Michael Finn Health Services

29/07/2025

You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.

— Joseph Campbell

image | Leslie Boudreau

03/07/2025

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03/07/2025

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02/07/2025

02/07/2025

Many years in the counselling profession.Now a PACFA Clinical Counsellor.

PACFA exists to support its members and the community by regulating the training and practice of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Indigenous Healing Practices to the highest standards of safety, quality and professionalism. Earners of the Registered Clinical Counsellor credential meet PACFA's high tra...

02/07/2025

This roadside stand represents everything my grandson and I have built together from nothing.

Three years ago, Jakob was heading down a dark path.

At 19, he'd dropped out of school, was struggling with depression, and spending his days locked in his room playing video games.

His parents were at their wit's end, and honestly, so was I. But I remembered how working in my garden as a child had saved me during my own difficult times.

I asked Jakob to help me expand my little vegetable plot behind the house. "Just for the summer," I told him. "Fresh air might do you good." He grumbled, but he came outside.

Slowly, something changed. He started asking questions about soil, about when to plant, about why certain vegetables grew better together. By the end of that first season, he was the one waking me up early to check on the tomatoes!

Now look at us! We've turned our small hobby into this beautiful roadside business. Something that we are able to share together.

Jakob handles all the growing and harvesting while I manage the sales and our customers. Every single vegetable you see here was grown with love on our little family farm.

What makes this even more special is how we've connected with other farmers. We sell pickled vegetables during the off-season, and the community of gardeners and makers has become like family to us. They understand that this isn't just about making money - it's about growing something meaningful together.

When neighbors stop to chat and buy our vegetables, they're not just supporting our little business. They're supporting Jakob's journey back to himself, and the bond between a grandmother and grandson who found their way to each other through dirt and seeds.

Every "hello" really does mean the world to us. And this time that we have to build a foundation together is something that will help Jacob determine the quality of life that he can invest in over the years to come.

Growing together has taken on an entirely new meaning for our family. Every day counts to these plants who need us to help them grow. And as it turns out, when we love and nurture other life forms, they nurture us too.

23/06/2025

Some wonderfully encouraging news for anyone suffering from anxious depression.

This is a splendid example of modern and ancient medical approaches working together.

*Research has shown that acupuncture can enhance the effects of medication. Acupuncture may “serve as a beneficial adjunctive therapy when combined with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)”.

Positive outcomes included higher treatment response and remission rates, as well as greater improvements in depression and quality of life scores. Additionally, patients who received acupuncture alongside medication, experienced a faster onset of treatment effects and reported fewer side effects from the antidepressants.

(*https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38770535/)

21/06/2025

Women turning 40 begin the journey towards the “mountain of menopause”, via the unchartered foothills, known as ‘perimenopause’. In this territory, one can lose sight of their normality of life as it has been.

So many changes, of a physical, emotional, mental, social and relational nature, are afoot. These changes can be many and varied, and every woman will have their unique experience of this powerful transitional phase of life. It is such a challenging time and can involve suffering, much of it invisible to others around them.

The mind-body approach of talking therapy with acupuncture proves itself as a wonderful support base through this time. Those unmapped foothills can be more comfortable navigated with attention to physical wellbeing, hormonal balance, appropriate diet, exercise, relationship counsel, attention to best sleep patterns and addressing stress, depression and anxiety, all of which can accompany perimenopause.

This is a time when especially Yin energies can wane, as witnessed by the dryness that is present in many parts of the body. The yin essences and fluids need to be nourished. Acupuncture and herbal remedies are essential.

Perimenopause demands women adapt to change and it can be a time when they need to really put themselves first, after decades of habitual service and sacrifice. That is a huge shift in identity and personality. Altering old ways of being requires big doses of self-compassion and self-love.
I call this being able to be self-ish in the most positive sense of the word. This then becomes essential self care. It is a privilege to be able to help women expedite such personal development through the counselling process.

17/06/2025

Research is confirming the positive impacts of acupuncture in treating menstrual pain (aka ‘dysmenorrhoea’) and pre-menstrual tension.

Hormonal fluctuations of the monthly menstrual cycle can result in many ongoing, uncomfortable and stressful symptoms for women.

