http://www.thestillspace.com.au/

The Still Space, 12/1008 Old Princes Highway, Engadine (2025)

08/09/2025

Through my work with children, especially in the tender space of grief counselling, I’ve come to see that there are a few simple yet meaningful ways we can gently support them when they’re facing death, grief, and loss 💛

✨ Be honest and developmentally appropriate. Children deserve the truth, shared in a way they can understand. Honest conversations help build trust and safety.

✨ Reassure them it’s not their fault. Children are naturally egocentric and may believe they somehow caused the loss. It’s important to remind them, again and again, that there was nothing they could’ve done to change the outcome.

✨ Model authentic emotions. If they see you cry, or experience a range of emotions, it gives them permission to feel and express their own. If they see you putting on a brave face they may feel their tears or sadness are wrong.

✨ Offer creative outlets. Children don’t always have the words for their grief. Art, play, and movement give them safe ways to express what they’re feeling. Instead of interpreting, ask them what their creation means to them.

✨ Create continuing bonds. Memory boxes, photo books, planting a tree or flower in honour of a loved one, these rituals can help children stay connected and hold their memories close.

I hope these reminders support you in guiding the little ones in your life through such tender experiences.

Love,
Sammy 💕

05/09/2025

Beautiful endings and new beginnings. ✨️

This week, I had the privilege of saying goodbye to a client I’ve been walking alongside for the past few months.

When she first came to me, she was in the depths of grief, without realising that what she was carrying was also the significant trauma of her childhood. Together, we unpacked her story. We explored the bracing in her body, the overwhelm, the anxious thoughts, the self-sacrificing, the endless “doing” and keeping busy, all the ways she had learned to control her internal experience.

And when we said goodbye, it wasn’t just an ending, it was a celebration. A celebration of her strength, her bravery, and the courage it takes to do the most meaningful, tender work. She told me that her whole perspective on life has shifted, that she feels like a new person, that she now sees the world through different eyes.

That doesn’t mean the past is erased or the trauma is “okay.” It means she now carries hope of peace. And that hope is everything.

As we shared our last session, I held onto that feeling of joy, peace, and contentment with her, the beginning of a new chapter.

And it felt so right that she was my last client in my current space. On Monday, I get to welcome clients into the next chapter for The Still Space.

What will stay with me are her words that I hope land on your heart too. She said that she was so glad she reached out for help.

So, if you’re reading this and there’s a part of you that wants to ask for help, maybe you feel unsure, unsteady, or overwhelmed I want you to know this, on the other side of that first step is a whole world of possibilities. And it would be my greatest honour to show you what that world could look like.

Love,
Sammy 🤍

04/09/2025

I’ve worked with many clients experiencing anxiety, and there are a few common threads I often see 👇

✨ The pressure to be perfect, because anxiety tells us that if we can just hold it all together, if we can just be flawless, then maybe we can avoid the uncertainty it creates.

✨ The pattern of putting everyone else first and sacrificing our own needs, because anxiety convinces us that if those around us are “happy,” then we’ll be “okay” too.

✨ The deep inner belief of being fundamentally broken, because “anxiety doesn’t happen to people who have it all together.”

It all feels so real, doesn’t it? But here’s the truth 👇

Anxiety is a message from your body that a need is not being met. And trying to control the world outside of you or striving endlessly for perfection only gives a false sense of certainty.

That unmet need might be…

🌱 Psychological, physical, or emotional safety.
🌱 Needing more spaciousness in your day, time alone, rest, softness.
🌱 Honest acknowledgement of emotions under the surface, anger, sadness, grief, overwhelm.

Even though anxiety can feel overwhelming, messy, and out of control it’s not “bad.” It’s not your body failing you. It’s your body doing what it was designed to do, sending a signal that something matters, that you matter.

Having needs doesn’t make you flawed, it makes you human.

In my work with clients, I help them rediscover safety, aliveness, and joy in both body and mind. Because anxiety is one part of you, but it is not all of you. Beyond it, there is so much more to who you truly are.

Love,
Sammy 💕

03/09/2025

4 September. That day! 🥹 I can hardly believe it’s been six years since my dad died so unexpectedly.

Grief is strange like that. It feels as though time has both flown by and stood still all at once. Life keeps moving forward around you, yet you find yourself pulled back into memories, reliving moments with your loved one, as if no time has passed at all.

I often say my dad’s death was both the hardest and most defining moment of my life. Losing him changed me in ways I could never have imagined. It cracked my world wide open, forced me to face the fragility of life, and pushed me to follow my dreams. In fact, it's why The Still Space exists. And yet, losing a parent reshapes you. You have to rediscover who you are without them physically here while still carrying that deep emotional connection forever. It's hard, it's messy, it's the nature of grief.

So, to Dad, 6 years without you and I still miss you. I play the Eagles every now and then and think of you. I sometimes still hold the shirt you wore to my engagement party, I love this is something of yours I got to keep. I sit by the plant I planted for you and the plaque that has your name engraved on it. And I remember you. I remember us. We weren't perfect. But in the end we found a love that was ours. That is what I now hold onto.

Sammy 💕✨️

01/09/2025

Not long now until I’ll be welcoming your little ones into the new play therapy room 💛

I had to buy a few extra things to get the space ready 🤣 and while it may look like just fun and games (which it also is!), play therapy is so much more than that.

Play therapy is a therapeutic approach that uses play as a child’s natural language.

Through toys, creative expression, and imagination, children are able to process feelings and experiences they don’t yet have words for.

For children navigating trauma, grief, or anxiety, play therapy offers:

✨️ A safe and supportive environment to express big feelings without pressure.

✨️ Gentle ways to work through fears, sadness, or loss at their own pace.

