🙋HANDS UP IF YOU'RE FLAWED!
I sure am. I suffered childhood trauma and didn't have the skills to talk about or process my experience. Emotional eating became my coping mechanism, so at 8 years old, I began the cycle of guilt, shame and self-hatred that lasted for 15 years.
At 18, I discovered alcohol! That was wonderful because it switched off the negative voices in my head that were constantly telling me I wasn't good enough. The hangovers weren't great, but it felt like a small price to pay to silence my brain for a while.
At 20, I lost 20 kilos and put it all back on, and some extra. The sense of shame was so overwhelming that I finally decided to face my weight issues and lost 35 kilos. I became a Weight Watchers leader so I could hep others deal with their emotional eating, and as a way to hold myself accountable for keeping the weight off.
I changed my relationship with food and have kept my weight off for over 20 years. But I did nothing about the issues that caused my emotional eating, so drinking remained my coping strategy.
It helped me through miscarriage, post-natal depression and anxiety. It helped me through the yearly years of motherhood and the shock of being diagnosed with ADHD at 47.
I tried multiple times to moderate but it never lasted. Something would always drag me back to my drinking habits and and another cycle of shame, guilt and self-hatred would begin.
I finally realised it was time to change when my daughter told me she was worried about me dying from my drinking. I realised I was making her relive my own childhood and decided I needed to be the cycle breaker.
I promised her a year of sobriety and started my journey on 1 January 2023. I had been drinking for 30 years so it didn't take long to realise that my one year commitment needed to be a life commitment.
I had to face my internal demons once and for all. I had to learn new coping and relaxing strategies and take responsibility for my life decisions. As I progressed, I realised I wanted to help others finally break the grip alcohol had on their life, so enrolled in a Diploma of Alcohol and Drugs Practice.
I did not expect to find myself forging a life of sobriety, while being back at university for the first time in 15 years, but there I was.
Now, I find myself with more energy, self-compassion, patience and trust.
I am a better mother, wife, employee, friend and person.
I am living the life I always wanted to - free of the negative cycle I'd been in for 40 years.
Now, I can help you to achieve your own freedom.
My qualifications
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Diploma of Alcohol and Other Drugs Practice - Valedictorian (2023)
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Understanding ADHD (2023)
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Graduate Diploma of Psychology (2006)
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Bachelor of Business - Communications (2002)
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20+ years specialising in corporate coaching and counselling
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2 years as a Weight Watchers leader
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Personal lived experienced of childhood trauma, emotional eating disorder, alcohol use, depression, anxiety, infertility, pregnancy loss, adult ADHD diagnosis and mother of two neuro-divergent children
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Wrote and self-published "Welcome to ADHD", a simple guide to help adults understand and share their diagnosis
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30 years of self-help through counselling, psychology, psychiatry, hypnosis and art therapy
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Personal interest, research and study into trauma-informed care, ADHD and autism management, relaxation techniques, holistic healing and art therapy.
This is your journey so we'll work together to develop the right therapeutic approach for you, guided by what's worked for me and other clients.
DO YOU WANT TO BLOCK THOSE NEGATIVE VOICES ONCE AND FOR ALL?
Check out what's included in a coaching session and we can organise a free, 15 minute, obligation-free chat to see how I can help you to silence those voices and find your inner peace.