Strategic Psychotherapy | Clinical Hypnosis | 10+ Years Working With Anxiety

On the outside, I probably looked like a confident kid. But underneath, I struggled with anxiety and learned very early how to hide what was really going on.

As a teenager, I struggled with body image issues that eventually led me down the path of an eating disorder. Yet I could still be the life of the party. I became very good at pushing through and getting on with life.

Then, years later, I had my first panic attack after getting stuck in a hotel bathroom.

Suddenly, anxiety wasn’t something I could simply push through anymore.

I became frightened of flying. I panicked on trains. I would walk down flight after flight of stairs rather than get into a lift. There were nights when I would lie in bed feeling as though I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

It was horrible.

And if you know me, you’ll know I’m persistent. So I tried everything I could to feel better.

Eventually, I attended a workshop in Sydney that introduced me to a very different way of thinking about change. I wasn’t expecting much — I simply thought I’d give it a try.

But something shifted.

That experience fascinated me enough that I wanted to understand more. It eventually led me to train in Strategic Psychotherapy, Clinical Hypnosis, NLP and other approaches to behavioural change.

I went on to establish my clinical practice, first in Wollongong and later on the Sunshine Coast.

For more than 10 years, I’ve worked with people experiencing anxiety and the patterns that can come with it — overthinking, avoidance, fear, perfectionism, negative expectancy and the need to feel in control.

And perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is this:

You can understand your anxiety and still feel anxious.

You can know you’re overthinking. You can know the fear isn’t rational. You can know that avoiding something is making your world smaller — and still find yourself responding in exactly the same way.

That’s why my work isn’t simply about telling you to think positively, calm down or try harder.

It’s about understanding the patterns that may be keeping anxiety going and helping you develop different ways of responding.

I know what it is like to have anxiety affect your life.

I also know what it is like when it no longer gets to make all the decisions.