about me

hello, vanakkam! I’m Hana (she/they/them), i’m a therapist (M.Couns & B.Arts (Psych)) with Tamil and Irish ancestry and connections to the lands of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eelam & Cúige Mumhan. I live on unceded Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country, growing up on Noongar Country, and recently returning from years living on Gimuy, Walubura & Yidinji Country.

I have 9 years of experience in mental health, criminal justice, homelessness, disability, and community service sectors. I work within an abolitionist, intersectional and decolonial lens, and my therapeutic style includes a mix of attachment theory based approaches, and internal family systems, somatic experiencing and psychodynamic therapies. I utilise non-Western conceptualisations of health, mental health, and wellbeing and am deeply influenced by First Nations knowledge of healing, community, kinship and Country. I aim to work with clients' own generational wisdoms, knowledges, and strengths, to improve wellbeing outcomes. I work to interrogate the effects of colonisation, systemic oppression and marginalisation on individuals and communities, as well as the limitations and harms of Western mental health services.

I have my own lived experience of queerness, chronic illness, mental health distress, recovery and neurodivergence (autism & ADHD) and this deeply impacts my work. I hope my identities and experiences can offer greater understanding, empathy and connection when I work with you, and I enjoy working within a lived experience and peer support lens. I utilise my own lived experience, alongside your experiences and expertise, to curate a therapeutic space that is collaborative, curious and tender.

I work within a range of modalities, including;

  • attachment theory based approaches

  • dialectic behavioural therapy (DBT)

  • emotionally focused therapy (EFT)

  • internal family systems therapy (IFS)

  • somatic experiencing, polyvagal and mindfulness therapies

  • psychodynamic therapies (learnings come predominantly from Jung & Lacan, and this is a modality that I consider myself a 'beginner' within)

  • trauma informed yoga therapies, focusing on an anti-caste and anti-supremacist practice.

whilst I work with all types of people, I specialise in and prioritise working with clients who are;

  • part of the BIPOC community, especially those experiencing racial trauma and intergenerational trauma, and mixed race folks

  • frontline organisers and activists involved in direct action

  • queer, trans and gender diverse

  • neurodivergent, especially those who are autistic and auDHDer’s

  • chronically ill or disabled

  • sex workers

some work that I don’t offer includes;

  • crisis support, including crisis interventions after immediate trauma and violence or crisis suicide support (I work part time, and it is not ethical or appropriate for me to offer this type of service when I cant be available for you during crisis)

  • specialist eating disorder, drug and alcohol services (though I am happy to work alongside your specialist with this, or refer to a specialist while we continue broader work together)

  • working with clients under 18 years of age

lineages

Therapy and somatics are vast fields of practice and philosophy that draw on a wide range of lineages and disciplines. Before colonisation, our ancestors had natural ways of connecting with their bodies that were embedded in everyday life. But in today's world, many of us have lost that connection, and somatics offers a vital path back to our bodies.

But modern somatics has often stripped away the cultural and spiritual aspects of embodiment, focusing more on clinical applications. In doing so, it often overlooks and whitewashes the BIPOC cultural and spiritual roots of these practices.

I name my lineages, mentors, and teachers here to offer a sense of where I’m coming from in this expansive field. I am still in the process of reconnecting with my own ancestral practices, whilst I work to honour the broad cultural lineages that continue to inform my healing and learning. This list is not exhaustive and is ever expanding - I'm always learning and deepening my understanding of these living traditions.

the Countries and places that inform me