Colleen - Trauma & Narcissistic Abuse Therapy

10/08/2026

So often, clients tell me how they’ve been shut down time and time again. Their concerns have been minimised, their hopes and dreams laughed at, their feelings dismissed, and their boundaries ignored or violated.

And after experiencing this for long enough, they can’t help but wonder, “Am I too much?”

If this resonates with you, I want you to know: you weren’t too much.

You were paying attention to things that genuinely hurt you, and you found ways to cope with people who should have made that easier, not harder

Genuine healing can begin when we stop questioning whether what we experienced was “bad enough” and start understanding the impact it had on us.

If this is where you are right now and you would like some support making sense of it, I offer a complimentary 15-minute clarity call where we can talk about what’s happening for you and see if we may be a good fit to work together. You can book via the link in my bio ~ no pressure at all.

🩵

09/07/2026

Dr. Ramani has just annoucned her speaking dates in Australia next year and she will be coming to Adelaide! if you have ever wanted to see her live this is your chance and I would highly recommend going to this event.. I will be there

The world's leading voice on narcissism comes to the stage. Dr Ramani, licensed clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of It's Not You, brings her sharp, compassionate insight to

08/07/2026

This has been bothering me for the past few weeks...

As many of you likely know, I offer a complimentary 15min clarity call so people can ask questions and see whether I'm the right therapist for them.

Recently, someone booked a call and very quickly let me know they couldn't afford therapy. I completely understood and recommended some free support services instead.

The conversation then became very personal and detailed. I gently explained that, ethically, I couldn't provide counselling to someone who wasn't my client.

This person then hung up on me and, within minutes, a one star Google review appeared.

I've reported the review to Google because I don't believe it reflects what actually happened, but I'm still waiting for their decision.

Because therapy is so personal and confidential, people rarely leave reviews. I completely understand why, and I don't often ask for them, but I am genuinely touched whenever a client takes the time to leave one.

If we've worked together and you feel comfortable sharing your experience, I would be so grateful if you would consider leaving a Google review.

Every kind word helps another person feel a little safer reaching out for support, and right now it would also really help restore my 5 star business rating.

Thank you to everyone who has trusted me with their story. I never take that privilege for granted.

For transparency, I've included the review and my response below.

If you'd like to leave a review, you can do so here - https://g.page/r/Ccp-mbwvQrKwEBM/review 🙏⭐️

With love,

Colleen

15/06/2026

On Friday, I had the privilege of discussing one of my cases with Dr Ramani through a consultation channel she offers for therapists.

Before we began, she remembered meeting me in San Diego and even the small gifts I’d brought from South Australia. It was such a lovely and unexpected moment, and one I’ll genuinely treasure. 🤍

If you’d like to read more about my experience training with Dr Ramani in San Diego, you can do so by following the link in my story or bio 🙏

08/06/2026

One of the things I find most interesting about working with clients in therapy is how much people can carry without anybody knowing.

Sometimes not even the people closest to them.

When I volunteered at Lifeline, I would often ask callers whether they had told anyone how they were feeling.

More often than not, the answer was no.

Not because they didn't have people in their lives or because they didn't want support.

But because they didn't want to be a burden.

or because they were worried about being misunderstood.

And over time, it simply became easier to say, "I'm fine."

05/06/2026

Facebook reminded me yesterday of a status I posted sixteen years ago.

"I should just become a yoga teacher 🧘‍♀️”

I was a dedicated Bikram yogi at the time, but I knew that wasn't the style I wanted to teach. So I did some research and discovered a word I had never even seen before.

V I N Y A S A.

I lived in Mermaid Beach, so off I popped to the closest studio near my unit.
Wow. It was so beautiful. Warm and earthy and otherworldly. I was immediately captivated.

I started going regularly. And even though I'd been a dedicated Bikram yogi for a few years, I found the classes incredibly hard. But I kept going and told myself "it must just be me. I should be better. That's why it's called a practice, right?"

