TRAUMA THERAPY, FAMILY & PARENTING SUPPORT, AND EDUCATION

Shani Prideaux - Director

BA in Counselling (minor coaching) ~ children and youth, trauma and grief, family therapy, addiction.

Diploma in Positive Psychology & Wellbeing ~ Positive Parenting & Coaching.

Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level 2 (CCTP-II)

ADHD Clinical Services Provider - ADHD-CCSP

ASDCS - (Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist)

Brainspotting Practitioner - Phase 1,2 & 5

EMDR Therapist

Mental Health First Aid - Master Trainer

PACFA reg. Clinical / M.A.C.A (Level 3)

“My passion lies in helping people heal from trauma and move toward post-traumatic growth. I work with individuals, families, and communities navigating activating events, complex or developmental trauma, and the distressing challenges that can follow, supporting them to create meaningful, lasting change in their lives.

My Journey and Discovery

Talking to people has always been a natural fit for me. Beginning as a hairdresser, I noticed how clients trusted me with their stories, joyful, painful, and deeply personal. This early experience planted the seeds for a career dedicated to listening, connecting, and helping others heal. Later, when I moved into health and fitness after becoming a parent, I found myself drawn to people who used exercise as a way to manage mental health struggles, disordered eating, and body image concerns, often without realising how much of this was rooted in earlier trauma. My curiosity led me to further study in trauma-focused counselling and psychotherapy, which opened the door to a vocation I had been building toward all along.

Over the years, I began to see recurring themes in the stories shared with me. Many of my clients were neurodivergent, often ADHDers or Autistic individuals, who resonated deeply with the way I adapted therapeutic strategies to suit their unique experiences, particularly where trauma and neurodivergence intersect. Only later did I discover that my ability to do this so naturally came from being neurodivergent myself, a realisation that reshaped not just my practice but also my understanding of my own journey.

Bringing My Experience to My Work

Understanding my own neurodivergence has sharpened my empathy and allowed me to connect with people who feel "too much" or "not enough," who mask their struggles while overcompensating in other areas. This lived experience complements my professional expertise and has deepened the way I support clients as they process trauma and navigate relationships, identity, and change.

My professional experience is diverse. I have:

  • Worked with parents and families through foster networks and Relationships Australia, supporting resilience, connection, and growth in complex family systems, many shaped by intergenerational or relational trauma.

  • Supported all forms of parenting, from early parenthood to blended families, co-parenting, and ethical separation. My focus is on helping parents work together to create stability, reduce conflict, and prioritise children's wellbeing, rather than engaging in adversarial or court-based processes.

  • Provided relationship therapy that recognises the relationship itself as the client. This means support may involve strengthening a partnership, exploring new ways of relating, or navigating conscious uncoupling and redefined family structures, often where old wounds and attachment patterns are playing out in the present.

  • Served as a program counsellor for Raise Foundation, mentoring young people in schools, and as a therapist at Tumbelin Farm, a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for young men, where trauma and addiction were deeply intertwined.

  • Partnered with high schools and well-being teams to support young people navigating developmental transitions, mental health struggles, and identity challenges.

  • Engaged with people in health and fitness communities, addressing disordered eating, body image, and self-esteem with a trauma-informed, compassionate lens.

  • Delivered mental health education and training across Australia and New Zealand, advocating for social inclusion and mental health literacy.

My Approach

My work is grounded in social inclusion, compassion, and the belief that everyone has the capacity for healing and growth, even from the most complex or long-held trauma. I integrate a range of evidence-based and embodied modalities tailored to the individual, including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Brainspotting, Somatic Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Systemic Family Therapy.

EMDR and Schema Therapy allow me to work directly with the roots of trauma, whether that's a single distressing event or the deeper, patterned wounds formed early in life, helping clients understand not just what happened to them, but why certain patterns keep repeating, and how to finally shift them.

At the heart of my practice is a commitment to creating safe, empowering spaces where people can reconnect with themselves and others, and move toward meaningful and sustainable change.”

Shani works with people face-to-face in the Smithfield clinic, and online.

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