Heidi Louise Counselling

Heidi Louise Counselling Individuals · Couples · Family
Gentle, evidence-based support for anxiety, attachment & relationship patterns. New clients welcome — bookings open.

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THE PARTS BETWEEN USI’m excited to be offering a new live online masterclass exploring something I see so often in relat...
14/08/2026

THE PARTS BETWEEN US
I’m excited to be offering a new live online masterclass exploring something I see so often in relationships: the protective parts of us that take over when we feel hurt, rejected, criticised or disconnected.
A part of us might need to talk about it right now.
Another might need reassurance.
Some parts become angry, critical or defensive.
Others shut down, pull away or need space.
And before we know it, our protective parts are responding to our partner’s protective parts, and we’re caught in the same cycle again.

In The Parts Between Us, we’ll slow this down and look at what is actually happening underneath these reactions.
Drawing on IFS, attachment, nervous system understanding and relationship therapy, we’ll explore why these parts show up, what they may be trying to protect, and how we can begin responding with more awareness rather than automatically reacting.
No previous understanding of IFS is needed. Come on your own or with your partner.
Wednesday 2 September
7:00–8:00pm AEST
Live online via Zoom
$49 individual | $79 couple
Includes a reflection workbook.
Bookings now open via my website -Link in bio.
This is a psychoeducational masterclass and is not a substitute for individual or couples therapy.

07/08/2026

For over 13 years, I have sat with couples in the therapy room, and one pattern shows up again and again.

On the surface, it looks like a communication problem. One partner pursues. The other withdraws. One needs closeness. The other needs space. Both leave feeling unseen, unheard and alone.

Communication skills matter. I teach them every day. But when our nervous system is overwhelmed and old attachment wounds are activated, even the best communication tools become inaccessible. We cannot access what our brain knows when our body believes we are under threat.

This is why I believe the deepest work in relationships is not just learning what to say differently. It is learning to turn inward with curiosity.

As Carl Jung wrote:

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Our partners often do not create our deepest wounds. They illuminate them. The moments that trigger us can become an invitation to understand the parts of ourselves that learned long ago that closeness wasn’t safe, that our needs didn’t matter, or that love had to be earned.

Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with my partner?” we might gently ask, “What part of me has just been activated, and what is it trying to protect?”

When both people begin meeting themselves with curiosity instead of blame, something profound changes. The relationship becomes more than a place of conflict. It becomes a place of healing.

If you recognise yourself in this, know this.

You are not failing at love.

Your relationship may be pointing you towards the very places within you that are asking to be seen, understood and healed.

That is where hope begins.

01/08/2026

There is something deeply rewarding about spending a day in a room with clinicians who are genuinely curious, reflective and committed to their own growth.

A heartfelt thank you to Axis Psychology Clinic for inviting me to facilitate your professional development day yesterday at Brisbane Powerhouse. It was a privilege to spend the day exploring these ideas together, sharing knowledge, and engaging in thoughtful conversations about the art and science of therapy.

Supporting fellow clinicians through professional development is one of the parts of my work that I genuinely love. Whether it’s Internal Family Systems (IFS), attachment, trauma-informed practice, relationship dynamics, or The Love Blueprint Series, I enjoy creating workshops that are practical, reflective and immediately applicable to clinical work.

At the heart of it all, though, is my work with clients.

I work with individuals, couples and families who are wanting to better understand themselves, heal longstanding patterns, strengthen relationships, and create meaningful change. My approach integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS), attachment theory, neuroscience and evidence-based relationship therapy, always with the belief that lasting change begins with self-understanding and compassion.

If you’re looking for a therapist, I’d be honoured to walk alongside you.

And if you’re part of a psychology practice, counselling service, or organisation looking for engaging, evidence-based professional development for your team, I’d love to discuss tailoring a workshop to your clinicians. I also offer The Love Blueprint Series for organisations and the community, helping people better understand themselves, their relationships, and the patterns that shape the way they connect.

Learning as therapists ultimately benefits every person who entrusts us with their story.

Last week I finished a 35 hour intensive, AHPRA accredited training in psychedelic assisted therapy with the Psychedelic...
29/07/2026

Last week I finished a 35 hour intensive, AHPRA accredited training in psychedelic assisted therapy with the Psychedelic Institute of Australia in Byron Bay.

I did not come to this looking for a shortcut. What drew me in was the research showing psilocybin and M**A, used carefully alongside real psychotherapy, can open a door that therapy alone sometimes cannot reach. Psilocybin is approved in Australia for treatment resistant depression, M**A for PTSD. Neither does the healing on its own.

