Bernadette Gea Gea

I was propelled into adulthood by a desire for social justice and equality prompted by the racism I experienced growing up in the inner west of Sydney and the gendered inequality within the Lebanese community whose people I called my own. But a human rights lawyer I was not to be as I left law school disillusioned wondering how to see through the changes I’d envisioned. The world beckoned and I explored it and myself for a few years. Meditation and yoga found their way into my life and I returned home to begin a career as a performing artist, drama teacher/therapist. This led me to close contact with many people seeking something outside of what was on offer in the mainstream and I realised my work was having an impact on them.  I decided to delve deeper into understanding human behaviour and I studied for a Bachelor of Counselling and Human Change.

I’ve worked for over ten years now as a psychotherapist both in private practice and with NGOs mainly assisting people come out of shame and enhance the quality of their primary relationship with themselves from which all others follow. I believe we can know ourselves in such a way that we no longer experience fear or that debilitates or unprocessed grief that runs our lives from the shadows. It’s a practice not a goal and the body is the pathway.  I draw on years of dance, performance, yoga and meditation practice and teaching.  I work with compassion and understanding to assist people to find their own answers and trust the wisdom of their own bodies to understand how they came to be in the positions they’re in and to find their way to more fulfilling and nourishing lives.