Earth & Elm Studio and Wellness Services

11/09/2026

We are ready for hosting tonight’s paint and sip Tinshed Brewery for the Dungog Tea Party!! ☕️

11/09/2026

There will be signs 🎉

30/08/2026

Your local insight dealer has entered the chat. 🕵️‍♂️

I traffic mainly in the moment where you’re halfway through explaining something and suddenly go:

“…oh f*ck. I do that.”

That moment matters.

Because before you can change a pattern, you have to be able to see it happening.

The over-explaining.
The rehearsing.
The automatic fixing.
The need to make sure nobody is disappointed with you.
The rule you’ve been following for twenty years without ever asking who gave it to you.

Self-awareness gives you the chance to get curious about what your brain is actually trying to accomplish.

What am I protecting myself from?
What am I assuming this means?
What am I trying to control here?

Sometimes therapy is a whole lot of sitting together, following the thread, and eventually arriving at:

“Well ,that explains a lot.”

And from there?

You have somewhere to work from.

Self-awareness is where change starts.

25/08/2026

A little Chel appreciation post. 🖤🌿

Chel is currently out at Fowler’s Gap near Broken Hill, off on a university adventure and creating art in the middle of some pretty incredible country.

She’s spending time immersed in the landscape, learning, observing, making, and letting the experience shape what comes through her work. There’s something very special about the way she creates- thoughtful, curious, and deeply connected to meaning, place and story.

I share a lot of my own life on here, so it felt right to share a little more of Chel too, because she is such an important part of Earth & Elm and of the heart behind what we do.

I’m so proud of her for saying yes to new experiences, stretching herself creatively, and heading off into the wild to explore this part of her practice more deeply.

And honestly… what a backdrop. 🤍

Chel is mostly off-grid while she’s out there, so leave her a comment or a question for when she’s back in reception. You can ask about the trip, her art, what she’s creating, or anything you’d love to know about her creative process and she’ll have something lovely to come back to.

24/08/2026

9 years in Australia today. 🇦🇺

Nine years ago I left North Carolina and started a life here with absolutely no idea where it would eventually take me.

Since then, I’ve married my person, bought a home, become an Australian citizen, travelled, gone back to university, won awards, built a private practice and continued doing work that has always mattered deeply to me: sitting alongside people while they make sense of themselves and their lives.

I’ve also transitioned.

And that experience — alongside everything else these nine years have held — has profoundly shaped the way I understand identity, belonging, change, grief, courage and what it means to become more fully yourself.

There have been some extraordinary chapters. There have also been difficult ones. I’ve had to rethink who I am, let go of things I once thought were permanent and build parts of my life again from the ground up.

In many ways, that’s part of why the work I do means so much to me.

I know what it feels like for a life to change shape.

I know what it is to look back at an earlier version of yourself with enormous affection while knowing you couldn’t live as that person anymore.

And I know how powerful it can be when you finally begin creating a life that actually feels like yours.

Nine years later, Australia is home.

I’m incredibly grateful for the life I’ve been able to build here, for the people who trust me with parts of their own stories, and for every version of me that somehow got me to this one.

Happy 9 years in Australia to me. 🇦🇺❤️

24/08/2026

😂

23/08/2026

Late to the “who you’re really dealing with” trend, but apparently this is who you’re dealing with. 😂

Somewhere underneath the almost-40-year-old version of me are all these little versions who came first.

And judging by the photographic evidence, the general vibe was established VERY early.

The facial expressions in particular have remained remarkably consistent.

Anyway, please enjoy that I have always had an unreasonable amount of attitude.

Thanks dad for the photos. 😂

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Xavier

21/08/2026