A new country, a new beginning
I arrived in Australia from Brazil with my husband and two children, carrying the theoretical foundations of a psychology degree I'd begun back home. A new country, a new language to navigate professionally, a whole life to rebuild. I didn't know yet just how much that rebuilding would teach me.eople. With a focus on quality, clarity, and connection, we're here to help you make an impact that lasts.
The years that tested everything
My marriage ended. My father died. I was raising two children, studying in a second language, and trying to hold myself together while helping others do the same. There were nights I wasn't sure I could keep going. There were moments of real doubt — about myself, about whether I was meant for this work, about whether I'd ever finish. I kept going anyway.
Finding my people
On the way through the hard years, I met extraordinary people — supervisors who believed in me, colleagues who became friends, clients who trusted me with their most painful stories. I fell in love again and found a new family. Life, which had felt like it was falling apart, was quietly reassembling itself into something richer and more complex than I'd imagined.
Fully qualified. Finally.
Twelve years after arriving in Australia, I became a fully registered psychologist. Not in spite of everything that had happened — but because of it. Every sleepless night, every tear, every moment of "I can't do this" lives in the room when I sit with a client now. That's not a liability. That's the whole point.
I-Aware
Today I run my own practice in Keysborough — working with the people I am most called to serve: those navigating complex trauma, family violence, neurodivergence, and the tangled, beautiful mess of family relationships across generations. I bring everything I've lived to this work. Every single day.
Founder and Registered Psychologist
Twelve years,
two countries,
one calling
From Sao Paulo to Melbourne - through divorce, grief, doubt and rebuilding - Laura became a psychologist the long way and that is exactly what makes her the real thing.
The road that made me
who I am
I didn't arrive at psychology cleanly. I arrived at it through life — which is the only honest way to become the kind of psychologist I wanted to be. Every detour, every loss, every rebuilding shaped the way I sit with people now.
The things that shape the way I practice
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The things that shape the way I practice *
🌱A Passion for Teenagers
Teenagers hold a special place in my heart. I connect with them on a deeper level — through honesty and deep listening, without judgment or agenda. What I love most about working with this age is its openness: teens are still forming, still becoming. They are not locked into their family's patterns — they have choices of their own, and therapy can be the place where they discover that. When a teenager feels genuinely heard, change follows.
👨👩👧👦Families and Genarations
I love working with families — and particularly with the invisible threads that connect generations. Transgenerational trauma is one of my great passions: understanding how the wounds of grandparents live in grandchildren, and how the cycle can be interrupted, rewritten, healed.
Bilingual - Portuguese and English
I offer sessions in both English and Portuguese. For clients from Brazil or other Portuguese-speaking communities, the ability to be heard in your first language — especially when exploring deep emotional territory — can make an enormous difference to the depth and safety of the work.
🌍Multicultural Lens
Growing up Brazilian, building a life in Australia, navigating two cultures simultaneously — I understand in my bones what it means to live between worlds. My multicultural background gives me a broader, more textured understanding of people than any textbook could. Culture shapes everything: how we feel pain, how we express it, what healing looks like.
🤝Relational Approach
I believe healing happens in relationship — not in isolation. The therapeutic relationship isn't just the backdrop to the work; it is the work. I bring warmth, directness, and genuine curiosity to every session. I won't just listen and nod. I will be present with you, and I will care about what happens to you.
❤️Compassionate Lens
Everything I do is filtered through compassion — for my clients, for their families, and for the complexity of being human. I've lived enough to know that most people are doing the best they can with what they were given. My job isn't to judge that. It's to help you find more options, more understanding, more freedom.
The Formal Stuff
Qualifications and training
🎓BPsych (Hons) — Social Neuroscience
Institute of Social Neuroscience, Melbourne
⚡EMDR Trained Therapist
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing — trauma reprocessing therapy
🎓Bachelor of Psychology
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne
🎓Grad. Diploma Life Coaching
Fundación Cóndor Blanco — integrative coaching approach
✅AHPRA Registered Psychologist
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency · General registration
🤝AAPI Member
Australian Association of Psychologists Inc. · Full member
I have ADHD.
It's my superpower.
I'm neurodivergent myself — I have ADHD. I'm sharing this not because it's trendy to do so, but because I believe it matters for the people I work with. When I sit with a teenager who can't explain why their brain works differently, or a parent who is exhausted and confused, or an adult who has spent a lifetime feeling like they're running the wrong operating system — I'm not reading from a manual. I am speaking from the inside.
My ADHD gives me hyperfocus, deep empathy, creative problem-solving, and a genuine inability to do surface-level work. It also means I've had to learn — the hard way — how to work with my brain rather than against it. That knowledge lives in my practice every day.
"Understanding isn't just something I offer my clients. It's something I've had to find for myself first."
🔍
Hyperfocus as a gift
When I'm in session, I am completely present. ADHD hyperfocus means I notice things others miss — patterns, micro-expressions, the thing behind the thing.
❤️
Deep, genuine empathy
Neurodivergent people often feel things profoundly. I don't manage my empathy — I use it, carefully and intentionally, to connect with clients on a real level.
💡
Non-linear thinking
I don't think in straight lines — and neither do trauma, family systems, or the human brain. My thinking style makes me well-suited to the complexity of the work.
🌀
Living the experience
I know what it's like to navigate a world not designed for your brain. That lived experience creates a kind of trust in sessions that can't be taught.
Ready to work together?
If my story resonates with you — or with someone you love —
I'd be honoured to be part of your journey. The first
conversation is free.