Noa Therapeutic - Psychotherapy, Counselling and Coaching

08/03/2026

Happy Endometriosis Awareness Month 🌸

Here’s me 2016 - Surgery no. 5… for Endometriosis… Grade 4… it wasnt my last either.
Luckily today I live well and mostly pain free. But that wasnt always the case…

Every year this month I am reminded of how many women quietly carry pain in their bodies for years before anyone truly listens.

Endometriosis affects around 1 in 10 women of reproductive age worldwide and the average time to diagnosis is 7–10 years (Zondervan, Becker, & Missmer, 2020).

Many women spend that decade being told their pain is normal, hormonal, stress-related, or simply something they must live with.

But what we are learning more and more is that endometriosis rarely exists in isolation. It often sits within a much wider landscape of nervous system, immune, and hormonal patterns.

I’m endlessly curious about everything related to endometriosis.

Truly. I will happily fall down any research rabbit hole about it.

From the genuinely promising developments — like the non-surgical blood tests researchers are currently trying to develop — to some of the… shall we say… more creative directions the research world has occasionally taken.

For decades the only definitive way to diagnose endometriosis has been laparoscopic surgery with histological confirmation (Zondervan, Becker, & Missmer, 2020).

Yes. Surgery. As the diagnostic tool.
Which means many women have had to live for years — often 7–10 years on average — with significant pain before anyone can actually confirm what is happening in their body.

Because of this, scientists have been trying to develop less invasive ways to diagnose it. One of the most exciting developments being explored is a blood-based diagnostic test looking at microRNA and inflammatory biomarkers, with early studies showing encouraging accuracy (Bendifallah et al., 2022).
Imagine that. A blood test.

(Which many women with endometriosis have been politely suggesting might be useful for… oh… several decades.)

Researchers are also beginning to explore whether medications used for metabolic conditions might influence endometriosis. Drugs in the GLP-1 receptor agonist family — the group that includes semaglutide, widely known as Ozempic — are being investigated for their anti-inflammatory and metabolic effects, which could potentially influence inflammatory diseases such as endometriosis.

The research is early, but it reflects something many clinicians are beginning to recognise: endometriosis is not simply a reproductive condition. It’s a complex inflammatory disease affecting immune, hormonal, and nervous system pathways throughout the body.
And then… occasionally… when reading the research literature… you stumble upon studies that make you pause mid-sentence.

For example, some papers have examined whether women with endometriosis might display differences in physical attractiveness or secondary sexual characteristics based on theories about estrogen exposure (Vercellini et al., 2014).

Yes.

Attractiveness.

As in…
“Are women with endometriosis… prettier?”

Erm… what????

Meanwhile millions of women are curled up on bathroom floors with pain severe enough to cause fainting — but yes, by all means, let’s investigate their facial symmetry.

Other studies have examined the psychological impact of endometriosis on male partners and relationship satisfaction (Facchin et al., 2016).
Which, of course, relationships matter and chronic illness affects everyone involved.

But one cannot help reading these papers and thinking:
Women: “Hello yes I am in severe pain and cannot function three weeks out of four.”

Research community:
“But how is this affecting the boyfriend?”
Ah yes. The subtle fragrance of patriarchy in the academic air.

To be fair, relationship research absolutely has value. Chronic illness touches families and partnerships.
But historically, women with endometriosis have long felt that research attention has not always been directed at the most urgent questions:

How do we diagnose this sooner?
How do we treat it effectively?

And how do we stop women being dismissed for years while the disease progresses?
The good news is that things are slowly beginning to shift.

More researchers are now recognising endometriosis for what it actually is:

A complex, systemic inflammatory condition involving immune dysfunction, hormonal signalling, nervous system sensitisation, and whole-body effects.
And that shift — even if slow — really matters.
Because when the science finally begins to listen to what women’s bodies have been saying for decades…
Everything starts to change.

Though perhaps more purposeful … we are beginning to see meaningful overlaps between endometriosis and other conditions.

Women with endometriosis show higher rates of neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD. One large population study found that individuals with endometriosis had significantly increased odds of ADHD and other co-occurring neurodivergences (Chen et al., 2022).

