Dr Zoe

Clinical Consultant | Researcher | Speaker
Science-backed tools for messy modern life 🧠

I’m Dr Zoe, a Clinical Social Worker and consultant passionate about wellbeing, trauma-informed care, and resilience. With over a decade of global experience, I support individuals, teams, and organisations in creating healthier, more sustainable ways of living and working.

03/02/2026

Do you know your character strengths?

Not your job skills. Not your coping skills. Your character strengths are the traits you tend to draw on when you are at your best. Things like curiosity, kindness, bravery, perspective, humour, perseverance.

One of my favourite free tools for this is the VIA Character Strengths survey. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes and you get a personalised strengths profile at the end.

Link: https://www.viacharacter.org/

Why it is worth doing:

It gives you language for what is already working in you, which can be surprisingly grounding

It can help with decision making and goal setting, so you can lean into strengths instead of forcing a strategy that does not fit

It is a useful reset if you have been stuck in problem-fixing mode and forgot you are a whole person, not a project

If you do it, tell me what came up in your top five. Any surprises?

Image credit: Cosmin Ursea

31/01/2026

If your feed feels cheap, repetitive, and mildly haunted, that’s not you being dramatic. That’s your attention system doing unpaid overtime.

High-quality content gives your brain nutrients: story, meaning, actual thought. AI slop is like eating a family-size bag of chips for dinner. Loud. Crunchy. Zero protein.

So if you feel scattered, overstimulated, and weirdly flat after a scroll… congrats, you’ve been marinating in low-signal nonsense.

Do a 10-minute content detox:
• Mute 3 accounts that leave you feeling confused, numb, or annoyed
• Follow 3 that teach you something or genuinely make you laugh

You can’t control the algorithm, but you can stop letting it serve your brain microwave sadness.

24/01/2026

Your emotions are not just “in your head”. They have a body signature.

Ever noticed:

- a tight band around your head when you’re angry
- butterflies (or an upset stomach) when you’re nervous
- a racing heart when you’re excited or scared
- faster breathing when you’re stressed

That’s the brain–body connection doing its thing. Harvard points out four common “hot spots” where emotions often show up: head, gut, heart, and airways. And it’s not one-size-fits-all, your pattern might look different from someone else’s.

A simple practice (from Harvard University) when you notice a body signal:

Name it.
What am I feeling, and where do I feel it? (eg “tight chest, maybe anxiety”)

Accept it.
Not “I should be over this”, more “okay, this is here”. Emotions are allowed.

Choose how to respond.
Sometimes you just notice it and let it pass. Other times it’s information: you might need a short break, a reset breath, or a conversation using an “I felt…” statement.

Tiny takeaway: if you can read the body cue, you get a few extra seconds to choose your next move.

21/01/2026

Don’t auto-scroll.
Let your mind wander.

Those little boring moments are not wasted. When we are not focused on a task, the brain’s default mode network is more active, supporting reflection, memory, and future planning.

There’s also evidence that mind wandering during a simple, low-demand activity can help creative problem solving (the “incubation” effect).

Micro-practice for today:
Next time you feel the reflex to scroll, pause for 30 seconds instead. Look around. Let your mind drift. See what shows up.

15/01/2026

Pets aren’t just “nice to have” – they can be powerful for our nervous system.

Time with animals has been linked to lower cortisol, better mood, more movement and even longer life in some studies, especially for people who regularly walk their dogs.

They get us outside. They get us off our phones. They remind us to play.

And they meet us with the kind of non-judgemental presence we all need more of.

Do you have an animal in your life that’s helped your mental health? Tell me about them in the comments 🐾

13/01/2026

2025 media articles in review 📚✨

Last year I had the privilege of writing and being interviewed across a few outlets (in both English and French) on the stuff that actually shows up in real life, not just on a wellness poster.

If there’s one takeaway from my 2025 media pieces, it’s this: wellbeing is rarely about motivation. It’s about safety cues, connection, and small repeatable actions that your brain can actually keep.

If you want the links, comment “links” and I’ll pop them in the comments.

Thank you for reading, sharing, and sending kind messages along the way. More practical, science-backed mental health content coming in 2026. 🤍

04/01/2026

Hot take: “self-care” doesn’t need a 47-step morning routine. 😅

Try the simple stuff that actually works: sleep, food, movement. ⚡️

That’s the real upgrade.

31/12/2025

If you want your New Year’s resolutions to still be alive in February, start with a different next step. ✨

Not a monumental overhaul. A small, repeatable habit you can stack onto a routine you already have.

Less pressure, more follow-through.
What’s one tiny habit you’re stacking this year? 🥂✨

22/12/2025

Some days “How are you feeling?” is a simple question.

Other days it is a whole internal committee meeting.

“I have complicated feelings about how I’m feeling” is actually a very normal nervous system moment:

- You might feel tired and wired at the same time
- Grateful and resentful
- Calm on the outside, tense on the inside
- Okay-ish, but also not okay

If that is you today, nothing needs fixing in this exact moment. Start with naming just one piece:

“I feel overwhelmed.”

“I feel flat.”

“I feel on edge.”

“I feel mixed.”

That tiny bit of clarity helps your brain move from swirl to sense-making.

If you want a gentle next step, try this:
Hand on chest, one slow breath out, and ask: “What is the strongest feeling in the room right now?”

You do not have to translate the whole puzzle at once.

Pic Credit: Worry Lines

14/12/2025

Lonely over the festive season? You are not the only one.

When routines change and people are away, the brain can read silence as “something’s wrong”. A small plan helps.

Pick one:
• message one person
• go to one local event for 30 minutes
• join a walk or coffee meetup

Find international and expat events in big cities worldwide:

Expat.com Events: https://www.expat.com/en/events/
InterNations: https://www.internations.org/

Address

Cairns, QLD

Website

https://www.drzoewyatt.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Zoe posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Cairns?

Facilitating Wellbeing

For several decades’ the field of psychology has mainly focused its energy in alleviating problems, healing and fixing harm in different spheres of life. However, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we are seeing a rise of the positive psychology movement, that aims to diminish suffering and increase flourishing, happiness, well-being and meaning. This innovative new field, aims at increasing positive emotions, attitudes and behaviors which aims to increase optimal functioning and diminishing ill-being.

Five simple steps you can take in your life today to facilitate your own wellbeing:

1. Connect: Build connections with people around you.

2. Be active: Boost your energy and mood by doing something active.