The Wild Orange Tree

The Wild Orange Tree Embodied pelvic care & integrated mental health support for women and mothers

The Wild Orange Tree offers holistic health and wellness support that empowers women to navigate each stage of their motherhood journey. I am an occupational therapist, post-natal doula and practitioner of the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy®. By merging ancient wisdom and professional training I aim to be a source of information and support for women as they prepare, transition and gr

ow into motherhood. Through this passion for women's health I want to see women thrive, embrace their feminine, and achieve their birthing and mothering potential.

I love a good map. And the old school Lonely Planet guides are still etched in my memory. My husband and I bought many v...
13/08/2026

I love a good map.

And the old school Lonely Planet guides are still etched in my memory. My husband and I bought many versions as we travelled before children. We followed routes. Got ideas. Made plans. And, importantly, got un-lost.

A map is helpful.

And one of the things I find myself doing again and again with women and mothers is helping them draw their own map.

Just this week, I have:

🚂 Mapped the thoughts, emotions and actions around pelvic pain like a train station route map - helping someone see how they arrived where they are, and where new tracks might be possible.

🌊 Drawn a river to represent a mothering journey - noticing the influences, resources and barriers shaping a particularly challenging season.

✨ Drawn a constellation of how someone is showing up within their physical, social and cultural environment - and wondered together what small actions might create meaningful change.

🧩 Mind-mapped the many skills an OT already has, and explored how they can be adapted to support women and mothers - and how to speak confidently about that work.

A map isn’t the final destination.

But it can help us make sense of where we are.

It can bring clarity and self-compassion. Help us notice patterns. See the terrain. Find the possibilities or options that couldn’t be seen before.

And from there, we can make more considered choices about where we might go next.

Sometimes, before we need another strategy, we just need a map. 🍊

What map are you needing right now?

Kind of chic to be an occupational therapist working in these spaces 😜Love that I get to do this work and make a differe...
12/08/2026

Kind of chic to be an occupational therapist working in these spaces 😜

Love that I get to do this work and make a difference for women and mothers 🧡

10/08/2026

As human beings we are also human doings.

Bringing curiosity and compassion to how our life circumstances have impacted our doing can be such a significant piece to supporting our wellbeing.

03/08/2026

Ever had that guilty feeling?

I sometimes wonder if we feel guilt when it is actually something else showing up for us.

Guilt is a gift, and the mothers work with aren’t doing anything wrong.

Does this reframe your experience of guilt?

It is said that during labour, mothers travel to the stars to collect the souls of their babies.Whether you believe that...
31/07/2026

It is said that during labour, mothers travel to the stars to collect the souls of their babies.

Whether you believe that literally or simply see it as a beautiful metaphor, I think it captures something profound about birth.

Birth is a rite of passage.

It takes us somewhere.

It asks us to journey into places we have never been before.

And sometimes, somewhere along that journey, we can lose touch with physical ourselves.

We begin mothering from our heads instead of our bodies.

We analyse our birth.
We replay conversations.
We question our choices.
We try to make sense of our thoughts and feelings.

All the while, our body is waiting. Quietly holding the story, and an invitation to come home.

🧡 So maybe the better question isn’t where do we go, but how do we return. 🧡

To settle a nervous system that still feels on alert.

To soften the tissues that had to brace.

To reconnect with the centre of ourselves from which we mother most intuitively.

Not because we’ve done anything wrong.

But because birth can be overwhelming. Because too many mothers experience birth as frightening or traumatic. Because we are expected to move on, get back to life, and care for everyone else before we’ve had the chance to truly arrive ourselves. Because our culture has lost so many of the rituals that traditionally helped pave the way.

One of the greatest privileges of my work is gently inviting mothers back into relationship with their bodies.

Because I don’t believe healing is about becoming someone new.

I think it’s about finding your way home to yourself.

I’m a Women’s and Maternal Health Occupational Therapist, supporting women through pregnancy, birth and matrescence using nervous system informed care, mental health strategies, and hands-on soft tissue and scar therapy.

I offer appointments on the Sunshine Coast, in Wollongong and in Melbourne, as well as via Telehealth across Australia.

If you’re curious about feeling more connected to yourself in motherhood, I’d love to connect and see what it looks like to work together.

Your body already knows how to birth.Birth isn’t something your body has to learn.Your pelvis already knows how to move....
29/07/2026

Your body already knows how to birth.

Birth isn’t something your body has to learn.

Your pelvis already knows how to move.
Your tissues know how to soften.
Your hormones know how to orchestrate labour.
Your nervous system is designed to guide this incredible process.

And yet...

Many of us come into birth carrying the realities of modern life.

Long hours sitting at desks.
Stress that keeps our nervous system on alert.
Past experiences of trauma.
Fearful birth stories we’ve absorbed for years.
Bodies that have learnt to brace and protect rather than soften and yield.

Your body isn’t broken.

It may simply need the opportunity to reconnect with what it already knows.

Birth preparation isn’t just about learning breathing techniques or packing your hospital bag.