Every time I walked in, there was a strange feeling in my stomach.
Not nerves or excitement.
Something strange, but familiar.
I ignored it.

Not long after, I enrolled in my first Vinyasa yoga teacher training. I was so excited to immerse myself in the movement and the philosophy. The possibility that there might be another way of living - another level of understanding myself.
For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had found something that genuinely lit me up.

But now when I reflect back, there was something else happening beneath the surface. At that point of my life I wasn't just looking for a yoga class or teacher training.
I was looking for belonging.
and longing for approval.
I was looking for someone to finally tell me I was enough.
I became the good student.
I worked hard. Never missed a day of training (even with a tooth infection)
secretly waiting to be called 'an angel' (IYKYK)
Because underneath it all was a belief I had carried for much of my life -
If someone outside of myself chooses me, maybe I'll finally feel worthy.

We don't ignore our gut because we're foolish.

We ignore it because we want something so badly that we're not ready to hear what it's trying to tell us.

That feeling in my stomach was there from the very beginning.
I just wasn't ready to listen.

Have you ever overridden your intuition because you wanted something - or someone - to be the answer?

29/05/2026

Part 2 ~

And I want to be clear, this wasn’t simply about losing a job. There was a lot more to this story and a lot more impact than most people realised at the time.

Looking back now, I do understand it differently.

What I don’t think many people understood at the time was the impact this had on me. This wasn’t something I simply “got over.” It affected my confidence, my sense of safety, my trust in myself, and it took me a few years to rebuild parts of my life that had been deeply shaken.

What I have learned is that healing cannot depend on justice arriving. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. But our lives cannot remain on hold while we wait for it.

Healing doesn’t come from another person’s accountability. It comes from slowly reclaiming ourselves, our voice, our sense of safety, and our lives.

There is much more I want to say about all of this, and perhaps I will in time. For now, I simply wanted to share this part of my story.

If you have ever found yourself waiting for justice, acknowledgement, or an apology that never came, please know you are not alone. 🖤

29/05/2026

Part 1 ~

I have so much more to say about this, but this is actually the first time I have ever shared anything publicly about my experience with this particular person.

What happened occurred in 2018, and I have come a long way since then.

The reason I am sharing it now is because I know so many people are living through situations where it feels as though there will never be any justice, accountability or acknowledgement for what has happened.

Believe me, I understand what that can do to a person.

When I was going through this, many people turned away. Some didn’t want to get involved. Others were afraid. At the time, that was incredibly painful…

19/05/2026

This one is worth sitting with, gently, because somewhere inside, you already know the answer.

In narcissistic and toxic relationships, staying small becomes a survival strategy.
You shrink to keep the peace.
You silence yourself to avoid the reaction.
You make yourself less so someone else can feel like more.

But at some point, the survival strategy becomes the trap.

So I invite you to sit with this one ~ not intellectually, but in your body.
Notice what comes up. Notice any resistance, sadness, or recognition.

Sometimes the most radical act of healing is simply taking up the space that was always yours.

Save this if it resonates. 🤍🙏

08/05/2026

Last year I started sharing pieces of my story each week. The road that brought me here.

The many lives I feel like I’ve lived before becoming a Holistic Psychotherapist.

At that stage of the story, I had just discovered yoga and was preparing to begin my first teacher training on the Gold Coast in 2012 - something that would eventually shape both my healing and my work in profound ways. Then life interrupted it.
That same week, I found out a dear friend of mine had terminal cancer.

Honestly, it cracked something open in me.

What surfaced wasn’t only grief for Jannine, but grief connected to an entire chapter of my life. The Gold Coast. The memories. The losses. The parts of myself that existed back then.

Sometimes when we spend so much time supporting others, we forget that we also need space to grieve, process, and simply feel.

So, I stepped back from sharing my story each week.

Recently, my beautiful friend Jannine passed away, and my heart aches for her deeply.

But I feel ready now to return to this story and continue sharing it.

For Jannine. And for anyone learning to carry grief while still moving forward.

🙏🤍