Barossa Strong

Originally from Toronto, Canada, I am a certified psychotherapist who has relocated my private practice from Hong Kong to Tanunda in the Heart of the Barossa Valley. As a Barossan newcomer, it is not lost on me that this is a small community and with that comes reluctance to opening up to someone who is likely to know people you know in your life. I have the benefit of coming to the region from Hong Kong with a blank slate and have the ability to completely separate what goes on at Barossa Strong to the outside community. 100% confidentiality is always maintained and no judgements are ever made. This is a completely safe environment.

Barossa Strong explores how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour impact your overall well-being, then looks to hold these experiences in a different light to encourage a more enjoyable life experience. We include mindful practices to help people increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. We also heavily highlight the role of values to provide direction and action to help people create meaningful lives. ​ Barossa Strong offers people a way to develop a new relationship with pain and suffering relating to depression. A main assumption of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is that pain is a normal and unavoidable part of being human, and that it is perfectly healthy to have whatever emotions arise in the presence of painful experiences. However, people’s understandable desire to control or avoid their own thoughts and feelings can actually lead to much long-term and unnecessary suffering. For example, a person may develop short-term means for coping with their emotions – such as social withdrawal, substance use, or overeating – that actually end up causing even more suffering in the long term.