Wog Girl Stories: Am I insane or just a big dreamer?

Ahhh... There's some big behind-the-scenes news brewing!

Stay tuned for a Cottesloe adventure.

New Therapists!

You may have noticed we've reached from just Gabriella de Mori to Gabriella de Mori and Co counselling, and that is because I'm privileged enough to grow a beautiful bespoke team of handpicked therapists I'm obsessed and I absolutely love.

Each brings their own unique perspective and specialist skills. They're modern, relatable, epic therapists who have spent the last decade of their life honing their craft in training, certifications and the best therapy approaches.

So, I am growing into a group practice - Wow!

I can't wait to introduce you to the new team members soon.

New Location - Western Suburbs, Baby!

I'm expanding the locations so I am not just based in Fremantle anymore.

I'm looking at getting a beautiful room somewhere in Claremont or Cottesloe so that more people can reach us and see our beautiful therapists if Fremantle is too far away for you.

I've honed in on this Cottesloe property I really love, and you can follow along with the adventure I am documenting here.​

Nurting my scared Inner Child along the way

So while I've been going through this period of growth, it is really challenging in a lot of ways, and I wanted to share a bit about how I'm navigating that.

When you're a solo woman in business, you have to do this thing which can be really hard, in that you have to back yourself constantly.

You have to have so much faith and so much grit and so much tenacity and to make big decisions you have to really back yourself. What I am trying to achieve in my business is quite extraordinary for a counsellor who works outside the medical model. Here in Australia most people access therapy through their GP, get on a Mental Health Care Plan, go to a psychologist their GP chooses out of a book, and get Medicare rebates.

We do it differently, and outside of the medical model because counsellors aren't included in the Medicare system ( a rant for another day).

So, all of my wonderful hundreds of clients have also decided to do it differently, hand-selecting ME as their therapist and working with me directly in my private practice.

To work with me you have to have intentionally and specifically chosen me, and that's why my clients are the best and always an incredibly perfect fit to work with. It makes me so happy and so proud.

Growing a business is also hard when there is no roadmap for any other counsellor who has done it like me. So I am creating a new business model and I have had to create the blueprint for myself which isn't always easy.

So why am I sharing this?

You know, therapists aren't meant to share anything about our lives.

But I want you to know that when I talk about supporting dreamy ambitious women, I'm not just someone who you know, sits in my counselling room in my comfort zone.

So when you come in and you have a dream or an idea or you want to do something amazing with your life, I'm not someone who just sits in an armchair and tells you to go for what you want.

I'm like, 'Okay, awesome. This will be epic, and it's also going to challenge you in a whole range of ways which I'm frothing on supporting you to do because I know a fair bit about living a big brave bold life."

Expanding my business into one of the most expensive suburbs in Perth is the next of many crazy dreams I've had.

In moments like this, I think of my family who were Italian migrants.

My Nonna (Grandmother) didn't finish school past grade 3, grew up in the mountains of Italy and spent most of her life caring for donkeys and cows that slept on the ground floor of their cobblestone house.

After migrating to Australia, Nonna was a cleaner at the hospital and never learnt to drive (She was an excellent backseat driver though!). Us grandkids spent many hours taking Nonna to the Italian Continental Deli for her favourite foods and bargains she had circled in the newspaper.

My Dad couldn't speak English when he arrived in Australia and was horrendously bullied for looking, sounding and being different (most famously his epic style and smooth Italian haircuts). This is a very subtle way for me to say he experienced a lot of traumatic racism and forced assimilation.

My Mum's side was English but grew up in Penang, Malaysia. My great Grandfather was a Prisoner of War in Changi and fortunately survived. Great-grandma was airlifted in an emergency to Perth while her only child, my Grandfather, lied about his age as a 17-year-old to join the Air Force for the War and was far away flying through Europe. And somehow, they all reunited in Perth years later.

Anyhoo...Here I am with my two Master's degrees and on the precipice of another big move taking a big old sentimental look back on my family history...definite HSP things, IYKYK

I truly believe you only have one life not only to make the most of what you want, but I don't believe in 'Live every day as if it's your last' because then you'd never build anything meaningful, you'd just be jumping out of planes every day.

What I believe in is...

I believe that you are supposed to be us specifically with your specific parents, in this particular time, somehow through a web of coincidences and events and people and decisions through into this world and we need your unique magic.

So it's not only about living a big dream just because hey, you've only got one life, give it a go. But because we need and we need wonderful epic women like you, and we need you to be well.

We need you to live out your own grandmother's dreams.

So if you're going to achieve these beautiful dreams and your family and your relationships and you're creating your study and your hobbies and your art, whatever you want to do not only do we want that outside success, we want it to feel easier on the inside.

That is where my team of therapists thrive because we want to support you and we will you know also know what it's like to go for big goals, but we want to make it easy on the inside.

We want to drop those relenting standards that grind you into exhaustion.

I'd love for you to still go for the life you want, set high goals yes!

But can you not be inner bullies and slave drivers to yourself?

I want you to let go of perfectionism and high expectations, and allow your more compassionate, kind, curious, and creative self to lead you toward your goals, which is what we love to help you do.

So this is really long email (per usual- Hey my ancestors couldn't speak English for a long time so let me get my word count in on their behalf.)

Finally, thank you.

I want you to know that every time you read my emails, or like something I share on my Instagram or Facebook it cheers me on.

Every like, share or comment helps the Algorithm know that what I have shared is helpful, otherwise it just floats into the abyss.

Here on my Muse-letter which I lovingly hand write the old school way (I still don't know how to use chatGPT), I appreciate you reading my words which take me 3ish hours to write each week.

I really, really appreciate you because there's no point talking about showing up every day on social media and in my Muse-letter sharing resources and content, meditations, PDF guides and all of the things that I do in my weekly newsletter if it's not helpful to anyone.

Thank you. I adore you. Big things are coming.

Stay tuned for news.

Now, stay tuned on Instagram as I share my Cottesloe or Claremont new counselling practice journey over the next two weeks.

What's your sneaky dream?

Gabriella

PS. Reach out to us to talk about bespoke counselling for women and couples. Explore my website here, review the world's longest testimonials page and complete the contact form to get in touch.