Therapy for Adult Children of Childhood Emotional Neglect in Brisbane, & Telehealth throughout Australia
It's time to reconnect with the parts of yourself that have missed core attachment needs.
Would you like to stop living in a confusing survival mode and start healing the wounds emotional neglect left behind.
Are you an adult child of parental emotional neglect struggling to feel whole, safe, and connected?
You feel disconnected from your body and emotions, like you're going through life on autopilot.
You struggle to identify or express your needs because they were never acknowledged or validated growing up.
You find yourself numb, shut down, or overwhelmed. Sometimes all at once and you don't know how to regulate these experiences.
You have parts of yourself that feel young, scared, or angry, and you don't know how to care for them or integrate them into your life.
You long for connection but struggle with trust, intimacy, and showing up authentically in relationships.
You may also struggle with…
Emotional Numbness
You feel like you're watching your life from the outside looking in. Emotions seem muted or inaccessible, and when they do surface, they feel overwhelming or dangerous. You've learned to disconnect from your feelings as a way to survive, but now that disconnection is keeping you from truly living.
Difficulty with Boundaries & Self-Advocacy
Growing up, your emotional needs weren't met or were dismissed, so you learned to minimize them. Now, as an adult, you struggle to set boundaries, ask for what you need, or even know what you need in the first place. You put others first because taking care of yourself feels foreign or selfish.
Fragmented Sense of Self
You notice different parts of yourself that seem to want different things, one part wants connection, another wants to hide; one part feels angry, another feels ashamed. These parts feel like they're at war with each other, leaving you confused about who you really are and what you really want.
Shame & Inner Criticism
You carry a deep sense that something is wrong with you. There's an inner voice that tells you you're too much, not enough, or broken beyond repair. This shame came from not having your emotional world recognized and honored. And it's shaped how you see yourself.
Hypervigilance & Body Tension
Your body is constantly on alert, scanning for danger even when you're safe. You carry tension in your shoulders, jaw, or stomach, and no amount of relaxation techniques seems to help. Your nervous system learned early on that the world wasn't safe, and it's still operating from that place of protection.
Isolation & Loneliness
You've spent so much of your life managing on your own that reaching out for support feels impossible. You long for connection but fear being seen, fear being a burden, or fear that no one could truly understand what you've been through. The loneliness is suffocating, but letting people in feels terrifying.
It might feel impossible right now, but you can heal from childhood emotional neglect.
You can feel safe and at home in your body.
You can integrate the neglected parts of yourself that have been fragmented by trauma.
And I can help you get there.
Somatic & Parts Therapy can help you…
Reconnect with your body and learn to feel safe within it
Understand and integrate the different parts of yourself through the lens of trauma related fragmentation.
Develop skills to regulate your nervous system and move out of chronic survival states
Process and release trauma held in your body from years of emotional neglect
Build a compassionate relationship with the young, wounded, or protective parts of yourself
Reclaim your capacity to identify, feel, and express your emotions and needs
Create healthy boundaries and develop authentic connections with others
Move from fragmentation to integration, from survival to thriving
I often hear people who have experienced Childhood Emotional Neglect say:
"I don't know what I need or want"
"I feel like I'm too much and not enough at the same time"
"I should be able to handle this on my own"
"I feel numb most of the time, then suddenly overwhelmed"
"Everyone else seems to know how to do life, and I'm just pretending"
"I don't trust that people actually care about me"
“ I feel like I’m there for everyone, but no one is there for me”
“ I’ve not had a bad childhood, but I don’t particularly feel loved or have a sense of who I am as a person”
“ I feel like I have to constantly prove myself in everything I do”
“I don’t know how to ask for support, I kind of just try to do it all myself and feel overhwhelmed”
My Approach
My approach to therapy is rooted in the understanding that childhood emotional neglect creates both a disconnection from the body and a fragmentation of the self. Many adults who grew up emotionally neglected "know" they deserve better, but that knowledge doesn't translate into felt safety or wholeness.
I specialise in somatic (body-based) and parts-based therapy to help you heal where traditional talk therapy often falls short. Complex trauma isn't just a story you tell. It's held in your nervous system, your body, and the protective parts of you that formed to help you survive.
Through somatic therapy, we'll work directly with your body and nervous system to reorganise safety and sense of sense of self, address the imprint of stored trauma, regulate your emotions, and help you feel safe and grounded again. Unlike traditional talk therapy, somatic therapy helps you work directly with the sensations, movements, and impulses held in your nervous system. We'll help your body release what it's been holding onto and find new patterns of safety and regulation.You'll learn to tune into your body's signals, befriend your sensations, and cultivate a sense of safety from within.
