Hi there friend,
I'm Monica.
A registered nurse, somatic psychotherapist, and nervous system guide based in Orange, NSW — here to help you move out of survival mode and back home to yourself.
If you've found your way here, there's a good chance something in you is ready for a different kind of support. Not another strategy to manage yourself. Not another framework to understand yourself. But a way back to yourself — to the truth of who you are beneath the years of over-giving, over-adapting, and carrying too much.
That's what this work is about.
And it's what brought me here too.
25+
YEARS OF CLINICAL
KNOWLEDGE
RN
REGISTERED NURSE WITH A BACKGROUND IN BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE
Somatic Psychotherapist
CERTIFIED COMPASSIONATE INQUIRY PRACTITIONER AND POLYVAGAL TRAINED
Orange
NSW ONLINE, AUSTRALIA AND WORLDWIDE
A holistic, nervous system-informed psychotherapy practice
My years as a mental health nurse left me wanting to understand what sits beneath our symptoms—not simply how to manage them.
This led me to the work of Dr Gabor Maté and to becoming a certified practitioner of Compassionate Inquiry, the therapeutic approach he developed to gently uncover the beliefs, adaptations and unresolved experiences shaping our lives.
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My approach is also informed by Deb Dana’s work with the nervous system, alongside my background in Biomedical Science and more than 20 years in mental health.
Woven through this is intuition: the capacity to listen closely to what is spoken, what the body is communicating and what may be asking to emerge. Together, we create the conditions for meaningful, lasting change.
A MOTHER
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Becoming a mother is just that—a becoming.
When my daughter was born, I wanted to be calm, playful and present. What I didn’t yet know was that I was also navigating perimenopause and then-undiagnosed ADHD, making motherhood feel more overwhelming than I understood at the time.
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She became my deepest motivation for healing: to understand the unconscious beliefs and conditioned reactions I didn’t want to pass down to her. I have since learned that she doesn’t need me to be calm or perfect all the time. She needs me to be authentic, connected and present.
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Learning to see and respond to her more clearly has been one of the greatest gifts of my life, giving me a connection with her deeper than I thought possible. It is part of why I now share this work with other parents—for ourselves, our children and the generations that follow.
I've created a guide for those difficult moments when motherhood feels overwhelming - when you become reactive, withdraw, or simply don’t feel like yourself.
Download your copy below for something that will help you understand what may be happening beneath the surface and offers you somewhere gentle to begin.
Nothing is wrong with you. Something intelligent is happening within you.
The overwhelm, the reactivity, the self-doubt, the quiet exhaustion of holding everything together — these are not flaws to fix.
"There is no head noise at all. I can just make decisions. I just feel content. I feel all my emotions, but I’m ok with that. I am happy with the mother that I am, because I know she is going to be ok."
K.G. A MOTHER
LOVER OF
Outside the therapy room
· Foraging for mushrooms amongst the pine trees
· Dancing to 70's disco
· Long walks where the light comes through the trees
· Writing letters to you over at Substack
"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
Albert Einstein
Qualifications and Experience
With 25+ years’ experience in the mental health space as a Registered Mental Health Nurse and Therapist, I am committed to ongoing learning as well as my own personal expansion so that I may guide and empower others with the belief of what is possible.
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Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner - Gabor Maté
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Master of Mental Health Nursing
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BSc Mental Health Nursing
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BSc Biomedical Science
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Developer of STAR - a trauma-informed, recovery-oriented alternative to traditional aggression management for NSW Health.
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Solution Focussed Therapy​​
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Deb Dana — Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation (Rhythm of Regulation® Clinical Training Series)
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The Richards Trauma Process Practitioner
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Internal Family Systems introductory workshops 1&2 (Mind Beyond Institute)
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Trauma Informed Coaching Certificate
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Clinical Supervision Training​
My core values
At the core of everything I do is to empower, advocate and educate so that you are left with a better understanding of who you truly are, and recognise your value, importance, and crucial role to play in the world.
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I do this via my therapy practice as well as academic and education pathways, which are underpinned by a strong focus on Recovery-oriented, Trauma-informed, Culturally safe, and Compassionate care.
Publications
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Molloy, L., Wilson, V., O’Connor, M., Merrick, T.T., Guha, M., Eason, M. et al. (2024) Exploring safety culture within inpatient mental health units: The results from participant observation across three mental health services. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 00, 1–9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13312​
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Guha, M. D., Cutler, N. A., Heffernan, T., & Davis, M. (2022). Developing a Trauma-Informed and Recovery-Oriented Alternative to “Aggression Management” Training for a Metropolitan and Rural Mental Health Service. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 1–7.
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Molloy, L., Guha, M.D., Scott, M.P., Beckett, P., Merrick, T.T., & Patton, D (2021) Mental health nursing practice and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: an integrative review. Contemporary Nurse
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Molloy, L., Beckett, P., Chidarikire, S., Scott, M. P., Guha, M. D., Merrick, T. T., & Patton, D. (2021). ‘First tonight, the contentious new code telling nurses to say, “sorry for being white”: Mental health nurses’ beliefs about their Code of Conduct and cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.
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Molloy, L.., Beckett, P., Chidarikire, S., Merrick, T. T., Guha, M., & Patton, D. (2020). Culture, the stigma of mental illness, and young people. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 58(11), 15-18.