my story
It might sound cliché, but quite often, the journey is the destination.
My Story
I am the fourth child born into a family where domestic violence, addiction, gambling, alcoholism and chaos were part of life, carried through generations.
One of the most difficult parts to comprehend was the silence – the pretending that this was ‘normal’, that things weren’t happening, the suppression of feelings and emotions. The unspoken understanding about what could and couldn’t be said.
These were ways of surviving, protecting ourselves and belonging.
LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
Healing the past
As a child, I carried a shame I couldn’t name. I have a visceral memory of feeling it in kindergarten, and I carried it for much of my life without questioning whether it belonged to me.
Even when I didn’t know how to get there, something within me kept leading me towards a life with more peace, kindness, acceptance and truth.
As a young adult, I chose to seek therapy and this was a profound turning point.
There was freedom and peace in learning to no longer holding myself responsible for something I had no control over.
BEYOND THE PAST
Rewriting the future
When I began to see how easily I put others’ needs before my own, I then began to understand what a healthy relationship could look and feel like.
This changed my choices and the relationships I formed, and eventually led me to my husband, Matt. The life and family we have created together are among the greatest gifts of my life.
It has never been about getting everything right or leaving my past behind. It has been about becoming aware of how I learned to survive and belong. The people pleasing, over-giving, even abandoning myself and never quite feeling enough.
Once I recognised this, I could begin to understand, unravel it and discard behaviours that I no longer identified with.
Learning boundaries has been one of the ways I care for myself and build healthier relationships. When boundaries have been blurred in a family, it can be hard to know where you end and another person begins, what is yours to carry and what isn’t, or how to say no without feeling you’re doing something wrong.
Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously
Prentis Hemphill
I never settled on one single methodology to make these changes – from traditional Western psychology to Eastern meditation and everything in between – I gathered pieces from each and implemented them into my life.
Family Constellations, however, brought perhaps the deepest layer of understanding and I began to understand that this shame was not mine to carry. Recognising that I was a child, and beginning to lay that shame down gave me a freedom I had not felt before.
I began to see how unconscious loyalties, hidden dynamics and things left unspoken continued to influence my life. There was relief in recognising what I had been carrying out of love and belonging. I could take the love and strength of those before me without continuing every pattern they passed down.
I realised I didn’t have to reject my family or deny my history to make different choices for myself, and those that will come after me.
We can honour our history and still choose how we live now.
This realisation and growth is why I am particularly passionate about implementing Family Constellation where it’s appropriate.
Being human means there will still be days when we feel triggered, uncertain or pulled back into what is familiar. I don’t believe we ever need to become a perfectly healed version of ourselves.
For me, it is about accepting the full spectrum of life, meeting ourselves with compassion, and continuing to make choices that feel true.
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
On the other side of fear...
My professional path has grown alongside this personal journey. My early studies in teaching, followed by my training in counselling and Family Constellations, and years of studying and facilitating women’s work around voice and self-expression, have all contributed to how I support others today.
I continue to be a student, always learning from the teachers, practitioners, healers and experiences that have shaped me.
Today I offer counselling, Family Constellations, and my custom designed program, The Authentic Woman Project, through both individual and group work.
While each of these has its own focus, the thread connecting them is a desire to support women to reconnect with themselves, their inner wisdom and the life they truly want to live.
I offer a space to set down what you’re carrying and be met with compassion, curiosity and acceptance. Here you can explore the parts of yourself you’ve pushed aside, understand the patterns that shaped you, and discover what’s possible when you listen to yourself differently.
I deeply believe in the natural world as a resource for connection and healing. Being in nature can offer us another way to notice the rhythms of life around and within us, and to find space for what needs our attention.
I truly believe we can change the direction of our lives, even when we have come from places where a different way of living was difficult to imagine.
My own life has taught me this.
Through the conscious choices I have made, I have come to understand that we are shaped by our experiences and the families we come from, but we are not destined to keep living the same patterns.
I am a wife and mum to three young adults, and my family continues to teach and challenge me and remind me of what matters.
I too, am still learning.
We are living in a time when old ways are crumbling, and I believe something kinder is asking to be born, a future that is fairer, more sustainable and more loving, where we live in harmony with one another, with all living beings and with the earth.
When one chapter closes, a new story begins.
I am here for those who are ready to let the old ways fall away. My belief is that as we honour all that has shaped us, we can choose what we carry forward and what we are ready to leave behind.
This is the heart of it all, remembering who you are beneath what you have learned to be, and creating a life that feels true to you.
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away
Pablo Picasso
Qualifications
- Diploma of Counselling from the Australian College of Community Services
- Qualified Family and Systemic Constellations Facilitator
- Qualified WomanSpeak Facilitator, supporting women with their voice, self-expression and confidence.
Additional training:
- LivingWorks Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)
- Accidental Counsellor Workshop
- DV Alert (ongoing training from)
Alongside my formal training and professional experience, my own profound personal healing journey and growth has deeply shaped the way I see the world, and as a consequence, how I facilitate my work.
It has taught me the importance of compassion, curiosity and acceptance, and the value of creating space for people to come back to themselves.