Through parts work, we'll get to know the different aspects of yourself: the parts that protected you through impossible situations, the parts that carry pain, and the parts that hold your resilience and hope. You'll learn to bring compassion to all of who you are and create internal harmony. We'll explore the different parts of you, the protective parts, the vulnerable and wounded parts, the survival parts, the emotional and trauma holding parts, and help them heal and work together harmoniously. Instead of fighting against yourself, you'll develop compassion for all parts of you and learn to lead from your authentic, grounded Self.
This work will include understanding how emotional neglect shaped your attachment patterns, your relationship with yourself, and your capacity for connection. We'll spend time helping you recognise which parts of your current experience are rooted in the past and which belong to the present, so you can respond to life from a place of groundedness and choice rather than reactivity and protection.
This integrated approach will help you move beyond intellectual understanding into embodied healing, so you can finally feel whole, connected, and alive in your body.
Together, we'll integrate mind, body, and all parts of you, so you can move from survival mode to truly thriving.
I have specialized training in working with complex and developmental trauma, and I understand how early experiences shape your nervous system and sense of self.
We'll work at a pace that feels safe for you, always respecting your body's signals and your system's capacity. Through this work, you'll develop:
Greater awareness of your body's signals and needs
Skills to regulate your nervous system and manage overwhelming emotions
Compassion for all parts of yourself, including the parts you've judged or pushed away
A felt sense of safety and groundedness in your body
The ability to be present with yourself and others without becoming overwhelmed
Somatic & Parts Therapy can help you…
You will learn to recognize and trust the signals your body sends you, understanding when you're safe, when you're triggered, and what you need in each moment.
You will learn to identify your emotional needs and express them clearly, without shame or fear of being too much or not enough.
You will learn to befriend the protective parts of yourself that have been working overtime to keep you safe, and help them relax so you can show up authentically in your life.
You will learn to move out of chronic fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses and into a regulated nervous system state where connection and peace feel possible.
You will learn to develop a secure internal relationship with yourself—one where you can turn inward for comfort, validation, and guidance rather than constantly seeking it externally.
You will learn to process the shame that's been weighing you down and recognize that your emotional world is valid, important, and worthy of care.
You will learn to set and maintain boundaries that protect your energy and honor your needs, without guilt or fear of abandonment.
You will learn to stay present in your body during difficult emotions instead of dissociating or numbing out, building your capacity to feel without being overwhelmed.
You will learn to show up in relationships with confidence and authenticity, trusting that you can be seen, known, and loved for who you truly are.
You will learn to integrate the fragmented parts of yourself so you can move through life feeling whole, grounded, and empowered rather than scattered and survival-driven.
Approaches
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Sensorimotor & Somatic Psychotherapies
Sensorimotor & Somatic Psychotherapies work directly with the body's sensations, movements, and physical experiences to process trauma. These approaches recognize that trauma is stored in the body and nervous system, not just the mind. By bringing awareness to bodily sensations, gestures, and movement patterns, clients can complete survival responses that were interrupted during traumatic experiences and develop new, adaptive patterns that support healing and regulation.
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Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment & Parts Work
Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment & Parts Work uses a phase-based approach to healing, prioritizing safety and stabilization before processing trauma. This method recognizes that trauma can cause fragmentation of the self into different parts or states. Through compassionate parts work, clients learn to understand, communicate with, and integrate these protective and wounded parts, creating internal collaboration and coherence rather than conflict.
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Somatic Movement
Somatic Movement utilizes intentional, mindful movement practices to release trauma held in the body, increase body awareness, and develop new patterns of relating to physical sensations. Movement becomes a language for processing what words cannot express, helping clients reconnect with their bodies, release chronic tension and pain, and build capacity for embodied presence and pleasure.
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Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal Theory provides a framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system responds to safety and threat. This approach helps clients recognize their nervous system states—social engagement, fight/flight, or shutdown—and develop practices to shift between these states intentionally. By building awareness of nervous system patterns, clients can cultivate regulation, safety, and the capacity for authentic connection with themselves and others.
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Attachment Based Framework & DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy)
Attachment Based Framework & DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) focuses on healing relational trauma and attachment wounds through the therapeutic relationship itself. This approach recognizes that early attachment experiences shape how we relate to ourselves and others. Through attuned, responsive therapeutic presence and co-regulation, clients can develop earned secure attachment, repair developmental trauma, and build capacity for healthy, connected relationships.
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Movement Science
Movement Science applies research-based understanding of how the body moves, holds tension, and responds to stress to inform therapeutic interventions. This approach integrates knowledge of biomechanics, neuroscience, and embodiment to help clients understand their physical patterns, release chronic holding, and develop more adaptive ways of inhabiting their bodies that support both physical and emotional wellbeing.
