About Me
Introduction
My personal history and professional life are deeply connected. The experiences that have shaped me are central to my understanding and engagement with others, and they continue to inform my work today.
Early Days
I was born in the UK and moved to my mother’s hometown on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia, before my first birthday. Over the next two decades, I lived in Australia, Brazil, and the United States, experiencing diverse cultures, environments, and educational systems that shaped my life both as a young person and an adult.
From the age of eleven, I attended Toorak College in Victoria as a boarder, spending my formative years away from home before returning to Brazil to complete my junior and senior years at the American School in Rio de Janeiro. This was a time of significant shift, where I came to recognise the grounding and sense of belonging offered by my grandparents and wider family connections. These experiences of movement and adaptation fostered a deep appreciation for creativity, diversity, and community, sparking a lasting curiosity about how people grow, connect, and find their place through change and transition.
I began my creative journey studying Fine Arts at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, later completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts in the UK, followed by specialist training as an Art and Education teacher. Through my own transitions, I came to understand what it means to build a sense of self without the traditional grounding of one place or culture—a perspective that continues to shape my work today.
Early Career
My early career unfolded in the UK, where I worked with young people excluded from mainstream education. I developed inclusive, art-based approaches that used creativity to engage learning, expression, and well-being. My compassionate and flexible approach enabled me to reach students with diverse needs and experiences, helping them to reconnect with learning and self-belief.
Over time, I moved into leadership roles before joining the Local Education Authority’s Early Intervention Service as a Specialist Learning and Support Teacher and Consultant. There, I collaborated closely with families, schools, and professionals to support children with complex social, emotional, learning and behavioural needs, embedding creativity and curiosity into educational practice.
Creative Arts Psychotherapy
Drawn by a fascination with the connections between behaviour, personality, emotion, lived experience, and personal diversity, I completed a Master’s in Art Psychotherapy at the University of Hertfordshire. I went on to work in CAMHS and later established an Art Psychotherapy service for Warwickshire Youth Justice, supporting young people and families with complex needs, including those who had experienced trauma, exploitation, or involvement in the justice system.
Australia
Since returning to Australia in 2015, I’ve worked across diverse cultural, therapeutic, and educational settings, including several years living in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. There, I worked alongside Warlpiri artists and the Aussie Desert Dogs programme, deepening my understanding of community, resilience, and the power of creativity as connection.
Now based on the Mornington Peninsula, I specialise in creative, trauma-informed, and neurodivergent-affirming arts psychotherapy. My work explores the intricate relationships between attachment, trauma, development, and identity, recognising the complex interplay of experiences, diagnoses, and the unique makeup of every individual.
Current Practice
Based on the Mornington Peninsula, I’m an Art Psychotherapist with Barefoot Therapists and currently collaborate with Tootgarook Primary School to lead The ARC Initiative Pilot—a dynamic, whole-school framework that champions inclusive, creative, and personalised developmental pathways across all tiers of intervention. Grounded in the belief that every child matters, the initiative fosters connection, curiosity, and growth throughout the school community.
Guided by a strong ethical foundation and a belief in the power of more-than-verbal therapy, my work honours the many ways people communicate their inner worlds. Through the power of art, movement, and sensory experience, I support individuals to express what may be challenging to articulate in words—trusting that creative expression can reveal, restore, and reconnect what words alone cannot.
