Birth Medicine

18/02/2025

Due to sharing uncensored images of birth, this account has been hit with limitations and restrictions that I have battled Facebook over for almost a year.

As a result I've had no reach for months. I can't advertise. They won't even let me change the account name to reflect my new business name.

As my audience is primarily on Instagram anyway, I have decided to let it go and close this page. I will launch a new account here under my new name when the time feels right.

As well as being busy with homeschooling and pursing a Masters of Perinatal and Infant Mental Health, I'm continuing to work part time via telehealth providing perinatal counselling, postpartum nutrition and wellbeing consults, and birth mentoring for couples.

If you're looking to connect, you'll find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wildmyrtle.perinataltherapies/

It's not goodbye, but see you later. 💖

31/01/2025

I've been offered a seat at the table with the QLD ThinkNatal Birth Related Trauma Interagency. Within this space I will continue advocating for improved perinatal education and mental health care and hope to contribute not only to conversations but action in creating real and positive change. Please connect if you have any contributions you would like me to present on your behalf.

11/01/2025

When people ask me what I do for work, and I tell them I’m a doula-turned-integrative perinatal counsellor, it’s as though the floodgates open. Immediately they’ll share their birth stories, both mothers and partners alike, and more often than not, they’re stories of trauma.

The one thing they all have in common, is they recall in great detail how the people in the room made them feel.
Even women who birthed 40+ years ago.

There’s often a flood of very visceral memories followed by a cathartic sigh at the end, or an apology for over sharing. I’m always humbled and grateful they feel safe to share their stories with me, and offer reassurance there’s no need for apologies. Yes, even if we are at a party or the supermarket checkout - both of which have happened more than a few times.

As a journalist I became accustomed to people opening up and sharing personal stories with me. It was my job to listen, but personally it was always such a privilege and an honour.

As my life’s journey led me to nutrition, birthwork and now perinatal mental health, a part of me feared letting go of the storytelling of my former career. But I’ve realised it is still very much with me, and perhaps even set the foundations for the work I do today.

It has also reaffirmed for me how important it is for all parents to have safe spaces to share their birth stories - and how powerful and healing simply listening can be.

I’ll be forever grateful to my own doula Shelly Langford for holding that same space for me and my husband as we journeyed together through pregnancy and our homebirth, which somehow already feels like another lifetime ago. Yet my memories of feeling held, respected and safe will always remain as clear as day.

11/01/2025

I meet a lot of mothers who feel called to birth at home, but ultimately birth at hospital because:

- it’s their first baby
- their partner is fearful of homebirth
- it’s free
- the ‘noise’ of people telling them not to homebirth
- or all of the above

But if the whispers to birth at home call to you, I believe there’s a reason for that calling.

There are many reasons for choosing to birth at home, and most often, it’s our life’s path and stories that lead us there.

My mother’s traumatic hospital births and my history as a domestic violence survivor undoubtedly contributed to my choice to homebirth, but in the year leading up to my pregnancy, my husband and I experienced a series of life altering events that landed us in hospital four times in 12 months and strongly influenced his support and desire for a homebirth too.

First was a miscarriage and heartless, cold and dismissive attitudes by staff in hospital while I lay bleeding.

Next was my husband’s hospitalisation and recovery after surgery, where I was treated so rudely by nurses I left the hospital in tears and cried all the way home.

Soon after, we were in a car crash and plunged off a mountain range. Because I refused pain medication (wanting to be aware of areas of pain), staff assumed I wasn’t severely injured, didn’t run any imaging and discharged me. The next morning we had to call 000 for a missed internal bleed and I accepted high doses of pain medication purely to have my condition taken seriously.

Finally, a few months later, after a very stressful first half of the year, I collapsed with pain from a burst ovarian cyst. A GP told me I had PCOS and between that and coeliac disease I would need IVF to have a family and that my time was running out.

Of course I dismissed that opinion, started a herbal and nutrient regime to nurture myself back to health, and six months later, fell pregnant naturally as soon as we felt ready to call in our baby. There was never any question, we both immediately knew our story had led us to birth at home.

So I always encourage mothers, and partners too, to dial down the noise, listen to your own stories, and follow the path they reveal to you.

02/01/2025

Hello, 2025 🌟 As we step into a new year, I’m taking a moment to reflect on my journey and to reconnect with all of you.

For those of you who are new here – I’m Michelle, a perinatal counsellor, nutritionist and educator.

My pathway into this work followed my own lived experiences with homebirth and motherhood, living with coeliac disease and autoimmune conditions, being a survivor of domestic violence, and growing up as a child of a mum with birth trauma and postpartum depression.

