Rachael Brooks

Rachael holds a Bachelor of Counselling, and she draws from a range of therapeutic modalities to support integrative healing and embodied understanding. Her work is grounded in a trauma-informed model that prioritises safety, choice, collaboration, trust, and empowerment, recognising that healing unfolds within relationships that honour the nervous system and the client's pace.

Rachael holds a particular focus on trauma and its many expressions, including grief, dissociation, sexual and childhood trauma, domestic violence, power and control, the motherwound, and maternal mental health. She understands that these experiences often fracture our sense of safety, identity, and embodiment. These wounds are not only psychological; they live in the body, in the nervous system, in the places we learned to disconnect to survive.

She incorporates psychodynamic theory to explore unconscious patterns and relational dynamics; somatic awareness to attune to the body’s signals and responses; and the use of minifigures to externalise inner experience in symbolic, creative ways. Her practice is informed by polyvagal theory, acknowledging the role of the autonomic nervous system in shaping our capacity for connection, regulation, and resilience. Psychoeducation is woven throughout, offering clients knowledge and insight that fosters agency, clarity, and self-compassion.

Her work honours the body’s brilliance in adapting to threat, and gently invites reconnection, integration, and the possibility of returning to oneself with tenderness and strength. Rachael supports clients in navigating these thresholds with courage, clarity, and care. Her work is grounded in the understanding that healing begins in relationship, through trust, presence, and the slow unfolding of safety.

She honours the body’s brilliance in knowing how to endure.