There is also growing recognition of overlap with conditions such as POTS, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).

These conditions all involve dysregulation of connective tissue, immune signalling, or the autonomic nervous system. Researchers have noted that mast cells — immune cells involved in allergic and inflammatory responses — are present in high numbers in endometriosis lesions and may contribute to pain and disease progression (Theoharides et al., 2018).

Trauma research adds another important layer. Large epidemiological studies have found that women with endometriosis report higher rates of traumatic and stressful life events compared with those without the condition (Laganà et al., 2017). This does not mean trauma causes endometriosis — but it does highlight the intimate relationship between the nervous system, inflammation, hormones, and the body’s stress response.

As Bessel van der Kolk (2014) wrote:
“The body keeps the score. If the memory of trauma is encoded in the viscera, in heartbreaking and gut-wrenching sensations, in autoimmune disorders and skeletal/muscular problems, then treatment needs to address the body as well as the mind.”

For many women living with endometriosis, the experience is not simply gynecological. It can be neurological, immune, hormonal, emotional, and deeply embodied.

This is one of the reasons my work as a psychotherapist increasingly sits at the intersection of body and mind.

Psychotherapy is often imagined as something that happens only through talking. Yet many modern therapeutic approaches recognise that healing also happens through the body — through regulation of the nervous system, through restoring a sense of safety, through working with the rhythms of breath, sensation, and emotion.

As trauma researcher Peter Levine (2010) writes:
“Trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body.”

When we understand this, psychotherapy becomes something different. It becomes a way of supporting the body’s capacity to regulate, integrate, and heal — alongside the medical care people receive for physical conditions.

During Endometriosis Awareness Month, my hope is simple.

That fewer women are dismissed.
That fewer women are told their pain is normal.

And that the conversation continues to expand beyond organs and diagnoses to include the whole person — body, nervous system, and story.

If you are someone living with endometriosis or other complex overlapping conditions, please know that your experience matters and deserves to be taken seriously.

We are still learning. Medicine is still learning. And many of us in therapeutic work are listening closely to what the body has been trying to say for a very long time.

Happy Endometriosis Awareness Month.

If you need a therapist who understands.
You know where I am

Lyns 🌙

07/03/2026

There was a time in my life when I felt like I was standing just outside every circle I entered. Not rejected. Not excluded. Just slightly misaligned. Conversations felt performative. Social spaces felt coded in a language I had learned but never fully embodied. I could belong — but only by editing myself.

That quiet dissonance is what led me to The Gift of Not Belonging by Dr. Rami Kaminski. The title alone unsettled me. Not belonging had always felt like a flaw I needed to fix. But this book suggested something radical: maybe the discomfort wasn’t evidence of deficiency. Maybe it was evidence of awareness.

What I found inside wasn’t a celebration of isolation. It was a reframing of difference.

Here are the five lessons that lingered long after I finished the last page:

1. Not belonging can be a form of clarity

Kaminski suggests that feeling out of place often means you are perceiving social dynamics others unconsciously accept. The outsider sees patterns the insider normalizes. That distance can feel lonely, but it also sharpens perception. Sometimes discomfort isn’t misfit — it’s discernment.

2. Conformity trades authenticity for comfort

Belonging often requires subtle compromises: adjusting tone, softening opinions, mirroring expectations. The brain is wired for social acceptance; exclusion historically meant danger. But when belonging demands self-erasure, the nervous system registers strain. Authenticity may feel riskier in the short term, but it creates long-term coherence.

3. Solitude strengthens identity

The book gently challenges the fear of aloneness. Time outside collective validation allows the self to consolidate. Without constant comparison, you begin to hear your own internal voice more clearly. The brain stabilizes when it isn’t continuously scanning for approval.

4. Sensitivity is not weakness — it is attunement

Those who struggle to belong often feel deeply. They notice nuance, tension, subtle shifts in mood. In overstimulating environments, that sensitivity becomes exhausting. But reframed, it is perceptiveness. The same brain that feels overwhelmed is also capable of profound insight.

5. True belonging begins internally

Perhaps the most powerful message is this: you cannot find external belonging without internal alignment. When you accept your temperament, values, and pace, you stop seeking spaces that require distortion. The brain relaxes when identity is not under negotiation.