These can include, for example: mood shifts and changes, breast tenderness, depressed feelings, anxiety, insomnia, cravings, fluid retention, headaches, low energy, irritability, bowel changes, back pain, and just feeling dragged down and in low spirits.

The lead up to the period can be disturbing, given the presence of pre-menstrual tension. Then the period arrives, which is often a very painful, and uncomfortable time.

A woman can be experiencing all this, whilst still being expected to be functioning at their normal level of efficiency.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recognises the complex energetic underpinnings of the menstrual cycle.

These menstrual manifestations are looked at in the context of each woman’s lifestyle, age, emotional status, diet, personal history, relationship and family status, workload and occupation, and so on. In TCM, nothing exists in isolation and the whole person is always understood and treated.

I advise clients to invest in a short 6- 8 treatment course over three months, initially. This gives the body an opportunity to reset systems that are out of balance and allows time to address any other factors that may be involved in this hormonal disharmony.

04/04/2025

An important aspect of ageing is continuing to discover hitherto unknown or forgotten parts of ourselves. The counselling theory called ‘Social Constructionism’, tells us that we are socially constructed beings and constantly develop with exposure to others. There is no ultimate, immutable self. Our ‘self’ or personal identity is an ongoing, lifelong work-in-progress.

This is probably why some couples, especially if they got together very young, encounter trouble sustaining their relationship. As individuals they have been continuing to evolve and so their needs can change over time. The relationship needs to have an update, not unlike a computer’s operating system, to develop alongside this personal growth.

We may at times need to shed old personal narratives, redundant parts of our identity, much as a snake sheds a skin and emerges with a fresh set of scales, somewhat transformed.

The counselling space is a safe place to explore personal development: review, reflect and renew our sense of self.

If you would like to make a booking with Michael, please head to the link in bio or visit

11/06/2024

THE PRICE OF LOVE
I think it was Alfred Lord Tennyson who said ‘it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all’.

I personally agree but am aware that loving comes with an eventual price tag. The price of love, at some point along one’s lifespan, is ultimately loss. It won’t stop me loving, but I realise I need to be able to deal with loss when it inevitably visits.
Grieving isn’t a place we want to find ourselves and we are not familiar with the landscape when we are thrust there, often unexpectedly. Grief counselling can be a vital guide through this often challenging emotion.

Losses come in many different forms; each challenges us in different ways.

The most obvious loss is that of someone we hold dear, when their life ends.
This is a finite loss, as it is clear and absolute. It is accompanied by mourning rituals and ceremony, such as funerals and memorials, in which we grieve, usually with others, and our grief is recognised and validated. Sometimes, due to the nature of our prior relationship to the person we have lost, grief counselling might be necessary. Often, though, we get through with support from family and friends.

A loss can be traumatic, however, as in the wake of an untimely or violent death, a road accident, a murder, or a su***de. These can be extremely difficult to process and move through, and can lead a griever into long-term ‘complicated’ grief territory. In these situations, grief therapy is necessary.

Then there are other, less recognised losses.

They are called ambiguous losses because they are not easily seen or acknowledged by others, and they have no clear outcomes.

Examples are situations in which someone we hold dear is say, suffering from serious mental illness, depression, substance addiction, alzheimers disease, brain injuries, or maybe a stroke. They aren’t present in ways that are important to us. We have lost a sense of them and their usual ‘presence’.

Even the end of a long-term relationship can create this type of unfinished business inside of us, as the person who is gone, is now absent but still living in everyday life. This can make the grieving process difficult. People around us may not realise we are carrying lingering sadness and heartache, which can feel very isolating and feel unsupported. This can be heavy emotional luggage to carry forward.

Grief counselling can help us to refashion our life compass and rebuild our relational life, in the wake of loss. It can help us to lighten our emotional load, to heal a broken heart and build the fortitude necessary to stand up and take life on again, having found meaning in our loss, and gained resilience.

Sessions are available with Michael at Bardon Centre on Mondays, Wednesday mornings and Fridays.
You can book online:
https://www.michaelfinnhealthservices.com.au/make-an-appointment/

Call 07 3368 1300 to make an appointment.
Please note: A number of Private Health Funds now rebate Counselling.
Gift vouchers are also available if you know of someone who may be struggling and could benefit from some added support.

09/06/2024

The 'weekend warrior' idea, where you go harder and longer in your workouts, serves as an alternative for such people.