What these medicines seem to do is create the conditions, held by a trained therapist and a trusting relationship, for healing to become more possible.

This is not a wellness trend and it is not a magic pill. It will not be right for everyone.

In September I am off to Italy for a seven day residential training with MAPS. I am still working out what shape this will take in my practice, but I am hopeful I will be able to offer some version of this support early next year.

27/06/2026

Because nobody’s body is listening to the apology. It’s listening for one thing: am I safe here right now.

We learn connection from the outside in. Say the calm thing, smooth it over, keep the peace. But underneath, some part of you is running its own check, and it usually got written long before this relationship.

This is what co-regulation actually is. Two bodies settling into each other, the way we were built to from the very beginning. The catch is you can’t settle into anyone while you’re braced. And the part of you doing the bracing isn’t trying to ruin this. It’s trying to protect you, the way it learned to a long time ago.

So depth needs both. The inward work, where you finally turn toward that protector instead of fighting it. And the work between you, where you bring that steadier self home to the person you love. One turns toward yourself. One turns toward each other.

Both matter. You don’t have to choose.

If you are interested in individual work or support with your relationship book a session with me via the link in bio. Come find out what your body already knows. 🤍

26/06/2026

Floor time. Evidence-based. I don't make the rules.

Here's what the joke is pointing at. I love this work. I move my body before my day starts, I have my own supports, my own people. None of that is missing.

And between sessions, I still get on the floor.

Not because something's wrong. Because something's right. I've just been deeply present with someone, holding steady so they could do real work. That kind of presence is a privilege, and it asks something of your system. So I give my system a moment to land before the next person walks in.

The floor is just honest about gravity. Cool, flat, load-bearing. I let it hold me for two minutes, let my breath drop, let the last session settle so I'm fully here for the next one.

That's the actual secret. Regulation isn't something you do once you're falling apart. It's the small thing you build in while everything's going well, so it keeps going well.

So if you've ever laid on the floor between hard things, not in crisis, just resetting, you already get it. Your body knew before you did.

Back up in two minutes. Genuinely glad to be here.

Full credit to .therapy for the original and for the recreate that made me laugh out loud. Couldn't resist adding mine from down here.

24/06/2026

Some of us learned to be the responsible one early. The one who read the room, kept it together, made sure nobody else had to worry. If that was you, that part probably never got told she was allowed to stop.

She wasn’t being difficult. She took on a job way too big for how small she was, did it well, and nobody ever came along to say “okay, I’ve got it from here.”

So she kept going. Which is why you can be safe now and still feel braced for something. Your body learned that staying on guard kept you okay, and it stays loyal to that long after the danger’s gone.

The work isn’t getting rid of her. She’s not the problem, she’s the reason you made it here. It’s letting her feel that you’ve finally arrived, and that she can rest. That takes time, because she’s heard “you’re safe” before and it wasn’t true. So you show her slowly, again and again, until she believes you.

If you’re in that process right now, you’re doing more than you can see. Keep turning back toward her. She’s been waiting a long time for you.

23/06/2026

For years I thought “too sensitive” was a flaw I had to manage. Looking back, that feedback usually came from people who were doing their best with what they had — and from a younger version of me who hadn’t yet learned how to soothe what I was feeling. 🤍

Here’s the trauma-informed version instead.

Sometimes sensitivity is just how you’re wired. But often it’s a nervous system that learned early that staying switched on was the safest bet. Reading the room. Catching a shift in someone’s tone before they’d finished the sentence. That’s not weakness. It’s a system that learned to protect you, and did its job well.

The problem is nobody told it the danger had passed. So it keeps you on alert in rooms that are completely safe, and someone calls you “too much.”

The hopeful part? Nervous systems can change. With the right support, that finely tuned radar stops running as a constant alarm and becomes something you actually get to use on purpose. You don’t lose the depth or the attunement. You just get to feel safe enough to set it down sometimes — and to learn how to soothe yourself when it flares.

That’s the work I do — with individuals learning to feel safe in their own bodies, and with couples learning to find each other.

So it was never that you were too sensitive. You just hadn’t been shown how to work with it yet.

So no, you were never too sensitive. It was the room.

Reach out and book a session with me. If you’re ready to stop bracing, the link’s in my bio. 💌

Address

‘Greenhouse’/West Village, Office 61, Lvl 4, 97 Boundary Street West End
West End, QLD
4101

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 3pm

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