From burnout to body wisdom- my story.

I remember the feeling vividly — dry heat clinging to my skin, red dirt beneath my Blundstones, and an exhaustion that went deeper than tiredness. It was a kind of soul-weariness — the kind that creeps in quietly and settles deep. Before you know it, it’s not just fatigue anymore. It’s something else entirely — a shadow that lingers, a quiet heaviness that starts to live with you.

For years, I worked as a youth worker across remote NT communities — work that was powerful, complex, and the most cup filling work I had known. But like so many of us in the helping professions, the lines soon became blurred between giving and taking and working and living.

What I didn’t realise at the time was that my body had been trying to speak to me all along — through tension, breathlessness, fatigue, and disconnection. Learning to listen, deep listen however was not something I was tuned into back then.

My experiences out bush — witnessing resilience, cultural strength, grief, and systemic oppression — planted the seed that would eventually grow into HOLOS, my counselling and yoga therapy practice.

It was in those remote communities that I began to understand the nervous system not just as a biological system, but as a storyteller. It holds the unsaid, the witnessed, the inherited, and the absorbed.

Those years led me to study both counselling and Kundalini yoga, weaving together the science of trauma recovery with the ancient practices of breath, movement, and meditation. It became clear to me: the healing I needed — and what so many of us need — wasn’t just in talk therapy. It was in the body, too.

What helped me most was learning how to come back into my body safely and gently. Through breathwork, slow movement, stillness, and self-awareness, I began to re-pattern my relationship with stress, trauma, and exhaustion.

Now, in my work with clients — especially those working in remote, high-impact roles like youth work, DV services, and frontline care — I offer the same support:

• Counselling sessions grounded in trauma-informed practice

• Breath and movement tools that support nervous system regulation

• Body-based awareness to help people feel steady, whole, and connected again

This is not about “fixing” yourself — it’s about coming home to yourself, especially when the work you do is heavy, vital, and often invisible.

I want to acknowledge that this path isn’t just personal — it’s political and relational too. Working in remote Aboriginal communities taught me so much about country, culture, kinship and collective care. It also taught me to be accountable — to understand my role not just as a helper, but as an ally.

Being well enough to do this work — and to do it responsibly — requires us to care for our own bodies and nervous systems so we don’t cause harm or collapse under the weight of it all. That’s the heart of what I offer through HOLOS.

If you’re feeling the weight of the work — if burnout has left you disconnected from your breath, your joy, or your sense of self — you’re not alone.

You’re not broken. Your body is wise. And healing is possible.