Minky has a wonderful way of putting complex theory into easy-to-understand language.
Come and join our new 8 week pilot program starting in February 2025 to create a new way forward!
I've been interviewing lot of healthcare workers over the last couple of months to find out what it's like to be a clinician in services or in private practice at the moment.
There were many shared values, challenges and needs.
Importantly all expressed a desire to do well, be well and thrive.
Yes, healthcare workers work in under-resourced systems. But this doesn't mean you have to quit or feel 'done' inside in your work.
If you are seeking:
a shift from surviving to thriving
practical tools to manage overwhelm and supports that enable them to grow professionally and personally
fewer compromises on their well-being
ways to implement consistent, practical action to manage stressful environments
a community of like-minded peers to create pathways to change
a sustainable career that aligns with their values, sustains their energy, and provides a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Come and join our new 8 week pilot program starting in February 2025.
Welcome!
I'm so pleased to have you here.
I'm Minky van der Walt (she/her): a registered clinician with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), and the Australian Music Therapy Association.
Within PACFA, I am a clinical member (#26483), an Accredited Mental Health Practitioner and a PACFA Accredited Supervisor.
As a trauma therapist, I have expertise in chronic stress and post-traumatic mental health.
In addition to 23 years of clinical experience across a range of medical, education and community settings, I offer supports based in trauma-specific practice (including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, and Internal Family Systems Therapy approaches), music, creative arts and somatic processes, as well more traditional talk-focused approaches.
I am passionate about supporting health professionals to thrive in their work through a process of clarity, connection, compassion, creativity and community.
I want to help you to get out of your head and into your body, to get your mojo back and to find a pathway back to feeling like you again.
What’s involved?
The program will run for 8 weeks, commencing in early February, 2025.
There will 8 modules, each compromising a mix of:
Bite-size, pre-recorded lessons summarising the research and neuroscience involved.
A weekly 60-minute live group session via Zoom (live sessions will be offered at a mix of times - morning, lunch and evening - to offer accessibility and will be available as recordings within 48 hours of the session).
An online platform such as Facebook as a community / group container, for sharing and support, throughout the 8 weeks.
A workbook or handout to support learning.
Practical tools to develop an immersive practice of integration and care.
**Live sessions will be offered at a mix of times (morning, lunch and evening) to offer accessibility and will be available as recordings within 48 hours of the session.
Using a framework that embraces the principles of trauma stewardship, trauma-informed practice, and the understandings from the 'Joy - Pain Spectrum', this evidence-based, practical and immersive roadmap will incorporate elements of neuroscience and creative arts, music and somatic processes, within a framework of social justice, peer support and collective care.
No writing, music listening, movement or drawing experience are required, and at all stages you are welcome to participate as much or as little as you like.
Course content
Please note as these modules will be informed by the needs of participants, this is a general, expected overview – content may change according to need.
1. Setting up for success
Connect with your most aligned, future self
Create healthy habits that support you to be the creative, balanced and healthy person you need to be, to take consistent action and bring your dreams to life
Set clear, actionable goals for yourself
2. Connecting in, between and around
Who, what and where you are right now?
How is work impacting you?
Who are your internal helpers and foes?
Develop practical steps to begin to understand and shift any internal barriers
3. Building a kind base: empathy, compassion and boundaries
Understand the the neuroscience of empathy and compassion
Build a practice of self-compassion specific to your own needs
Create your own somatic resources and explore how fierce self-compassion can support you to understand and create the boundaries you need
4. Understanding stress: polyvagal theory, the stress response cycle
Access an overview of the neuroscience of stress
Explore the three key states of YOUR nervous system
Develop an understanding of knowing where you are within this hierarchy
Build awareness of the feelings and sensations in each state
Find ways to get back to a state of equilibrium through practical, actionable solutions to managing stress
5. Body mapping, somatics and creative supports
Identify the impacts of stress on you (body, thoughts, feelings and behaviours)
Create your own body map to understand what is happening and which tools may be most helpful for you
Begin to develop an action plan of creative, practical, on-the-go supports for yourself
6. Understanding vicarious impacts of helping work
Understand of the vicarious impacts of helping work, through the lens of the ‘Joy-Pain Spectrum’
Access a summary of the latest research: what are the protective factors and what are the risks?
Develop insight into the importance of connecting with the positives (‘joy’) in the work, as well as the challenges (‘pain’)
Explore opportunities to develop awareness of these impacts
7. Self leadership and creating compassionate workplace cultures
Explore the concept of self leadership to create culture change
Understand the misnomer of self care, and the necessity of collective care in a sustainable career
Create active hope and positive change
Develop actionable steps to becoming a compassionate leader, whether you're in a large system or working for yourself in private practice
8. Integration and graduation
Explore and deepen into components of the program
Review and integrate material from the program
Create your action plan based on the learning and experiential components of the program
Celebrate achievements and build a framework for ongoing application and growth
What's involved in participating in a pilot program?
As a pilot program, participants will have the opportunity to:
Provide ongoing feedback that shapes the final program
Experience the program at a special pilot price of $497, incl. GST (50% off the regular price of $997, incl. GST)
Become one of the first to access what I hope will be a transformative offering
Each participant will be instrumental in ensuring this program is the best it can be in easing some of the strain that health professionals are currently facing.
What will you walk away with?
Clarify the specific impacts of your work on you to identify supports, resources and obstacles.
Create a personalised body map and identify actionable supports to use in daily life.
Develop creative, somatic on-the-go strategies to manage stress in real-time.
Build a toolkit for self-compassion and self-kindness to foster resilience.
Learn to set and maintain boundaries through the lens of fierce self-compassion.
Develop your own actionable roadmap to navigate stress and return to balance effectively.
Learn how to promote active hope and drive positive changes in organisational culture.
Participants will leave the program with:
a deeper understanding of themselves,
practical tools to manage stress and vicarious impacts of helping work,
and a clear roadmap to foster resilience, self-leadership, and balance in their careers and personal lives.