GET BOOK:https://amzn.to/3ONDVXy

If you’re interested in the audiobook, it’s free. You can get it now and enjoy it.

06/03/2026

05/03/2026

STOP SCROLLING.

(Yes you. The one holding your phone while pretending you’re “just checking one thing.” I see you. I am you.)

I read a quote today that said:
“Porn = loneliness sold as intimacy.
Alcohol = poison sold as escape.
Drugs = numbness sold as peace.
Scrolling = distraction sold as rest.
Fast food = harm sold as pleasure.
Notifications = control sold as urgency.
Social media = validation sold as connection.”
— Dr. Natalya

And it stopped me for a moment.

Because the hardest part of raising children today isn’t just teaching them what’s BAD.
It’s helping them recognise what’s REAL.

For a long time we told ourselves this wasn’t really a problem.
Now we’re entering a new chapter — where even AI can blur the lines between what’s real and what isn’t.

Which makes the question even more important for our kids… and honestly for us too.
What is real nourishment, and what is just clever design?

Because real rest doesn’t buzz in your pocket.
Real connection doesn’t need an audience.
Real peace rarely arrives through something designed to numb us or rush us along.

So much of modern life offers us tiny anaesthetics for being human.

Not solutions.
Just distractions.

They don’t heal loneliness —
they just keep it quiet for a while.
They don’t give us rest —
they simply pause the exhaustion.

And if we’re honest… most of us adults are still learning this too.

Not because we’re failing.

But because the world is incredibly good at selling QUICK RELIEF disguised as care.
So maybe raising humans now isn’t about perfect rules or perfect parents.

Maybe it’s about something quieter.
Slowing down.
Noticing what actually nourishes us.

And showing our children that the best parts of being human — love, presence, laughter, connection — were never meant to run on artificial fuel.

Which, frankly, I say as someone who has absolutely checked notifications while giving a heartfelt “let’s all be more present” speech to my child.

Humbling.

We’re all practicing.
Love,
Lyns🌙

05/03/2026

Please tell me someone else has lovingly referred to their baby with a slightly unhinged term of endearment at least once.

(Oh please, please post it in the comments?!)

A given nickname - Not in a concerning way.
In a deeply affectionate, slightly sleep-deprived, what-is-happening-to-my-life way.

Because babies have this magical ability to look like serene cherubs in photos… and then spend the next six hours practising interpretive screaming because their sock betrayed them.

There is something humbling about parenting a tiny human whose emotional range spans from radiant joy to existential outrage in under thirty seconds.
And collectively, most of us are walking around saying things like,
“She’s so calm!”
while quietly calculating wake windows, leap charts, and whether cluster feeding counts as a personality trait.

From a therapy lens, I’ve come to understand that babies aren’t dramatic. They’re honest. Their nervous systems are new. Everything is bright, loud, unfamiliar. Of course they react with full-body enthusiasm.
And as adults, we’re often just trying to co-regulate while Googling, “Is this normal?” at 2:14am.

If you’ve ever described your baby as a tiny fruit, a gremlin, or a chaos goblin while loving them more than oxygen…

I doubt you’re the only one.
We’re all just out here co-regulating tiny dictators (crazy coconuts, on occasion) with more love than sleep.

— Lyns 🌙

02/03/2026

Most people don’t come to psychotherapy because things are falling apart all at once.

They come because the coping strategies that used to work… don’t anymore.

White-knuckling. Overthinking. Staying busy. Being the strong one.

Those tools got you here — and now they’ve reached their limit.

Psychotherapy is where we pause and get curious instead of pushing harder. It’s a space to listen to what’s been trying to get your attention beneath the noise. Sometimes that happens through talking.

Sometimes it happens in the quiet moments between words. Sometimes it shows up as a feeling in your chest that finally gets named.

A lot of the work I do is helping people access emotions that don’t arrive neatly packaged as sentences. We slow things down. We track what’s happening in the body. We notice patterns, protective parts, old stories that once kept you safe — and gently ask whether they still need to be in charge.

This kind of therapy isn’t about fixing you. It’s about understanding you.