I may wear many hats but ultimately my vision is to help families enjoy a happier, healthier and empowering transition through pregnancy, postpartum and parenting, with a holistic, compassionate and trauma-informed approach 🌿

2024 was filled with so many unexpected twists and turns, (including moving house 3 times in 12 months) along with rewarding and pivotal moments. As I also embarked on the journey of homeschooling my son, I made the difficult decision to step away from attending births and offering in home postpartum doula support to instead pursue further studies in perinatal and infant mental health, formalising my qualifications as a perinatal counsellor.

This has allowed me to provide comprehensive health and wellbeing support for mind and body in pregnancy and postpartum, weaving together nutrition, herbal medicine, counselling, birth education and private mentoring.

I’m excited to continue this journey together, helping you feel nourished and supported every step of the way. Whether you’re trying to conceive, preparing for birth or navigating postpartum, I’m here to walk alongside and support you. 💕

I have availability for private consults by Zoom, and enrolments are open now for the self paced Postpartum Nutrition and Wellbeing Program. I will also be running a few group classes for birth preparation in Cairns and the Tablelands throughout the year, and launching online group programs and self paced courses for perinatal wellbeing in the second half of 2025.

Tell me: What are your visions for this new year, especially in your journey to parenthood? I’d love to hear from you in the comments ❤️

02/11/2024

Little ones will always be welcomed in my space.

While it can be easier to open up, share and focus our attention inward when we’re not actively parenting, I also know it can be impossible to get time alone. Especially if you’re breastfeeding.

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of negative attitude towards children and babies in consultations of a wide range of modalities. But often the alternative is mothers just won’t be able to go to the appointment, whether it’s for a hair cut, a facial or mental health support. I know because I went five years without visiting a hairdresser!

When we exclude parents from accessing services of any kind, we are contributing to the mental load and anguish of early parenting, and reinforcing feelings of isolation and the overwhelm of going it alone.

As a village we have a responsibility to hold space for the family. The transition from maiden to mother will be a gentler one when mothers feel seen, heard and held with loving and understanding arms.

20/10/2024

When I reached out for help in postpartum, I was told to be grateful and stop complaining.

I had left behind my life in the tropics and moved to Melbourne to be closer to family, only to arrive the day two years of lockdowns began.

I not only had to navigate postpartum and the first years of motherhood in isolation, but I was supporting other parents through it too, providing birth education, advocacy and doula support online. Usually with a baby on my breast.

Pouring from an empty cup.

Unable to leave our home, perinatal care and bodywork services closed, and my support networks another world away in Cairns, I slipped into a trauma state of autopilot numbness. Everything I had planned and envisioned for postpartum and those early years of parenting was lost.

I lost my passion for cooking and eating well and survived on Uber Eats. I stopped exercising because we were only allowed outside one hour a day and couldn’t even stop to sit in a park. I survived on little to no sleep and went days without showering. Pregnancy had wreaked havoc on my dental health but every dentist appointment I made was cancelled. And like many through those years in lockdown, I turned to alcohol to get through the long cold days alone at home.

But of course, I wasn’t alone. These feelings and isolation are all too common in postpartum. And I believe my hardships have made me a better perinatal counsellor and nutritionist, because I have walked through the flames too.

As a writer, I have always processed my emotions and thoughts with the written word. And on one particularly difficult day I wrote a post -ultimately a cry for help- which was met with a barrage of criticism; that lockdown wasn’t that bad, that I should be grateful I have a healthy baby, that I shouldn’t be so negative.

I’m just glad it was me on the receiving end of those words, and not someone with even less capacity.

But it has fuelled my mission to ensure every mother is met with compassion, empathy and support when she needs it most. Because asking for help can be the hardest part of motherhood.

Books reopening soon for perinatal counselling and nutriton consults online, and in Malanda and Yorkeys K**b, FNQ. 💜

16/10/2024

10/10/2024

This cake tin was a permanent fixture in my grandmother’s kitchen.

Every visit to Nan’s place began with raiding the fridge and cabinets in search of her latest batch of baking.

The yellow topped container with yellow and white flowers was always placed on the table and from it, Nan would serve helpings of her famous chocolate cake, or Anzac biscuits depending on the time of year, and fuss over making cups of coffee and tea.

At the time, my focus was on the cake and biscuits.

But looking back, I see the act of nurturing, the art of conversation, the gathering of loved ones and sometimes complete strangers - around a table filled with food, made with love.

Casual, kind and compassionate hospitality in a humble war cottage kitchen with burnt orange cabinets. Where everyone was welcome, without judgement or expectation.

The very essence of care I always strive to bring to my work.

