Ancestral & Cultural Therapy
Combining integrated person-centred counselling and cultural therapies, I walk alongside diverse individuals in a collaborative process which views ongoing mental, spiritual and emotional distress as symptoms of disconnection from cultural identity. My ancestral counselling invites clients to sit with me in one of the many beautiful natural environments found throughout Geelong and the Surf Coast (Wadawurrung Country), or online via Teams.
Drawing on a combination of counselling, cultural storytelling, ritual and nature-based practices, I support you and your ancestors in navigating mental, emotional and spiritual challenges from a culturally rooted place of knowing and being. This work invites a return to old ancestral ways that can support nervous system regulation, strengthen relationships, deepen your sense of identity, and foster a greater connection to land, community, and self. It also creates space to gently address inherited patterns, reframe social and cultural stigma, navigate decolonisation and witness the impacts of cultural dismemberment from ancestral traditions. It is through this that you are supported to reclaim your ancestral sovereignty, integrate intergenerational stories and move forward with greater clarity of identity and belonging. Inspired by the ancient practices and lores of our ancestors, we learn to listen, both within ourselves and in relationship with the living-breathing world around us.
Available in-person or online via zoom.
What is the Process?
How Cultural Therapy Can Help:
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Grief/Loss/Death
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Intergenerational trauma
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Identity, belonging and meaning-making
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Reestablishing family/community bonds (whether by blood or kinship)
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Addressing family abandonment & cultural severance
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Remembering ancestral/earth-based practices for grounding and regulation
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Navigating the ancestral yearning for ‘home’
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Reclaiming ancestral sovereignty
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Decolonising relationship with Self, Community and The Land
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Spirit and Ancestral communion
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Building lineage relationship with ancestors and descendants
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Navigating life-changing events (eg; sickness, births, deaths, separations, partnerships, ancestral/spiritual pilgrimage)
Who is this for?
I work primarily with people of the Celtic and broader European diaspora in Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand), understanding the unique cultural and historical nuances which shape cultural dismemberment for these communities which differ from the experiences of those on their native lands. As these people historically have traversed and settled in many parts of the world, I welcome those with mixed heritage (including First Nations) to sit with me as well. People will often find me at times of great transition in their lives such as births, partnerships, separations and deaths (all the little ‘rebirths’ we experience throughout our lives) because it is during these liminal phases that the presence of our ancestors is most needed to help integrate these changes which shape our identity.
Others who will enjoy this process:
Neurodivergent folks
People with Chronic illness & Disability
Parents & Families
LGBTQIA+ folks
