https://harvestinghealth.com.au/, https://HarvestingHealthBookings.as.me/

Harvesting Health, 3B/149 Old Pacific Highway, Oxenford, Gold Coast (2026)

08/08/2026

EPISODE 50 🎙️ | Because motherhood was never meant to be done alone.

For this episode I had the pleasure of sitting down with Renee from Motherhood Village — an organisation creating something many women desperately need after having a baby: a place to belong, connect, talk and be understood.

Motherhood Village supports mothers through genuine peer connection, practical support, social gatherings and a welcoming community where women can simply come as they are — sometimes even just to sit down, have a cup of tea and talk to someone who gets it.

And there is something particularly special about the people providing that support. The women involved bring their own lived experience of motherhood.

That matters. Because in my own work, I hear so often from women who describe traumatic births, feeling frightened during labour, having concerns dismissed, not feeling heard.

The baby may have arrived safely. That does not necessarily mean the mother walked away unaffected.

Often there can be very little space left to ask:

“How are you doing?”

That is where community can become incredibly powerful.

In this episode, Renee and I talk about Motherhood Village, why it exists, the support it provides, social isolation in motherhood, finding acceptance and the importance of women being able to connect with other women without judgement.

And our conversation isn't quite finished. Renee will be returning to The Natural Narrative for a follow-up episode where we will move beyond the organisation itself and hear her own lived-experience story.

I think that is going to be a very important conversation.

🎧 The Natural Narrative – Episode 50: Motherhood Village
https://thenaturalnarrative.buzzsprout.com/

Because sometimes support doesn't need to start with fixing anything.

Sometimes it starts with being heard, being welcomed and knowing you're not doing this alone. 🤍

07/08/2026

Birth trauma: more common than we realise. 🤍

Around 1 in 3 women report experiencing their birth as traumatic.

But what actually is birth trauma?

Birth trauma isn’t defined simply by whether a birth was medically complicated.

It is the physical and/or psychological distress experienced during or after pregnancy, labour or birth — and sometimes a birth that appears medically “successful” can still be deeply traumatic for the person experiencing it.

It may involve:

• an emergency Caesarean or instrumental birth
• severe pain or physical injury
• haemorrhage or medical complications
• fear that the mother or baby might die
• premature birth or neonatal intensive care
• loss of control during labour
• procedures occurring without adequate explanation or consent
• feeling dismissed, unheard or powerless
• separation from baby after birth
• unexpected changes to a carefully considered birth plan.

And trauma doesn’t necessarily end when everyone goes home.

Some women experience intrusive memories, nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance, guilt, emotional numbness or difficulty talking about the birth. For some, symptoms can meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Perhaps one of the most important things to understand is this:

Two women can experience very similar births and experience them completely differently.

Trauma is not determined solely by what happened.
It is also influenced by how frightened, powerless, unsupported or unheard someone felt while it was happening.

That is why compassionate maternity care, informed consent, communication — and support after birth — matter so much.

Tomorrow I want to continue this conversation by sharing a wonderful organisation helping women find something that can be incredibly important after becoming a mother:

connection and community. 🤍

06/08/2026

Happy Friday
Thanks mummyandmephysio for the inspo

06/08/2026

A little role reversal for me this week — I was the one behind the microphone answering the questions. 🎙️

I recently had the pleasure of joining Kylie King on the HerStory Podcast for Episode 84.

We spoke about the experiences that have shaped me, the long and often unconventional road to building Harvesting Health, returning to education later in life, and why I remain so passionate about whole-person healthcare.

My story has included grief, health challenges, rebuilding, study, business ownership and more than a few moments when beginning again would have been the easier option.

But it has also taught me that our past does not have to limit what comes next.

Sometimes the chapters we never would have chosen become the ones that give us the clearest sense of purpose.

Thank you, Kylie, for creating the space for women to share their stories honestly — not simply the polished achievements, but the experiences, setbacks and decisions behind them.

Episode 84 of the HerStory Podcast is now available.
YouTube - https://youtu.be/cHhfZk9WUeA
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/herstory/id1694644484
Spotify - https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herstorybyalibi

06/08/2026

STAY TUNED

This evening I share the link to a podcast I was a GUEST in
Quite different for me, that's for sure.

Keep your eyes peeled for the podcast link later today -

Her Story is a podcast that highlights successful women entrepreneurs and the stories behind their life-changing businesses. Each episode explores their journey—how they started, overcame challenges, grew, and run their businesses today. We aim to inspire and empower aspiring female entrepreneurs by showing how everyday women create profitable businesses that transform their lives and their families' lives. These stories go beyond inspiration, offering practical advice and actionable insights for those ready to take the leap.

05/08/2026

This guy came to the clinic with a very complex health issue

Firstly he was needing a double lung transplant - he didn't want this as he had read of the long term effects of a transplant. However, I did point out to him it might be his only way forward.

Why? He had a genetic predisposition - a liver enzyme issue that was literally destroying his lungs. At first, there seemed no way out of ending up needing a lung transplant.

But, naturopaths don't treat conditions. What they do is treat the underlying cause, so it makes no sense to simply treat his lungs to get the desired result.
At this point, the desired result was to have his lung function adequate for a lung transplant. That was the goal.

Obviously I treated his lungs to restore function. I also provided symptomatic relief - people like to breathe. Oxygen is great for health! BUT - no use addressing all this without addressing his liver. So we did. He made lifestyle changes that I suggested, whilst I came in with the appropriate liver, lung, steroidal, bronchodilating herbs and of course, some nutraceuticals to reduce oxidative stress.

Last time he went to St Vincents to see the 'transplant team' he was told he no longer needed a lung transplant. His lung function had increased by 13% in the time he was coming to the clinic. "keep on doing what you are doing" they said.

