My Journey: Why am I so passionate about supporting families?

I grew up in the Riverland and graduated as a physiotherapist from the University of South Australia in 2004. Over two decades, I've worked across sports physiotherapy and paediatrics, including a couple of years in a private practice in Canada, gaining a wide range of clinical skills and a deep understanding of the body's capacity to heal.

Becoming a mum in 2012 changed everything. My husband and I now have three kids, and those early years of birth, breastfeeding struggles, and the overwhelm of early parenting sent me searching for answers. I needed guidance, and what I found transformed not just my family life but my entire professional path.

I remember when someone asked me about my parenting style. My second child was nearly one. ‘Style?’ I thought. ‘I don't know.’ Is there one called 'winging it’? I had read books on sleep and routines (which never worked for me), but parenting style? I had never really thought about it. I did know that the usual ways of 'dealing' with behaviour weren't working for us. Time outs, punishments and the traditional power-over approaches didn't work and didn't feel right.

This started a deep dive into various parenting philosophies and approaches. In 2014, I also discovered CranioSacral Therapy (CST), and it was like finding the missing piece. This gentle, hands-on therapy broadened my understanding of the human body, psyche, emotions, trauma and inner work. I've witnessed its profound impact on my own nervous system, my family's wellbeing, and the thousands of clients I've had the privilege to work with.

I immersed myself in Parenting By Connection, Hand in Hand Parenting, and Aware Parenting. These tools shifted how we connected as a family and how I understood what parents truly need. I'm now a certified Hand in Hand Instructor, Aware Parenting Instructor, Marte Meo Practitioner, and Marion Method Mentor, but my biggest teachers by a long way are my three children.

A lot of us parent the way we were parented. (I'm not saying all our parents did anything wrong. Most of us have wonderful, loving parents.) However, the world is a very different place to the way it was only one generation ago. We know more about the human brain and body, more about what children and all humans need to thrive. We know more about attachment and trauma and how our childhoods can impact us for the rest of our lives.

Our parenting is important. It can change the shape of future generations.

We now know that parenting from a place of fear, using power over our children, threats, punishments, timeouts, harshness and even rewards don't work and often make situations worse. Instead, I help parents discover connection-based approaches that honour both the child's needs and the parent's wellbeing, creating relationships built on trust, understanding, and emotional safety.

In 2019, I opened my clinic in Adelaide, bringing together physiotherapy, CranioSacral therapy, and parent education. I now support families both in-person and online. As I kept seeing the same issues and questions coming up again and again, the same struggles parents were facing with their kids, I started creating online courses to make this help more accessible to families everywhere.

My own experiences with early parenting challenges and miscarriage deepened my understanding of how vulnerable those earliest stages are, and why support during this time matters so profoundly. Learning to listen to and understand babies' cries became a particular focus of my work, helping parents decode what their baby is communicating and respond with confidence rather than overwhelm.

My mission is simple: to equip parents with the tools, confidence, and presence to nurture attuned relationships through all the ages and stages of childhood.