In 2007 I became a mother for the first time. As a new mother, I was experiencing signs of postnatal depression, anxiety and trauma, which for years went unrecognised and unacknowledged.

I didn't feel myself, so I had no idea who I was.

I felt incredibly lonely and although I craved connection, I found myself moving away and retreating from others. The disconnect from others, and from myself, was screaming loudly.

I didn't want to be alone with my baby. I felt like I was the only one who was struggling with the whirlwind of what I was feeling… one minute overwhelmed, the next numb.

I couldn't articulate any of this to anyone… even to myself. So I put on a mask and carried on. I buried it all for years under the guise of a successful business… funnily enough, one where I was witnessing other mothers moving through the same motions, facing the same struggles.

Roll into this multiple pregnancy losses, secondary infertility, IVF, birth trauma and breastfeeding trauma…

I felt broken. It wasn't long before it started seeping out into other areas of my life, including my relationship with my husband. Looking back now, I can see it had its impact from the beginning, but I did my best to mask that too.

It was 2015, when my youngest was 6 months old, that I could feel my inner world crumbling as a fog set in. My husband could see it too, and it was he who started the conversation around seeking help.

It took 7 years of struggling for me to finally take off the mask. I knew then that I wanted more.

I did get more. I worked through it all and I know I've come out the other side whole again.

But my journey through my own healing felt shaky and disconnected, with pieces missing that felt they could've been easily addressed.

I knew that if I was finding it hard to seek support from someone who actually ‘got it', other mothers would be too.

I knew that if I was finding it hard to make sense of what had happened to me, other mothers would be too.

I knew that if I was finding it scary to not clearly see a practical pathway forward, other mothers would be too.

I knew that if I wanted more for my future, other mothers would too.

That's when I decided to return to study and create a counselling practice to help other women heal from the trauma of their past so they could lean fully into their present. I took what was missing for me in my journey and developed my own approach to birth and perinatal trauma recovery - RISE.

Through my RISE approach to birth and perinatal trauma recovery, I work with incredible women and mothers each and every day who are looking for a way through the turmoil of birth or perinatal trauma. This approach supports them to gain connection, clarity, resolution, and change. By helping women heal from their past, they can rise into their potential, just as I did.

Today, I am proud to support other women in their journeys towards healing and self-discovery following birth and perinatal trauma, helping them to feel healed, connected, and fulfilled.