04/08/2026

One in three Australian women describes her birth as traumatic.

That is not a small number.
Birth trauma can be physical, emotional or psychological, and its effects may continue long after the birth itself.

For some women, it may show up as:

• Anxiety or fear
• Intrusive memories
• Grief or anger
• Feeling disconnected from the birth experience
• Difficulty trusting their body or healthcare providers
• A sense that what happened was never fully heard or acknowledged

Not every woman who experiences a traumatic birth will develop post-traumatic stress disorder. But every woman deserves to have her experience taken seriously.

This is where organisations such as Motherhood Village are so important.

Motherhood Village is a Gold Coast charity offering free, in-person, peer-led mental health support for mothers during pregnancy and through the first five years after birth.

Their small, trauma-informed groups are led by trained women with lived experience and support mothers navigating concerns such as anxiety, depression, identity loss, grief, neurodivergence and acute perinatal mental-health challenges.

They do not replace clinical care. Instead, they provide something many women are deeply missing: meaningful community connection alongside appropriate professional and specialist services.

Sometimes support begins with something beautifully simple:

☕ Time to enjoy a cup of tea
🤍 A warm welcome
💬 An honest conversation
🌿 The relief of hearing, “You are not the only one.”

We often hear that it takes a village to raise a child.

But mothers need that village too.

A place where they do not have to pretend everything is fine.

A place where they are accepted without judgement.

A place where they can pause, connect and feel supported.

No mother should have to carry birth trauma—or motherhood—alone.
Please share to share the love

https://www.motherhoodvillage.com.au/

💖

03/08/2026

Dairy: the lowdown 🥛

Not all dairy is exactly the same — but the reason some people tolerate goat or sheep dairy better may surprise you.

A common belief is that goat and sheep milk are easier to digest because they contain far less lactose than cow milk.

That is not quite accurate.

Cow and goat milk contain broadly similar amounts of lactose, while sheep milk is not necessarily lower in lactose either. So, for someone with true lactose intolerance, simply changing from cow milk to goat or sheep milk may not solve the problem.

So why do some people report feeling better with goat or sheep dairy?

The answer may lie elsewhere:

Protein structure: Goat milk commonly contains lower levels of αs1-casein than cow milk, although this varies between breeds and products.

Softer curd formation: During digestion, goat milk can form smaller, softer curds in the stomach, potentially allowing digestive enzymes to break it down more readily.

Fat structure: Goat milk generally contains smaller fat globules and a somewhat different fatty-acid profile, which may influence how it is digested.

Fermented dairy products such as yoghurt, kefir and aged cheese may also be better tolerated because bacteria consume some of the lactose during fermentation. Hard, matured cheeses usually contain very little lactose.

But an important distinction:

Lactose intolerance is not the same as a milk-protein allergy.

Someone with cow’s-milk protein allergy should not assume goat or sheep dairy is safe. The proteins can cross-react, and reactions may still occur.

The real question is not simply:

“Is dairy good or bad?”

It is:

Which type, in what quantity, and how does your individual body respond?

01/08/2026

Are we literally sitting on a male fertility crisis?

🎙️ In the latest episode of The Natural Narrative, I speak with medical researcher, author and Cool Beans Underwear founder Saara Jamieson about an area of fertility that remains far too overlooked:

Men’s reproductive health.

When couples experience difficulty conceiving, the testing, treatment and emotional responsibility can quickly become focused on the woman.

But fertility is not solely a women’s issue.

Saara’s own experience of infertility and pregnancy loss prompted her to look more closely at s***m health, testicular temperature and the potential effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

We discussed:

🫘 Why the te**es need to remain cooler than the rest of the body
🫘 How prolonged sitting and heat exposure may affect s***m health
🫘 Why white-collar and sedentary workers may face different reproductive risks from men whose work keeps them moving
🫘 Why s***m count is only one part of the fertility picture
🫘 S***m motility, morphology and DNA fragmentation
🫘 Concerning research around declining global s***m counts
🫘 Why men’s fertility should be considered before a couple begins trying to conceive
🫘 How Saara transformed a deeply personal experience into an innovative Australian medical device

This episode is not about blaming men or suggesting that one behaviour alone causes infertility.

It is about asking better questions.

What might our modern lifestyles be doing to male reproductive health?

Why are men so often investigated later in the fertility journey?

And why aren’t we talking about s***m health until something has already gone wrong?

Male fertility matters—and it is time we brought men into the conversation much earlier.

🎧 Listen
https://thenaturalnarrative.buzzsprout.com/

***mHealth

31/07/2026

We have lots on in the next few months!
And, yes it is obviously 'business award season'. Harvesting Health is a finalist in -
* three categories Ausmumpreneur Awards
Wellbeing Business, Counselling & Therapy and Overcoming The Odds
These categories sum up how I am extending the business in the next few months

What's happening?
We are extending our reach - a new commercial premises in Southport CBD
We have trademarked and formulated an Disordered Eating program
I am completing a psychology degree - finish by my birthday early June 2027
I am also offering Business Coaching Sessions on Sunday evenings
I am taking a Study Sabbatical in October as I have doubled dipped and completing two subjects over a 7 week period (in for a penny)
We are crossing our fingers that Harvesting Health is named a finalist in the Australian small business champion awards and travel to Sydney for these in September (cross everything for us please)
We are off to the Gala Awards for .inspire.awards in October (just after the study sabbatical)

and then we rest.........
Working, studying and family will take priority

Keep your eyes open for some new group programs - I completely understand that finances are a bit tighter and feel that groups benefit everyone.
More accessible, more support, building a team spirit.

Harvesting Health

08/08/2026

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31/07/2026

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