It can also be getting curious about your own body.

Exploring the movement of your pelvis.
Understanding how your bones, ligaments, fascia and organs work together to position baby and then open.
Learning ways to support your nervous system so it can recognise safety.
Building confidence that you can work with the sensations of labour rather than against them.

As a Women’s and Maternal Health Occupational Therapist, I combine evidence based birth education with hands on soft tissue therapy and nervous system informed care to help prepare both your body and mind for birth.

Not because your body needs fixing.

But because every woman deserves to enter birth feeling informed, connected and deeply trusting of herself.

I offer birth preparation appointments on the Sunshine Coast, Wollongong and Melbourne, as well as Telehealth education and support for women across Australia.

If you’re preparing for birth, I’d love to be a part of your team.

How hard it is to mother when your body thinks it is still giving birth.You know your baby has arrived.You hold them in ...
28/07/2026

How hard it is to mother when your body thinks it is still giving birth.

You know your baby has arrived.

You hold them in your arms every day.

But your nervous system is still caught in that overwhelming moment of birth. Your internal alarm system hasn’t realised that you have both made it safely through.

Sometimes this shows up as anxiety. Sometimes as hypervigilance. And sometimes it’s simply a deep feeling that your body never received the message that birth was over.

So every separation feels bigger than it should.
Your chest tightens.
Your mind fills with worry.
You carry a quiet but persistent feeling that something isn’t quite right.

It can be incredibly hard to step into your new mothering role when part of you is still in the birth portal.

I’m a Women’s and Maternal Health Occupational Therapist, and I support mothers to gently navigate the birth rite of passage.

Through mental health strategies, sensory approaches, nervous system-informed care, and hands-on soft tissue and scar therapy, I help women process what their bodies are still holding onto so they can feel that they have landed on the other side.

Grounded.
Safe.
Present.
Able to mother from a place of connection rather than survival.

I offer in-person appointments on the Sunshine Coast, Wollongong, and Melbourne, as well as Telehealth for women across Australia.

If this resonates with your experience, I’d love to walk alongside you.

Book a free connection call through my website.

Maybe we are overwhelmed because we have lost our flow….Photos don’t do it justice, but this is a creek that normally fl...
26/07/2026

Maybe we are overwhelmed because we have lost our flow….

Photos don’t do it justice, but this is a creek that normally flows out to the ocean. Last week the estuary had closed. The creek banks were widening and rising.

A small creek that usually snakes through a valley like gap in the sand dunes, creating water holes and play areas. Was instead spread across the beach fifty metres wide rather than its usual two or three. Bulging and threatening to cut off the walking track access to the ocean. It looked ready to explode.

And then a few days later when I returned, the creek had burst and made it to the ocean again. Thundering through with rapids, carving deep banks. The level had dropped and in a few more days it would look more like itself again.

There are so many challenges or barriers in our mothering or feminine journey when we can loose our flow. And in response we feel overwhelmed, stretched or taken over.

But we too can return to flow.

Sometimes we need some time and space.
Maybe it’s a catch up with a friend.
A phone call with a mentor.
Moving our body.
Accessing some new strategies to work with our thoughts or feelings.
Making a change to the environment.
Getting support for the nervous system.
Supporting our body or scars with loving hands.
Getting a new perspective on our situation.
Finding ways to bring in self compassion or self acceptance.

I wonder if this analogy resonates for you. Where have you lost your flow?

And what are you needing to regain the equilibrium and balance that brings you into your flow?

My husband loves to tease me that as a kid I was a member of a rural cake decorating guild 😜. I won second prize at the ...
23/07/2026

My husband loves to tease me that as a kid I was a member of a rural cake decorating guild 😜. I won second prize at the country show.

Growing up I loved making beautiful desserts and cakes for friends, including a wedding cake.

I also had the memory of picking my own birthday cake each year from the Australia Women’s Weekly cookbook and having my mum make it for me.

🧡 And when I became a mum, cake making and decorating became a really strong anchor for me. 🧡

I made both my kids a “birth” day cake.

Their ongoing birthday cakes are master pieces where everyone knows you tell mum what you want, and then step aside, don’t touch and let mama do her thing 🫣

One of my favourite parts of my kids birthdays is getting to engage in one of my favourite occupations - cake decorating 🎂

Lots of people make cakes. More simple and more fancy.

But for me it is so much more than the cake.

It is linking past, present and future in a way that is really significant. A thread that has changed but stayed with me over the years.

An honouring of who I was, carving out space for me in the now, and wondering where this might take me next.

I wonder what occupations have followed you through your life. What has changed about them over time. And what has helped hold and ground you through the unknowns of transitions and shifting life seasons.

Happy thirteenth birthday to our budding pilot!

22/07/2026

Let’s clarify any confusion as to why a mental health endorsed OT is so passionate about the body and pelvis.

Because some of the most powerful mental health interventions can be working with scars and reconnecting with the body.

Address

Coolum Beach, QLD

Opening Hours

Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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