gestalt therapy
Gestalt Therapy is a holistic, relational form of psychotherapy focusing on a person’s experience in the present moment, allowing for self-awareness to the way in which we orient ourselves around others and within our environment.
Working with both mind and body, Gestalt offers an integrated and effective approach to processing old and blocked emotions, narratives and experiences that are impeding and impacting life in the present.
Gestalt restores a sense of healing and wholeness within by facilitating a deep level of self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-agency towards empowered and sustainable healing, growth and change.
how will it help me?
My Approach
My mission is to support and empower women to reconnect with themselves — their inner experience, their body, their relationships and the world around them — cultivating more conscious, compassionate and sustainable ways of relating, living and being.
I work with women experiencing:
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Emotional overwhelm or nervous system dysregulation
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Anxiety, panic or uncertainty
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Burnout and chronic stress
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People-pleasing and codependent patterns
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Perfectionism and procrastination
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Shame, self-criticism or anger
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Parenting challenges
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Relationship and attachment difficulties
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Inner conflict or feeling stuck
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Existential questioning or life transitions
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Developmental or relational trauma
Through a relational, body-aware and nervous-system-informed approach, I help women uncover the deeper patterns beneath their struggles, reconnect with their values and authentic selves, and move toward self-trust and meaningful change.
My modality is grounded in Gestalt therapy — a relational, experiential form of psychotherapy that supports deeper awareness, self-compassion and sustainable change.
Rather than focusing only on symptoms or analysing the past, Gestalt therapy helps us explore what is happening within and around you in the present moment: your thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, relational patterns and nervous system responses.
Through this process, greater awareness, choice and self-trust can begin to emerge as you start accessing innate wisdom and resources already within you.
At the heart of my work are three interweaving pillars:
Awareness
Healing begins with awareness.
Together, we gently explore your inner world with compassionate curiosity — not from a place of judgement or “fixing,” but from a desire to better understand the patterns, beliefs, survival strategies and relational dynamics that may be shaping your experience.
Gestalt therapy also recognises that we do not exist in isolation. We are constantly influenced by the wider field around us — our relationships, family systems, culture, environment and life experiences.
Through increasing awareness of these influences, new possibilities for choice, clarity and connection can emerge.
Here-and-Now
While our past shapes us, Gestalt therapy focuses on how these experiences and patterns continue to live within us in the present.
Rather than staying solely in storytelling or intellectual insight, we pay attention to what is unfolding in real time — within your emotions, body, nervous system and relational experiences. This can bring deeper understanding to recurring patterns such as anxiety, burnout, people-pleasing, perfectionism, disconnection or overwhelm.
The present moment becomes a doorway into awareness, healing and change.
BodyMind
Gestalt therapy honours the inseparable connection between mind, body and nervous system.
Many of our experiences are held not only cognitively, but physically — through tension, shutdown, activation, fatigue, restlessness or other bodily signals. Together, we explore these sensations with curiosity and care, helping you develop a deeper relationship with your body’s wisdom and messages.
By integrating nervous system awareness and somatic exploration, this work supports a more holistic, bottom-up approach to healing — one that moves beyond simply thinking differently, toward feeling safer, more grounded and more connected within yourself.
The result of Gestalt Therapy is a restored sense of wholeness and a coming home to your true nature.
My approach is warm, relational and collaborative.
Together we co-create a space where all parts of your experience can be explored with greater awareness, compassion and authenticity; supporting you to reconnect with yourself and move toward a more aligned and meaningful way of living.
For more information, visit the FAQs page.
See below for more information about my own path and how I came to be a Gestalt Psychotherapist.
CLIENT LOVE
Irene is warm, welcoming and deeply empathetic. She created a very safe space, free of judgment, for me to understand myself, grow and build resilience.
My life and my habits are much healthier and better overall thanks to Irene's excellence as a therapist. It can be daunting to go to individual therapy if you have never been before, but Irene makes the whole process feel safe and accessible -
I highly recommend working with her.
Client YH, Sutherland
Irene has been a loving gift
to my path.
I have never connected with my true self through therapy like
I have with Irene.
From our first session Irene welcomed me so peacefully.
She is so gentle, nurturing and down to earth.
I found our sessions really allowed me to honour every stage of life that I was at. Honouring my cycles, and especially my painful winter
I was living in.
Now I feel like I am coming into my spring, ready to face the world, loving all aspects
of me again.
I’m so proud of myself for reaching out and asking for help as this is one of the best investments
I’ve ever made.
Client LF, Central Coast
Irene has an amazing capacity to listen deeply, encouraging reflection without judgement and pulls attention and intention into the therapeutic space.
Irene brings lightness, kindness and thoughtfulness into her practice, which lands in a way that inspires trust in her capability to co-create a space that explores the various meaningful facets of life with both curiosity and openness.
I find myself supported in sharing my world and am grateful for the often fun, immensely caring and enjoyable interactions that occur.
AK, Bardwell Park
my path from healing to growth
My heartfelt intention is to hold a safe and supportive space for you to feel heard, healed and whole.
Along my own path of healing, growth and change, I have unearthed that the healing process is not linear - rather, it is more of an upward spiral, akin to the cycles of nature.
I am a PACFA certified Gestalt Psychotherapist having trained at The Relational Institute Australia (TRIA). I am coached in somatic processing (nervous system regulation) with Diana Bird and emotional neuroscience with the Center of Emotional Education and the Polyvagal Institute.
My greatest skillset however is my lived experience as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, coworker, entrepreneur and lifelong student.
I continue my own personal and professional development as I believe sustaining awareness of self and authentic connection with others is vital for a full and satisfying human existence.
My unique therapeutic approach blends gestalt philosophy, polyvagal theory and guided embodiment practices to attend to both your mind and body for holistic, effective and sustainable healing and change.
I am available Wednesday to Friday in person at Penshurst (St George area of Sydney) as well as online.
A combination of both face-to-face and virtual sessions is also possible.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to join me for a confidential FREE 15 minute discovery call to chat about your situation and whether we are a right fit for each other.