Embodied Healing for Women’s Mental Health
Trauma Informed Embodied Counselling
Reasons women seek support:
perinatal loss (early pregnancy loss, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, stillbirth, neonatal death)
fertility difficulties
reproductive trauma
birth trauma
unexpected birth outcomes (incl. prematurity & NICU admission)
adoption (recent or past)
pregnancy after previous loss
preparing for birth & parenthood
adjustment to parenting/motherhood
perinatal emotional & mental wellbeing (pre & postnatal)
complex & early childhood trauma
transitions of peri/menopause
grief & loss
emotional issues relating to women's health conditions
stress arising from adjustments & transitions
building greater emotional regulation & resilience
creating more connection with themselves, their body & others
Navigating your life's journey can be filled with joy and connection. It can also bring times of difficulty, stress and loss. These times can lead to ongoing challenges in your mental and emotional wellbeing and your relationships, leaving unexpected changes and trauma. These challenges often arise during or in relation to, the hormonal and life stage changes that occur in a woman's life.
The impact of your menstrual health and associated conditions, fertility difficulties and reproductive trauma is often hidden or dismissed in our society. As a result you may become disconnected from your body, impacting your mental health and emotional regulation, as well as your relationships and sense of resiliency as you move through life.
If embarking into the perinatal period, this life stage is one of great physiological, psychological and hormonal change with resulting identity reformation. For some it comes with unexpected loss and trauma. It also may bring to light childhood experiences and previous trauma which impacts this significant life transition, influencing your emerging role as a parent.
Traversing the hormonal unpredictability of perimenopause and menopause, women will often notice changes in their mental and emotional wellbeing. This can be a time when once again you may renegotiate your sense of self, your relationships, your life's purpose and at times be unexpectedly triggered by past grief and trauma or be navigating new losses.
Through all these times we may seek out support from family and friends or manage these issues on our own. However, there are times when support and strategies from a professional can be of great help. I offer a compassionate and safe space for you to be seen, heard and to heal.
Working from an understanding that our mind and bodies are interconnected, consideration of the influence of hormonal change, nervous system regulation and women's health related conditions on a woman's mental and emotional wellbeing are fundamental in my approach.
I provide counselling which integrates evidence based therapies including the somatic modalities of TCTSY and Somatic Experiencing® and body based mindfulness techniques, with traditional talk therapies drawing on contemporary grief, attachment and trauma theories, which can support empowered choices towards embodied healing.
My approach supports you to untangle your traumatic experiences from the beliefs, thoughts and emotions that have become enmeshed with your body's survival responses. In understanding your attachment patterns which formed in early childhood alongside your emotional regulation capacity, I offer opportunities to renegotiate these patterns finding a greater sense of safety in your body, emotional regulation and reconnection to yourself and others.
Perinatal Trauma, Grief & Loss
The experience of trauma from your birth or the loss of your baby due to stillbirth, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy or infant loss can leave an everlasting and devastating impact on you, your body and those you love. From a place of deep compassion I integrate many years as a social worker counselling grieving parents, with current grief counselling approaches and trauma theory, with body based practices to offer support and healing.
I support women and parents who have suffered miscarriage, termination of pregnancy, stillbirth & infant loss, birth trauma and unexpected birth experiences, both recent and past. I also support women through subsequent pregnancy after experiencing previous loss or birth trauma as well as adoption, both adoptees and birth parents, recent or past.
Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.
“I come away from every session with a deeper sense of calm, breath and clarity of mind.”
- Nadia - Embodied Counselling client
Embodied Bereavement Counselling
If you are experiencing the grief of losing a child, either recently or from years past, my heart goes out to you. I am so sorry you are experiencing this unimaginable heartbreak and I acknowledge the courage you have in seeking out support.
The loss of a child is one of the most profound and devastating losses a parent can experience. It is often a hidden grief experienced by parents and one that often struggles to be acknowledged or supported well by others.
I offer you a safe and compassionate space in which you can access support as you navigate this journey. I offer bereavement counselling specifically with an embodied healing approach. Drawing on eight years as a perinatal social worker walking alongside parents who have experienced the loss of their child, I have been honoured to witness the anguish as well as strength within parents. Combining this lived experience of many parents with a range of therapeutic approaches and theories, including attachment theory, trauma theory, mind-body practices and current grief models, I collaborate with you in navigating your grief and the process of integrating your loss into your ongoing life.
Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.
Embodied Healing for Birth Trauma
The experience of birth whilst empowering for some women, for others can be extremely distressing and traumatic impacting their adjustment to motherhood. Some births leave physical injuries, whilst some leave psychological trauma, whilst others a combination of both. The conflict between the desired expectation of their birth and the reality, the sense of a loss of control of their body or the triggering of past trauma may contribute to an experience of shock and severe distress which can have ongoing psychological and physiological impact for women. A woman’s birth does not have to be medically traumatic or life threatening to be experienced as traumatic. Trauma is very subjective and can in impact on physical recovery, the emerging relationship with their baby or difficulties in adjusting to motherhood. It can significantly influence her mental health and the consideration or experience of future pregnancies and births.
Working from an understanding of the adjustment that occurs within women through the perinatal period and the impact trauma can have on this transition, I work with women from a foundation of attachment theory, perinatal mental health, compassion focussed practices, and a recognition of how trauma responses reside in the body even long after the traumatic experience has past. Fostering a warm and safe space of compassion, I offer an embodied healing approach in my counselling, supporting women to feel heard, inviting reconnection of mind and body and rebuilding safety within their body.
Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.
Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Understanding that trauma is a human adaptive response to something that has happened, and that this response resides within the body provides an opportunity to explore an wholistic approach to healing. The lived experience of trauma influences all aspects of a person’s wellbeing, psychological, emotional and physical, including a person’s connection with their body and their relationship with others. Integrating embodiment practices which invite awareness of sensations and choice over their body, can assist a persons ability to reconnect, re-pattern and restore safety as they integrate changes within their nervous system, supporting recovery.
Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is a methodology developed by the Justice Resource Centre’s Trauma Centre in Massachusetts. It is an empirically validated clinical treatment for complex and developmental trauma or treatment resistant PTSD. A mindful, body based therapy with a foundation in trauma theory, attachment theory and neuroscience, this approach is based on traditional Hatha yoga.
In all sessions an environment is offered from a foundation of:
Respect - for your personal boundaries and experiences, with no hands on assists or adjustments or sharing of experiences of trauma
Choice - in all options which are offered from a place of invitation and self agency over your body, with no emphasis on “doing it right”
Reconnection - a shared authentic experience offering opportunities of reconnection to your physical experience at your own pace
Empowered - through nurturing a person’s capacity and choice in their recovery and growth
Maia offers TCTSY through individual sessions, groups and workshops, including:
Individual sessions (in person or online)
Small group classes
Trauma Sensitive Yoga programs customised for clients accessing organisations & services
Trauma Sensitive Yoga & Trauma Informed Care information sessions for workplaces
Trauma Sensitive Yoga Self Care sessions for organisations & staff who care for others
Maia offers all sessions and workshops face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW.
For more information or research on Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga:
“I was so anxious to come and try this class today… but now I feel okay …. I feel safe.”
- TCTSY 10 week program participant