The path that led me here
My Formal Qualifications & story…
Seeds were planted.
After graduating from high school, I began studying Occupational Therapy at Curtin University. I always knew Health/Science and helping people was my dream, and my grades were high enough to get in to OT, so I thought I would give it a try. However, the course really wasn’t for me, so I deferred after the first year and took a year off to get clarity about what I wanted to do with my life. At this time, my Nanna’s health had really begun to deteriorate. She was on so many medications, some to help her heart, others to combat the side effects of these, and basically the cocktail of drugs she ingested each day was not helping. Her circulation issues continued to decline and she ended up needing to have both her legs amputated. It was devastating to watch and I couldn’t help feeling like the whole situation could have been avoided with a different approach. There must be a better way! I began looking into Complementary medicines and stumbled across Acupuncture. I’d never had a treatment before but the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine being a preventative medicine with the idea that the body has innate self-healing abilities just felt right to me. So, I moved across the state to study Chinese Medicine at a RMIT University in Melbourne; one of the best decisions of my life! The people I met were the most unique, authentic, warm, loving, accepting and beautiful souls. I absolutely loved studying TCM and really excelled, graduating top of the class and making connections and friendships that will last a lifetime. TCM ignited my inner witch! Medicine straight from the earth, with minimal side effects, that can create big change in people’s lives.
So, I have been practising as a TCM practitioner for over 13 years now and still get great satisfaction from helping people in this way. Over the years, my clinic focus has been on women’s health, especially menstrual health, fertility, pregnancy support and menopause. It didn’t take long to realise, I am most happy in clinic, when I am sitting with a pregnant woman, guiding and empowering them about their choices for maternity care and birth. I have been so blessed to have met incredible women who opened my eyes to all these possibilities before I was even pregnant with my first child, so now that I too have gained all this knowledge and wisdom, I really feel it’s my calling to share this with others. When I talk about birth, it’s like I enter another world and could literally talk for hours! I feel a light shining all around me and a fire deep down in my belly that is trying to rise up and explode into my words. Lit up, just begins to describe the feeling.
Formal Qualifications
I graduated from RMIT University in 2009, achieving a Bachelor of Applied Science with distinction, majoring in both Chinese Medicine and Human Biology.
In my final year of University, I travelled to China to complete a Clinical Internship at the Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Nanjing). Here I had the invaluable opportunity of working with specialists in Acupuncture, Gynaecology, Fertility, Dermatology, & Gastrointestinal medicine. But looking back, the real gift was spending months living like a local in Nanjing and being immersed in Chinese culture, an experience I will never forget!
After graduating from RMIT, I immediately entered private practice back in Perth and had the privilege of being mentored by a very experienced and respected TCM practitioner, Wade James. It was here I really found my feet as a practitioner and saw hundreds of patients with a large variety of heath conditions.
I have been a registered Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner and Acupuncturist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia since 2010, and I am also a member of the Australian Traditional Medicine Society (ATMS).
I have also undertaken postgraduate studies in Classical Chinese Herbal Medicine with the Institute of Classics in East Asian Medicine. This system is by far the best I have found to accurately diagnose & prescribe with TCM herbs and I am so grateful and excited to see the wonderful benefits for my clients.
My birth stories.
My first birth was probably the hardest and most rewarding day of my life. My waters released in the middle of the night, during a summer storm when I was 39 + 3. 36 hours later, I had no signs of regular surges and a tonne of pressure from the hospital to come in to be induced, so I reluctantly agreed to a medical induction. The biggest issue with this was I did trust my body knew how to birth, but I did not trust birth interventions and was really fearful of being in hospital. I now know my mindset was all wrong going into this birth and I was not prepared for the intensity of this labour. I remember feeling like a victim to the pain, like my body was completely out of control. I kept saying over & over that “I can’t, I can’t”. My incredible Doula would just smile and tell me ‘But you are, you are doing it!” and as much as I wanted to be saved that day, her support and encouragement was all I actually needed. After a gruelling 10-hour active back labour, the only drugs being gas & air to help stop my unbearable urge to push before full dilation as I had an anterior cervical lip, I was able to stand up and roar my baby out unassisted…44 hours after my waters had first released. Despite the intensity and shock I felt that day, I was lucky that I was still treated with respect and felt a part of all the decision making that day. My Doula never left our side and my husband also said that if she hadn’t been there to reassure him that I was ok (when from the outside I would not have looked like I was!) then it could have been a very traumatic experience for him too.
The Hypnobirthing Australia program then completely transformed my second birth experience. I could not believe how practical and incredible the course had been for me. My second labour progressed so beautifully and easily at home, my Doula, birth photographer & private midwife only just made it, all arriving just 15 minutes before my baby was born! This led me to become a Hypnobirthing Australia practitioner in March 2018. I felt this may be enough to satisfy my desire and calling to support pregnant women and their partners, but after developing such a strong relationship with these Hypnobirthing couples, I still felt like I could do more. So, I completed Dynamo Doula training with Angel Phoenix, which became the catalyst for massive spiritual development and gave me the opportunity to reassess every aspect of my life and career. It’s shown me how important it is to put my own needs first (as a mum & as a Doula!) and given me permission to continue to chase after my dreams! A mother is the centre of her whole family’s happiness. We must re-write the motherhood story.
