Integrative Counselling
You’re not alone. And you’re not broken.
Do you find yourself...
Struggling to switch your mind off?
Replaying thoughts, events, moments in the past, even when you don’t want to?
Getting irrationally angry at things you know in your head aren’t a big deal, but they feel like it anyway?
Feeling overwhelmed?
Struggling to be ‘in the moment’?
Needing to use something like tv or social media to switch off?
Feeling numb?
Feeling like you’re here but not really here?
Going through the motions?
Feeling disconnected from the people and places around you?
Feeling tired all the time?
Struggling to enjoy things you used to?
You’re not alone. And you’re not broken.
These can be symptoms of trauma, of a nervous system that has become stuck in a pattern of alert and danger signals, even if the true threat has passed.
This happens when our body didn’t have enough time, space or resources to process a stressful event in the moment. This might be because it all happened too fast, it was over too soon, it was too big, went on for too long, or we had learned to override our natural trauma-resolution processes from past events. This meant our body was unable to do what it naturally knows to do, and instead held the impulses within the body, where they continue to tell us this threat is still here well after it has actually passed.
Because our bodies have incredible capacity to just keep on, many of us manage to tuck these traumas away. We might even forget on a conscious level that they exist.
But our body remembers.
And while we keep on keeping on, the effort required to continue business as usual is that much bigger, because of the constant messages telling us that the event has not finished, which on a nervous system level means we’re still in danger.
This extra effort to keep us in balance while managing unresolved trauma eventually takes a toll on our hearts, bodies and minds. As a result, we begin to experience symptoms of a system under threat or worn down, such as racing thoughts, inability to stay calm, difficulty finding vitality, lack of energy, too much nervous energy, low mood, anxious mood, feeling disconnected disrupted sleep patterns, ongoing muscle pains, gut disturbances, skin conditions, and more.
Something’s got to give.
The good news is that it's possible to resolve these patterns of stress, overwhelm and trauma. Healing is possible.
When we are able to let the body complete the defensive responses that arose way back when the event happened, finish its orienting processes, letting the activation ‘discharge’, and come back to a settled, regulated state, then we no longer need to keep replaying the event consciously or unconsciously. Our body is no longer signalling that that particular threat is still present; it has been put back in the past, where it belongs. It has been integrated into your story.
It can be a slow process.
When working from a somatic perspective, going slow is so important. The aim of therapy is to resolve, not just stir up traumas and then leave you to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, if we work with mostly ‘story’ or narrative, we can accidentally end up going too far for your body in that moment, and cause harmful distress or even re-traumatisation.
To borrow a metaphor from Peter Levine, if we imagine your nervous system is a glass, jam-packed with marbles which each represent your past traumas. If we try to pick one out, we’ll displace a bunch of marbles, and maybe even crack the glass, causing a nervous system blow-up. Instead, if we make the glass bigger, we have plenty of room to begin taking the marbles out, or begin healing the traumas.
This is why we focus on building your capacity first, on learning to track your nervous system, understand the conversation it’s already having with you, and then slowly begin addressing small pieces and work our way up.
It's a gentle but powerful, collaborative process that reconnects you to your vital force, expands your capacity for resilience, and brings you home to your body.
Sessions can be done online or in person, and are tailored to you and your unique needs.
Clients come to Anna for help with:
Managing stress
Recovering from trauma
Managing unhelpful behaviours
Feeling stuck
Preparing for birth
Recovering from traumatic birth
Being more present
Being able to regulate their feelings
Feminine embodiment
Being able to ‘feel’ their bodies
Connecting with themselves
Connecting with their loved ones
Building more resilience
Experiencing more pleasure and joy
Available Times
In-person or via telehealth (video call):
Thursdays 3:15pm to 9pm
Fridays 8:45am to 2pm
Anna is available for counselling as well as birth-related preparation or processing appointments.
Fees
Initial Consultation - 1 hr 20 mins - $375
Return Consultation - 50 mins - $250
Please contact reception on 02 62950400 or info@livewellnaturally.com.au for further information, or book online here. For new client bookings and long appointments, if you have trouble finding a suitable time in our online booking system please contact us and we will book you in for the next available appointment that suits you and add you to her wait list. On occasion, Anna pauses new client bookings in order to leave space for her current return clients, however she opens them again as soon as she can once her current clients’ needs have been met.
* Please note - unfortunately consultations are not able to be claimed for health fund rebates or Medicare.
Anna is an award-winning speaker, educator, researcher, therapist and mentor who helps women and families to heal their trauma and expand their resilience through reconnecting with the body.
She has certifications and qualifications in psychology (University of Adelaide), counselling (University of Tasmania), developmental trauma (Transforming the Experience-Based Brain), shock trauma (Somatic Experiencing), general trauma (Somatic Touch), meditation (Transformation Meditation), health science (University of Adelaide), clinical education (Flinders University), international health (InterMed), and birth (Childbirth International).
Meet Our Integrative Counsellor
Anna Siebert
Anna Siebert is an award-winning speaker, educator, researcher, therapist, doula and mentor who helps women and families to heal their trauma and expand their resilience through reconnecting with the body.
She specialises in healing stress and trauma, including general trauma, birth trauma, developmental trauma, and trauma related to the female body.
Her approach is gentle and deeply transformative, supporting you to find the healing and vitality that already exist within you. This supports your body, heart, mind and spirit to navigate their own course of healing in a grounded, experiential and tangible way.
Her science-meets-intuition method enables people to get out of the stress loop that leads to burnout so that they can have more energy, more time, and experience greater wellbeing.
She blends her many modalities including traditional counselling, Somatic Experiencing, Transforming the Experience-Based Brain, Touch Skills for Therapists, Transformation Meditation, shamanic dimensions, to suit the needs of each individual.