My name is Millie, and I am a Tassie girl. I have lived half my life in sunny Queensland before moving back to Hobart where I met my husband; we have two children of our own. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and catching up with friends. I enjoy the outdoors, bushwalking, visiting different parks/beaches, movies, going to the gym & listening to great music- especially live music. I also love eating delicious food and trying new recipes.
I am passionate about children receiving the best start to life possible in the early years and being able to support families to access the resources they need to reach goals in their own lives. I believe those who work with children are privileged to be a part of each child’s life -in whatever capacity that may be.
I believe connection is based on showing respect to others and respect is essential to building and sustaining these relationships. I would describe myself as a warm, kind and deeply empathetic person. In each interaction I have, I want to leave others feeling appreciated and understood.
I am accepting of all people and their differences- regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal experiences, beliefs or background. I believe my role is to provide children with a space where they can feel unapologetically themselves.
My experience and qualifications:
I first began working with children when I finished college and completed a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. Initially I was working with babies and toddlers in early learning centres. After working with children in this space for a few years, I continued studying and completed my Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood Education and worked primarily with kindergarten and preschool- aged children in Early Learning Centres and schools.
I realised after working for nearly 10 years with children and families that my heart was often drawn to the children who were struggling in some way. This may be due to issues they may have had at home, challenges experienced in mainstream schooling, or their life was difficult due to disability, trauma or developmental delays.
As a teacher and working in early childhood, I was finding this difficult in a classroom context and I wanted to pursue a line of work where I could give each child the space, time and energy they all deserved and actively work through the worries they were carrying each day. This led me to completing my studies in “Child Centred Play Therapy” through Centre for Play Therapy based in Queensland to become a qualified practitioner with the Play Therapy Practitioners Association (PTPA) and have adopted this counselling approach in most of my interactions with children in various roles.
After finishing my studies in Play Therapy in 2022, I completed further education in trauma and the effects it has on the brain- particularly in the early developmental years- which is so critical to a child’s neural development and how it can impact attachments.