Here for you,
to really hear you
A little bit about me…
My name is Daniela MacAulay, and I’m a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Psychotherapist and a Mum, based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
My work is holistic and is largely informed by my psychotherapeutic training in contemporary Gestalt therapy as well as my person-centred counselling training and an interest in somatic work, internal family systems and existential therapy. Years of working with disadvantaged women who experienced interpersonal trauma have also helped to shaped my passion for women’s issues.
I am trained and experienced in supporting clients impacted by trauma.
I am a clinical member of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).
My Journey
How overcoming my own struggles led me on the path of becoming a therapist.
In my twenties, my life appeared to be "on the right track". I had a promising marketing career, an active social life, and my own little apartment in Prague. Yet internally, I struggled to find purpose or meaning in my work. Life felt somewhat empty, and I didn't really feel like I belonged anywhere in particular. My coping mechanisms revolved around food, controlling my weight, and using alcohol to escape reality. Though I no longer looked like I had an eating disorder, I was still very much in recovery from anorexia that had ruled my life through high school and for quite some time after. Those close to me were unaware of my internal struggles. I had become very good at wearing the right masks to fit in, engaging in people-pleasing behaviour, with no understanding of what boundaries meant.
When I was 27, my dad very unexpectedly passed away. I tried seeing a psychologist then, but didn’t connect with her and soon gave up. I felt like I needed a change. I had always gravitated towards Australia, so decided to move here for some time. Despite the travel, work, study, and socialising, I found myself engaged in unhealthy relationships and feeling lost. I returned home two and a half years later, only to realise that if I had ever felt like I belonged there, now I definitely didn’t. I missed Australia as if a part of me had been left behind — The free part. I felt homesick, I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I felt completely alone.
This is when I gave therapy another shot. After a few attempts, I found a psychotherapist who worked differently from the psychologists I'd seen before. (It was much later I learnt that there was a difference in the training and approach for psychologists and psychotherapists). I saw her twice a week at first and then weekly for a while. I finally felt like someone was hearing and seeing me and I wasn’t all alone in it. She stayed with me and my intense emotions. That was the first time I ever experienced another human holding space for me this way. Gradually, I started to gain clarity, and although I hadn't figured everything out, I had direction and could see colours where there had only been grey for so long.
Fast forward a few months and I’m at the orientation for my Counselling Degree in Sydney. Right there, something amazing happened. I felt like I belonged. I knew with all my heart that I was exactly where I needed to be. It was the first time I ever felt that way in my life. I absolutely loved my entire degree, despite the challenges of working two jobs to fund my studies and travelling long distances for practical experience. It wasn't easy — but I couldn't have been happier.
As a part of my degree I completed a student placement at an outpatient eating disorders clinic. It helped me realise how far I had come in my own recovery and deepened my understanding of the relational and emotional aspects of eating disorders. The whole experience was a big learning curve for me. One that led to discovering some of my own problematic ways of relating to others and beginning yet another layer of healing.
This personal growth allowed me to open myself to a healthy relationship unlike any I'd had before. I pursued further training to become a psychotherapist, focusing on the relational aspect of therapy. My journey has included more personal therapy and life's inevitable ups and downs. Becoming a mother challenged me to the core of my being, revealing wounds I never knew existed. However, I now live a connected life, fully engaged with all its uncertainty, challenges, joy, pain, and excitement.
Living a life that feels authentic, meaningful and fulfilling is the intention that drives everything I do and I'm passionate about helping others do the same.
What is Gestalt Therapy?
Gestalt therapy is a holistic, relational, integrative and experiential psychotherapeutic style.
One of the main goals of gestalt therapy is the client’s increased awareness.
This brings change, growth and healing. Gestalt therapy holds the belief that people already have all the resources to lead a meaningful life, but sometimes get stuck in ways of interacting with the world that get in the way of that. These ways of relating to others are often something that they learnt in the past and that had served them very well at some point. Such fixed patterns of making contact can, however, become a source of frustration, dissatisfaction with life, relationship issues and even mental and physical illness.
Gestalt therapists support their clients in exploring these patterns and becoming aware of the way they take place in their life.
This is often done by working with the present moment and with what happens in the therapy room between the client and the therapist. The therapeutic sessions are like a microcosm of the client’s world outside of the room. This work is often playful and always client-led. Gestalt therapists place aside their assumptions and recognise the uniqueness of every individual client. The focus of gestalt therapy is on integrating what makes the client their whole self and supporting them in finding their own way towards wellbeing.
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