I remember how safe, familiar and comfortable that felt as a child. And I realise now how healing it must have been for any tired, stressed adult who was lucky enough to sit at my nan’s table. Including my own mother, who spent much of my childhood battling postnatal depression.

And I wonder if my nan knew her baking and her always open kitchen weren’t just providing food - but medicine for the soul.

When the name for my expanding perinatal counselling and nutrition practice came to me, Wild Myrtle, it was in honour of my grandma Betty Myrtle, and the Myrtle plant’s symbolism of fertility and love, and its energetic spirit of giving support to the unsupported.

And when it came time for a new logo, I had a vision of a yellow and white flower. But I couldn’t work out why or what I wanted it to look like.

I was sitting at my table, staring at the cabinet when I noticed my late Nan’s cake tin. And suddenly the vision was clear.

Wild Myrtle Integrative Perinatal Therapies officially launches November 13, online and in FNQ, on the anniversary of what would be my grandma’s 99th birthday.

My vision is to bring the warmth and comfort of my Nan’s kitchen to the lives of the mothers and parents I support.

04/10/2024

You might have noticed the name change. (As soon as the book of face overlords allow it)

Slowly slowly, all the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place.

My lived experience with trauma and anxiety, growing up with a mum medicated for postpartum depression, and my interest in mental health led to an opportunity to complete a second degree, this time in counselling. And to begin my journey to a Masters in Perinatal and Mental Health.

To me it’s not a new direction, it’s simply building upon what I already do.

But my approach is a little different to others.

As a nutritionist, birthworker, mother, trauma survivor and as someone living with autoimmune disorders, I believe in a food first approach to supporting physical and mental wellbeing.

Optimising nutrition and gut health is what helped me overcome anxiety and agoraphobia so severe I once couldn’t open the door to the mailman.

Now I’m making it my mission to see nutritional repletion integrated as a core component of Australia’s Perinatal Mental Health Care clinical guidelines.

Not an easy feat when our national dietary guidelines contradict traditional and proven nutritional approaches for optimal health in pregnancy and postpartum.

But I’m not afraid of hard work.

It is widely accepted that the gut and brain are connected.

But the standard western approach to completely overlooks the significant role of nutritional status and microbiome on cognitive function, mood, emotions, and mental wellbeing.

I know my approach will ruffle feathers - and that’s okay.

My vision is for parents to thrive in pregnancy and postpartum, feeling nourished, confident and empowered. For children to grow up feeling nurtured and safe, with healthy parents whose nervous systems are regulated and functioning without vices and pharmaceutical dependence. And for doulas, midwives, complimentary and allied health practitioners and primary care practitioners, to know how to support the physical and mental wellbeing of families with food.

And I will do everything I can to help make that happen.

My new website will be live soon with bookings for telehealth consults and online programs Australia wide and in person consults in FNQ.

My home based practice and studio space in Atherton will open on November 13 - on what would be the 99th birthday of my late nan, Betty Myrtle.

25/09/2024

What if we shift our focus from fear based thinking and numbing pain to instead embracing pleasure and claiming our power in birth?

Where we lean into the powerful and transformative rite of passage that is birth and tap into the innate wisdom, primal instinct and deep intuition of our bodies.

Where we can confidently communicate our needs and desires and make informed decisions to birth on our terms, regardless of the pathways birth may take us.

Over the past eight years I have trained and worked with some of the world’s leading birth professionals, garnering tools and insights from around the world and observing what works in birth - and what doesn’t.

I‘ve witnessed raw, powerful, transformative and ecstatic births using just the power of the mind and body, and births sabotaged by the distraction of over complicated methods and the failure of both natural and pharmacological pain relief, leading to loss of confidence, coercion and unwanted interventions.

When we put pain aside and instead focus our attention on enhancing and embracing pleasure, we completely reframe our thinking - and experience - of birth.

And I’ve found this approach to be effective in postpartum too. While we can’t remove the challenges or pain points of the intensity of life as a new parent, we can benefit from consciously prioritising pleasure, even in the smallest of ways.

But getting to this point takes confidence - often parents want a higher level of “knowledge” before they can relax into this “knowing”.

Understanding your options and knowing how to confidently self advocate, communicate and make informed decisions about your pregnancy and birth, creates space and capacity to surrender, trust and open to pleasure.

Which is why I’ve combined the guiding principles and teachings of with the pleasure practices and philosophies of in my new half-day workshop, Transform Fear and Pain to Power and Pleasure.

The next workshop is in beautiful Mission Beach on the afternoon of Sunday October 27, so you can enjoy a leisurely morning at the markets.

Comment PLEASURE down there 👇 for all the details