Kylie Grills

Knowing how to regulate emotions fosters an invaluable sense of self-efficacy, and increases your confidence in being able to cope with whatever life throws at you. I approach emotion regulation by empowering you to understand what’s happening in your autonomic nervous system. Often generic coping strategies only work as band-aid solutions, until we understand what nervous system state they’re useful for, and why we’re using them in the first place. Together we can upgrade your strategies, and teach your body new, more meaningful ways of coping.

Mapping our internal world can help us understand all the different (and often conflicting) parts of ourselves. With gentle curiosity, I’ll help you explore each of your unique parts, so we can understand why some of them might be holding you back. My approach holds a deep respect for all the parts that got you here, honouring that this is a very sophisticated way of our body trying to protect us (despite being frustrating at times).   Together we aim to befriend these parts, so they can work together in more integrated and adaptive ways.

When a traumatic event happens, the memory is often stored differently in our brain compared to regular memories, due to the intense distress experienced at the time. As a result, trauma memories can become stuck or “frozen” in the nervous system. This means they can be repeatedly triggered by reminders, causing emotional reactions to play out again and again, leaving us feeling out of control. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps "unfreeze" these memories, allowing the brain’s natural processing system to work through them, so they have less of an impact on your day-to-day life. We’ll only ever explore these memories at a capacity you’re comfortable with, and you are always in control of where we go.

Healing from past hurts often creates space to reconnect with your most authentic self. I am passionate about helping you foster a sense of purpose and meaning in your life, re-discover what brings you joy, and deepen your connection to yourself, others and the world around you. With a spirit of playful curiosity, we’ll explore the “glimmers” that brighten your life, as I support and empower you to weave more joy and fulfilment into each day.

Visually mapping out key moments and events in our lives can be a powerful way of gaining insight into the challenges we've faced, and our amazing capacity as humans to cope with difficult things. This reflective process helps cultivate self-compassion, allowing you to view your experiences with greater empathy. It also helps foster a sense of empowerment and agency, as we collaborate to help you move forward with intention, creating a life in alignment with your values and goals.