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Dissociative Disorders & Structural Dissociation Framework
Dissociative Disorders & Structural Dissociation Framework provides a comprehensive understanding of how trauma can cause the personality to fragment into distinct parts or subsystems, each holding different experiences, emotions, and functions. This framework recognizes dissociation as an adaptive survival response to overwhelming trauma, particularly in childhood. Through specialized therapeutic approaches, clients can work with different parts of their personality structure—emotional parts that hold traumatic memories and experiences, and apparently normal parts that manage daily functioning—to achieve greater integration, cooperation, and wholeness.
You don't have to stay disconnected from yourself and your life.
I'm here to help you learn to come home to yourself.
Together, we'll work to help you reconnect with your body, integrate the fragmented parts of yourself, and build a life where you feel safe, whole, and capable of authentic connection…moving from survival to truly thriving.
Somatic & Parts Therapy FAQs
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime. If you’re feeling ready, go ahead and apply.
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Childhood emotional neglect creates both a somatic (body-based) and structural (parts-based) response. Your body learned to shut down emotions and needs because they weren't safe to express, and different parts of you developed to manage this reality- parts that help you function and parts that hold the pain. In our work, we'll use Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to help your body process and release stored trauma, while TIST Parts Work helps you understand, befriend, and integrate the fragmented parts of yourself. This dual approach addresses both the body's need for safety and the psyche's need for integration, creating lasting, holistic healing.
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Childhood emotional neglect often goes unrecognized because it's not about what happened to you, it's about what didn't happen. If your emotional experiences, needs, and inner world were consistently dismissed, minimized, or ignored growing up, you likely experienced emotional neglect. Signs include difficulty identifying or expressing emotions, feeling disconnected from your body, struggling with self-worth, having fragmented parts of yourself, and difficulty trusting or connecting with others. If this resonates, therapy can help you validate your experience and begin healing.
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The structural dissociation model explains how trauma, particularly chronic trauma like emotional neglect, causes the personality to fragment into different parts. Apparently Normal Parts (ANPs) help you function in daily life—go to work, manage responsibilities, appear "fine." Emotional Parts (EPs) hold the traumatic experiences, unmet needs, and overwhelming emotions that weren't safe to feel. In therapy, we work with these parts to help them communicate, feel safe, and eventually integrate, so you can feel whole rather than fragmented.
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The length of therapy varies based on your goals, the complexity of your trauma, and your unique healing process.
Complex trauma work is a process that unfolds over time, there's no rushing healing. Some clients work with me for several months, others for a year or longer. Some clients experience significant shifts within a few months, while others benefit from longer-term support as they work through multiple layers of trauma and develop new patterns.
Because somatic and parts work can facilitate deep healing relatively quickly, many clients find they make more progress in less time compared to traditional talk therapy alone.
We'll regularly check in about your progress and goals, and you'll always have agency in determining what feels right for you.
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I'm honored that you're considering working together and I'd love to support you on your healing journey! The first step is to schedule a consultation so we can connect and determine if we're a good fit. The therapeutic relationship is crucial for healing, so it's important that you feel comfortable and safe with me.
If we decide to work together, we'll start by building a foundation of safety and stability before moving into deeper trauma processing. Your nervous system's capacity and your sense of safety will always guide our pace.
If either of us feels we're not the right match, I'll gladly provide referrals to help you find the support you need.
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While talk therapy focuses primarily on thoughts and understanding, somatic therapy works directly with the body and nervous system. Trauma lives in the body, in tension patterns, sensations, and nervous system responses. Somatic approaches like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy help you release trauma at this physical level, which often leads to deeper and more lasting change than talking alone. You don't need to have all the words or even remember everything that happened. Your body holds the wisdom and the path to healing.
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Parts work recognizes that we all have different aspects of ourselves: some that protect us, some that hold pain, some that seek connection. When you experience trauma, especially in childhood, parts of you develop to help you survive. These parts might show up as the voice that tells you to shut down, the impulse to people-please, or the feeling of being stuck between conflicting desires. In therapy, we'll get to know these parts with curiosity and compassion. Instead of trying to get rid of them, we'll help them feel safe enough to relax their protective roles. This leads to greater internal harmony and the ability to respond to life from your authentic self rather than from survival patterns.
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Sessions will vary based on your needs, but you can expect a blend of conversation and mindful attention to your body's experience. I might invite you to notice sensations, movements, or impulses that arise as we talk. We might work with gentle movements, breathing, or grounding exercises to help your nervous system find safety and regulation. Everything we do will be at your pace and within your comfort level. You're always in control, and we'll work collaboratively to find what feels helpful for you. Some sessions might feel more cognitive, others more embodied, we'll follow what you need in each moment.