Why am I here?

Here you will gain a little insight into who I am, what I am like, and why I am here. This is probably more of a ‘blog post’ style of page, and probably not what you would typically find on a Psychology Practice website. But, I am also not an average psychologist. I am unique, after all, just like you and your child, and find myself often rebelling against the status quo.

So here I offer you a little part of my authentically quirky inner self, in the hope that you will feel comfortable sharing part of yourself and your family with me in return.

Who am I?

I didn’t expect this to be such a hard question to answer . I could start by telling you my name, but when I go to write that down, a layer of confusion arises. Is my name really who I am?

Afterall, like many women, I received one surname from my father and then a new one from my husband. I was given another from my mother, my middle name: Rose. The only part of my name that I suppose is truly mine is Laura. Even this was suggested by my mother’s friend, only one week before I was born.

I was also known as ‘little Laura’ for a long portion of my life, as I shared my given name with a different close family friend. In high school, I struggled to accept a nickname I liked, though Loza was trialled. It didn’t stick. To my husband and all his friends, I am still referred to as ‘Loz’, but this is not ‘me’ either and generally just feels 'wrong when I hear it out loud. So who am I?

I am Laura, mother to two children and also a wife, daughter, friend, sister, granddaughter, niece, colleague, and therapist. I am a psychologist, a photographer, philosophiser, avid reader, sunset-appreciator. I have deep, intense, complex thoughts and love learning about all parts of a system. And I am defiant in the face of arbitrary social rules that do not serve to help people, especially children, feel welcomed, understood, loved and accepted.

Why am I here?

There are a few starting points along my journey to this particular career. You see, originally (when I was 8), I wanted to be a vet. I loved animals, natural science and biology. When I realised that mostly they had to perform surgery I was less keen and my interests moved on. I cycled through several options over my teens: meteorologist, astronomist, marine biologist, usually following my particular interest at the time. Then one day, I was sick of my physics teacher being so boring (sad that they were ruining such an interesting subject) and dropped out. Without much thought I replaced it with psychology. Well! That opened up a whole new system I had never learned about before - the BRAIN. I was hooked.

So off I went to university to study psychology and psychophysiology, to learn all about how we humans worked. What made us see, hear, touch, smell, taste, think, grow, develop, love, fight, age, and change. The learning was infinite, and because psychology was as much of an art as it was a science, there were few fixed answers. This was a revelation to my scientific, fact-driven brain. I learnt to appreciate the value of theory, experimenting and how to hold multiple different perspectives on the same data. My brain was overjoyed, exploding with all the possibilities, all the new complexities, and all the interconnected systems!

Over this time, I was working casual jobs as a nanny and out of hours carer at a school. I found children beautifully authentic, complex and fascinating. They all lived a unique life from their own perspective which drove their choices and behaviours. My intense interest in neurology rapidly refocused onto trying to comprehend the many influences on child development. I trialled a job working as a cardiac technologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital, only to find that the technical, scientific side was too straightforward. Instead, the physical and emotional experience of the children drew me in. I desperately wanted to support them and their families through these traumatic experiences, hear their stories, witness their fears and incredible resilience.

By the end of that work experience year, 20 year old me knew I wanted to become a child psychologist. I wanted to work with whole families, guide them in exploring their dynamics and the systems that influenced each of their thoughts, feelings and actions. I wanted to find ways to help children express their perspectives, to feel understood and held by their parents when life felt hard. To not feel alone in their experiences.

It was only once I’d had my own children, many years into my own tumultuous motherhood journey that I have realised this part of me has always been striving to heal ‘little Laura’ through guiding other children, and now their parents too, to feel loved and accepted for exactly who they are. To learn about their needs so they can develop self-compassion as well as show compassion for others. To explore their values, and where these values came from, so they can design a life that suits them and their family. To block out the societal noise and feel empowered to make choices that feel right, with your unique self and your unique child in mind.

So that is why I am here, offering this support to families of young children. Those who feel stuck in the trenches, confused, exhausted and in survival mode, most often in the absence of that elusive ‘village’. Not wanting to repeat the ways of the past, but feeling unable to see a clear path forward amongst the overwhelming challenges of today.

Meet with me and I will lend you my hand, listen to your story and let you

My name is Laura and I am first and foremost a mother to two beautifully unique children. I am an Educational and Developmental Psychologist who started out this career driven by a special interest in how parent-child attachment influences personality development. I learned early on that understanding others

My brain loves to consider all aspects of a system, and what is a more complex system than a human being? I enjoy seeking understanding of all the influences contribute to a person, as well as all the layers and parts that make them

My personal experience of motherhood so far has been complex. Like most parents, it has offered me the most joy and love I have ever felt in my life, while simultaneously shattering me into a broken mess. For a long time I existed only in survival mode, being constantly pulled between these two states. When I finally managed to come up for air, I realised all the things I had learnt along the way

We are here to provide you with the compassion and understanding needed when you’re in the trenches of early years parenting. Offering value-driven support, to help you step back and reflect on your family and determine the first step forward.

that is respectful of individual needs as well as neurological and nervous system differences. We are here