Hi, I’m Polly. I’m really glad you found me. I’m a proud social worker and deep thinker, educator and writer. I’m currently living and working on Yuggera and Turrbal lands - specifically Meanjin (Brisbane).

I got into social work a bit by accident, not being totally clear on what was involved, and was delighted to discover a profession that was a great fit for me - a bit ‘anti establishment’, working in complex spaces that others are reluctant to engage with, and not easy to define. Whilst the definition of the profession remains a bit ambiguous, I’ve got a lot clearer on the work that I want to spend my time on.

I started out in what felt at the time like the wrong place in my career - rather than going out into the field, I went straight from studying at university into working there. I began teaching and researching with full intentions to study a PhD in recovery-oriented mental health practice, which I developed a drive for because of the devastating impact of a death by suicide in my family in the early 2000’s.

However, fate had other plans and I was derailed from my PhD quest… for the time being. When my mother became unexpectedly very ill with cancer and died soon after the diagnosis in 2017, I reevaluated where I was spending my time and continued with teaching, and also did a stint of clinical practice in palliative care, where I wrote a model of care for social workers practicing in that space. It was then that I realised that I did have a true passion for direct practice with people, and ideas began emerging about how I could blend my passion for educating with therapeutic care.

These days, I’m happily engaged in a PhD at Western Sydney University where I’m studying the professional identity of social work in the 21st century. In this ever-changing world, many professions are undergoing radical transformation through externally generated agendas, so I’m hoping that the theory generated through my research will be helpful not just for my profession but a guiding light for other professions that are experiencing tumultuous times.

Therapeutic coaching is an ideal model of working for me because it’s a lovely combination of leadership, working together, and providing person centred care focused on the other’s needs. I get a real buzz out of sharing the things that I’ve found effective in my practice and from the evidence base, and these are often things that I have tested on myself, too. I believe that we are all doing our best with the resources we have got, and also that those resources can be built and enhanced given the right conditions, support and relationships. I have had some extraordinary encounters with mental health and other health professionals and helpers over the years - through their modelling, some have taught me exactly how not to behave, and others have brought out the best in me, and led by examples that have inspired and strengthened my own work. My aim is to be the kind of coach, counsellor, support person and human being that I would want and need in my darkest and most confusing hours.

If you’re wondering whether we’ll be a good fit, here’s a few things to know about me - I feel equally passionate about erudite language and swearing like a sailor, I have extraordinary drive and productivity and an equal need for deep and uninterrupted rest and cogitation, I love running, weight-lifting and bushwalking as much as I like spending whole days in bed sometimes - I am a litany of contradictions, just like everyone else.

To paraphrase Alain de Botton, I think that relationships would probably have a better chance of flourishing if we stopped asking banal questions on dinner dates and instead started asking ‘in what ways are you crazy?’ not just because it’s a more interesting question, but because it serves to strip away some of the carefully lacquered social image that we are often culturally conditioned to cultivate. And I think the same ethos really applies to any kind of relationship; under the microscope, all human beings are pretty strange, so let’s rock out together in all our weirdness. I look forward to getting to know you, warts and all.

Polly