And when understanding lands in the nervous system, not just the mind, something softens. Shoulders drop. Breath deepens. The body lets go of what it’s been holding onto for far too long.

If you haven’t found the right kind of therapy yet, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed — it means you’re still listening. There are many paths to healing, and some of the deepest ones don’t shout. They whisper. They wait. And when you’re ready, they meet you exactly where you are.

01/03/2026

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28/02/2026

If anyone needs coaching through endometriosis- please know I can offer that

"Just take a panadol." That's what Alana was told after years of pelvic pain.

Her story is all too common. Women suffering for years because their pain gets dismissed.

We're determined to change that with the biggest ever investment in women's health.

We're opening 33 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, like this one in Werribee that's already making a difference for Alana.

And we've listed new medicines for endo on the PBS, making sure they're affordable.

Women's health deserves to be taken seriously, and that's exactly what we're doing.

26/02/2026

26/02/2026

newborn parenting exists in a time-space continuum where percentages no longer obey the laws of mathematics, physics, or human dignity.

Because sleep deprivation doesn’t just make you tired.
It turns your brain into a browser with 46 tabs open, three frozen, one playing music you cannot locate, and the original reason you stood up has emotionally logged out.

New parents will confidently say things like:

“I fed the baby 14 minutes ago… or was that yesterday?”

“I put the kettle in the fridge and honestly it felt correct at the time.”

“I cried because the baby sneezed and I couldn’t remember if sneezing is… a thing humans do.”

In therapy, parents talk about this stage with this strange combination of awe, terror, love, and the quiet realisation that you are responsible for a tiny person while operating on the cognitive clarity of someone who has just licked a battery.

And here’s the part people don’t say out loud enough:
Sleep deprivation doesn’t just affect memory.
It affects emotional regulation, concentration, decision-making, and anxiety levels.

Which is why newborn parenting can feel like performing the most important job of your life while your brain is buffering like dial-up internet in 1998.
Psychotherapy reminds us this stage isn’t meant to be elegant.

It’s meant to be survived with support, humour, and occasional moments of staring at your baby thinking,
“I would die for you… but I also cannot remember my own postcode.”

And if your brain currently believes that 30 + 50 + 20 + 80 equals… yes…

You’re not failing at arithmetic.
You’re performing advanced-level human attachment under extreme neurological conditions.

Which honestly deserves snacks, help, and significantly more communal casseroles.

— Lyns 🌈

19/02/2026

When my eldest was 2…
questions were a full-time occupation.

“Why?”
“Why that?”
“And why that?”

It didn’t matter how complete the answer was. There was always another layer to peel back. Another explanation to request. Another reassurance tucked inside the curiosity.

At the time, it was exhausting.

But it was also something else.

It was regulation.

A two-year-old asks because uncertainty feels big. Because the world is unpredictable. Because knowing a little more makes it feel steadier.

I sometimes see that same pattern in grown bodies with Wi-Fi.

The late-night Googling.
The deep dives.
The 14 open tabs about a symptom, a decision, a text message that hasn’t been replied to.

Not because we’re obsessive.
Not because we’re incapable.

Because our nervous system is trying to shrink uncertainty.

Over-researching can look like overthinking. It can feel like failure. Like you should “just decide.”

But often it’s intelligence doing what it knows how to do — gathering information in the hope that certainty will follow.

The two-year-old in us believes: if I understand it fully, I’ll feel safe.

Sometimes more information does help.

And sometimes what we’re actually seeking isn’t data.

It’s reassurance.

It’s steadiness.

It’s someone saying, “You don’t have to know everything to move forward.”

Curiosity is beautiful.
But so is closing the laptop
and letting your nervous system exhale

— Lyns 🌙

13/02/2026

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about romance, performance, or proving you’re lovable.

From a therapist’s chair, today is more about recognising the quiet work you do: showing up, feeling your feelings, setting boundaries, resting when you can, and staying curious about yourself — even when it’s uncomfortable.

If today brings connection, let it be nourishing.
If it brings loneliness, let that be met with gentleness.
If it’s just another day, that’s allowed too.
However this day lands for you, your worth isn’t up for negotiation.

And you don’t have to earn care — from others or from yourself.