be availabl...
05/12/2025

I have a Saturday cancellation now available on Saturday 13th December at 2:30pm.

Highly unusual for this to be available.

Message or text me know if you’d like to jump into this time slot.

Knowing and understanding your own sensory sensitivities, and knowing how to support yourself with those is a game chang...
03/12/2025

Knowing and understanding your own sensory sensitivities, and knowing how to support yourself with those is a game changer.

It’s definitely vital for neurodivergent folks, but it’s important for everyone.

We all have quirks.
We all have little things that get us off kilter.

Being able to manage those, and communicate those to our close people, enables us to be more regulated, calmer, happier, and have more capacity for the good things in life. Our energy can switch from coping and getting by, to having fun, connection and working towards goals.

Now filled. Thank you. Thursday 27th 3:30pm (tomorrow ) has become available. If anyone is needing an appointment just l...
25/11/2025

Now filled. Thank you.

Thursday 27th 3:30pm (tomorrow ) has become available.
If anyone is needing an appointment just let me know. These after school appointments are quite sought after and rare.

A month of prompts to reflect on the year that was a huge one and a hard one for so many of us. Reflection means that we...
23/11/2025

A month of prompts to reflect on the year that was a huge one and a hard one for so many of us.

Reflection means that we can maximise the learning from those tough times, take responsibility for our reactions dnd responses, and increase our chances of not repeating the same mistakes.

A daily practice of stopping to journal or meditate helps us to slow down, regulate and maintain being present.

I’ll be doing this one. Who’s joining me?

This is gold! Also, it’s too much to do at once! My tip is to print these out and do one of them each week. Focus only o...
21/11/2025

This is gold!
Also, it’s too much to do at once!
My tip is to print these out and do one of them each week. Focus only on taking on one small change or improvement at a time to make it sustainable.

Mine for the next week is to stop asking my kids how their day was and attune to what they are showing me.
My go to phrases will be:
“Hey, you look chirpy, it must have been an ok day for you”
“Oof looks like you’ve got some difficult stuff on your shoulders. I can give you space or listen if you want to share”

I feel like I need to apologise, or maybe explain, to you all why I’ve been so quiet. I’ve been so busy with amazing won...
21/11/2025

I feel like I need to apologise, or maybe explain, to you all why I’ve been so quiet.

I’ve been so busy with amazing wonderful clients that ive been working IN my business with no time to work ON my business.
That unfortunately means no time to post info and insights here. Social media doesn’t rank highiy in my priorities

In my non-work time I’ve been focussing on self care and feeding my own soul - with good people, good food, and working on my own healing.

This year has been a tough one for SO many, myself included. Yes, counsellors are regular people too with big feelings, unhealthy patterns and the occasional break down when overwhelm strikes.

It’s not the avoidance of these that denotes growth. It’s the ability to ride them and come out the other side.

So as 2025 begins it’s close think about what you can do to contribute to your self care now so you can begin 2026 in the best place possible.

I know my clients (and half of perth) are often looking for a psychiatrist. I just saw this and thought to share it. Ple...
20/10/2025

I know my clients (and half of perth) are often looking for a psychiatrist.
I just saw this and thought to share it.
Please pass it on to anyone who may need it.

So you know you’re not ok, but your brain has disconnected so you can’t figure out what’s going on??? And so you dont kn...
19/10/2025

So you know you’re not ok, but your brain has disconnected so you can’t figure out what’s going on??? And so you dont know how to help yourself!

Listen to your body.
Your body will tell you.

Knowing the cues for what your nervous is telling you can help you to get regulated again.

For example if you’re in fight, deep slow breathing probably won’t help. You won’t be able to do it. Your body needs to expel some of the energy and pressure. So run, jump, hit a pillow until the heat disapates. Then do the breathing.

If you’re in freeze warm the body first. Create some internal comfort. Then you can challenge yourself to get moving gently.

What strategies can you suggest that might help others? And, what mode to they work best for?

16/10/2025

It takes the body time to calm — not just a few deep breaths.

When a child is overwhelmed, their nervous system can take 20–60 minutes to fully settle after a surge of stress hormones. That’s why calm can’t be rushed. They need safety, patience and connection — not pressure to “get over it.”

Understanding this is at the heart of brain-based parenting. Regulation isn’t instant; it’s built through co-regulation and trust.

This also demonstrates why a child needs longer than 5 minutes out of class after an incident.

There is a full range of calming strategy prompts in our toolkit below.

NOW AVAILABLE IN THE RESOURCE STORE - to accompany our series on social media.

The Child Brain Explained: How the Upstairs & Downstairs Brain Shape Behaviour, a Toolkit for Parents & Educators - available for only £3.75 until 3 November 2025

Electronic download available at link in comments ⬇️ or via our Linktree Shop in Bio.

Your internal voice came from people in your past - parents, teachers, siblings, friends, bullies, partners. And unfortu...
08/10/2025

Your internal voice came from people in your past - parents, teachers, siblings, friends, bullies, partners.

And unfortunately the subconscious latches on to negative messages more than positive (it’s a survival mechanism) so the internal voice is almost always negative, until we change it.

Start talking down the negative voice, and practicing inserting positive voices. “I hear you and I have another opinion”. “Thanks for your view, and no thanks”.

Use the voices of the people now who believe in you, affirm you - put those voices on a loop inside your head. “Hey, be gentle with yourself, going slow is ok”. “Youve got this!”. “You are a good person”.

In time the positive, affirming, kind voices will take up more space and become the dominant voice.

Continue to do this and in more time it wil become your own voice speaking to you with encouraging and compassion.

Regulating our emotions is an expectation these days. ‘You need to learn how to regulate yourself’ has almost replaced ‘...
28/09/2025

Regulating our emotions is an expectation these days. ‘You need to learn how to regulate yourself’ has almost replaced ‘just calm down’ as the most useless statement to use when someone is distressed.

But it’s not our emotions that need regulating , it’s our nervous system.

But how do we???

This straightforward resource is now availableon my website for free. From it you will get an understanding of how your nervous system works, and some effective strategies to get you started.

Download here:
https://www.jolockhart.com.au/downloadable-resources

Address

8-12 Stafford St
Midland, WA
6056

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61408944096

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