✨️ Tools to build emotional regulation, resilience, and self-confidence.

✨️ The chance to strengthen their sense of safety and connection in the world.

Children don’t always have the words to tell us what’s going on inside but through play, they can show us.

And in that showing, healing begins. 🌿

Love, Sammy 💕

27/08/2025

✨ Rebuilding Self-Trust After Trauma ✨

There’s something trauma often takes from us that no one really talks about 👇

Self-trust.

The trust to believe our body.
The trust to honour our truth.
The trust to know that what we feel is not because we are flawed, but because something happened to us.

When we lose self-trust, it can feel like:

▫️ being stuck in indecision
▫️ frozen in procrastination
▫️ doubting every choice we make
▫️ carrying the belief that we are somehow “wrong” or “broken”

So much of the work I do with my clients is about gently rebuilding this. Learning to trust themselves again. Reclaiming the possibility that hope is not only for others, but for them too.

Self-trust is not lost forever. It can be rebuilt, step by step, moment by moment. And with it comes freedom, confidence, and the possibility of a future that feels lighter and more your own.

Love, Sammy ❤️

24/08/2025

One of the things I love most about guiding meditation is the way it creates space. ✨️

A space where everything can be held.

The heaviness of anxiety.
The weight of worry.
The ache of grief.
The restlessness of stress.

And right there, alongside it, moments of release,
a sense of calm, the gift of simply being. It can hold so much and nothing at all. It is the limitless space where you get to be and do anything.

Meditation has been one of the practices that’s held me so deeply in my own healing and grief and I feel so privileged that I get to share it with others. 🙏

On Thursday 11 September at 7:00PM, I’m hosting a special guided meditation and reflection for mental wellbeing event, and I'd love to see you there. It falls on RU OK? Day, which feels like the perfect time to come together, to pause, and to be reminded that our mental wellbeing matters.

If you’d like to be part of this evening, you can book your spot via the link below.

https://www.thestillspace.com.au/book-now

Wishing you a week that feels gentle and full of what you need.

Love,
Sammy 🤍

22/08/2025

As practitioners we always hope that we can support a client to heal, grow and live their most fulfilling life. I certainly know this is my hope for all my clients. 🙏

So when I received this update email from a previous client this week, I was in tears.

Although I know in my heart it was her courage and bravery to do the hard, tender work that supported her healing, I couldn’t help but hold alongside that the deep privilege I felt at being invited into her journey.

During our final plenary at the Childhood Trauma Conference today, Dan Siegel said, “Don’t underestimate the power of one.”

It’s so easy in this work, especially in the trauma, grief and anxiety space, to feel like supporting one person in a sea of suffering is not enough. We want to help hundreds, thousands, more.

But this email reminded me that the power of one matters deeply. One person’s healing ripples outward into their family, friendships, workplace, and community. One life touched is never just one. 💕

So tonight I’m holding gratitude, for the courage of my clients, for the privilege of this work, and for the reminder that even the smallest ripples can change the tide.

May your weekend be all the things you need it to be.

Love,
Sammy 🤍

20/08/2025

One of my favourite quotes from Day Two of the Childhood Trauma Conference was this one from Ruth Lanius (she is incredible btw). ✨️

We explored the possibilities of recovery and repair for people who have experienced trauma. The powerful truth that we can once again live a life, not just exist in one.

For me, this landed deeply. I’ve walked away with even more knowledge and practical approaches to help my clients with trauma and grief become unstuck, to move from survival into truly feeling alive again. To reclaim their bodies. To rediscover safety in a world that once felt unsafe. And most importantly, to experience hope that life after trauma can be more than numbness or pushing through, it can be lived fully.

Today, I’m sitting in plenary and workshops with David Kessler, Dr Dan Siegel, and Deb Dana. WOW. What an incredible line-up, and what a privilege to keep learning from the very best in this field.

Wishing you a beautiful day. Love, Sammy xoxo 😘

18/08/2025

Day one of the Childhood Trauma Conference is complete, and already, my mind and heart are full. 💕

Today, we explored the difference between being trauma-informed and stepping into trauma-transformative practice. Trauma-informed says: we are aware, we understand.

Trauma-transformative asks: what do we do with that knowledge, how do we act on it, and how do we create true pathways of healing?

A big reflection for me was on the intersection of trauma and grief. Both experiences live in the body and reshape how we move through the world. Polyvagal Theory helps us understand this so clearly: our nervous system constantly scans for safety, but grief and trauma can leave us stuck in survival states, fight, flight, or shutdown.

To simply know this (trauma-informed) isn’t enough. To act on it (trauma-transformative) means creating spaces, relationships, and practices that not only recognise these survival states but actively support the nervous system back toward regulation, safety, and connection.

This shift, from awareness to action, is where the real change begins and I can't wait to deepen into this even more in my work with clients. I am so passionate about trauma and grief and today affirmed even more why I have trained for such a lengthy time to become a specialist in this space. It's where my lived experience and heart feels at home.

This was only day one. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week holds.

Let me know below what you think and feel about these insight and reflections? 👇

Love, Sammy xoxo ❤️

17/08/2025

I’ve arrived in Melbourne and I’m so looking forward to spending this next week at the Annual Childhood Trauma Conference.

A full week of deep insight, knowledge, and the latest research in how we understand and treat trauma.

Just a few of the incredible names here this year (and if you know, you know):

✨ Paul Gilbert
✨ Dr Dan Siegel
✨ David Kessler
✨ Anita Gibbs

And so many more in this field of work that is so close to my heart.

I can't wait to share some of the learnings with you all and bring the latest in trauma treatment and care to my clients.

Wishing you all a beautiful week ahead.

Love, Sammy xoxo ❤️

The Still Space

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