Little Pea Therapy | Clinical Psychology, Yoga & Art and Play Therapy

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Little Pea Therapy was born in 2024, after the arrival of my own little pea—Penny. Penny has been my greatest teacher. She’s shown me how to slow down, how to live in my body, and how to meet the world with curiosity and awe.

She reminds me that love can be soft and fierce all at once—and that holding space for big feelings is meaningful, necessary, and brave.

She hasn’t learned to mask yet. She doesn’t shrink herself to fit into someone else’s frame. There’s no unlearning—just being. And being near her has reshaped the kind of care I want to offer, the spaces I want to hold, and the world I want to help build—not just for her, but for all our children (including the ones still living inside us).

This is the home for my therapy offerings, but I’m not doing this work alone. Little Pea Therapy lives within the Rainbow Muse Collective, something I’m proud to be co-creating. A constellation of creative, heart-led humans who believe in doing care differently.

We’re united not by sameness, but by shared values—radical love, sensory safety, creative expression, and support that doesn’t come with a clipboard. Here, we believe in relationship over rigidity, connection over compliance, and joy as resistance. A collective commitment to care that feels like coming home.

And in many ways, Penny’s lessons ripple through everything I do—how I show up in this collective, how I collaborate with the people I work alongside, and how I dream of better systems for the wider world.We’re all learning together. Building something gentler, messier, and more human—one small, honest moment at a time.

What Therapy Looks Like

If you’re looking for clinical diagnoses, formal assessments, or traditional interventions— Little Pea Therapy might not be the right fit.

But if you’re seeking a space where therapy feels like storytime, dog cuddles, yoga stretches, messy art, and soft laughter—then you might feel at home here.

I walk alongside kids, teens, and tender-hearted grown-ups as they move through hard things and big feelings—especially those who feel everything deeply, and have been told they’re “too much” for far too long.

My approach is playful, intuitive, trauma-aware, and led by the nervous system—not a script. It’s about creating space where you don’t have to shrink or explain yourself just to belong

Together, we dream of care that feels like belonging. And we’re building it, one gentle session at a time.

A Note on Values

I’m especially passionate about supporting humans who don’t easily fit into the boxes our systems try to squeeze us into.

Little Pea Therapy is human-centred, inclusive, and gently non-pathologising. I’m fiercely LGBTQIA+ and neuro-affirming, disability-friendly, and committed to anti-racist practice. I care deeply about social justice—not just as an idea, but as a daily, imperfect practice.

I don’t pretend to have it all figured out. I’m on a lifelong journey of learning (and unlearning) how to show up with care, with curiosity, and with a willingness to get it wrong and try again.

This work—like all of us—is a work in progress. But it’s rooted in love, and a fierce belief that everyone deserves spaces where they feel safe, seen, and supported just as they are.

A Little More About Me

I’m a Clinical Psychologist by training—but the longer I’ve worked in the field, the more I’ve felt the tension between the system I was trained in and the kind of care I believe in.

Western psychology, grounded in the biomedical model, often reduces rich, complex, magical humans into labels, checklists, and diagnostic codes. But people are always doing the best they can. When someone doesn’t have the tools, the capacity, or the support they need to meet the demands of their world, their distress will show up in ways that make sense—if only we know how to listen.

Too often, that distress is punished. Misread. Pathologised. Especially in systems that uphold neurotypical, Eurocentric, cis-hetero-normative ways of being.

I’ve felt that dissonance growing in my body for years. It’s brought me to the edge of burnout and heartbreak. I don’t want to be complicit anymore. I want us all to be free.

I’m a neurodivergent therapist—autistic and ADHD—and I bring my whole self into this work: whimsy, creativity, curiosity, and care. I’m currently studying Art Therapy at MIECAT and exploring new ways to be in this work that feel more human, more honest, more kind.

I don’t have the answers. I won’t pretend to. This is my first time being a human, too.

But I do know this: Everyone is doing their best. Nobody is broken.

Some people just carry more because the systems around them are designed to exclude them.

I cannot—and will not—“fix” people to fit into broken systems.

Therapy can be beautiful. It can be healing.

But only if it sits alongside justice, liberation, and the work of dismantling the systems that harm us.

I will learn as much from you as you do from me. Art and play are healing. Love is liberation. We are stronger together.

LITTLE PEA
OFFERINGS

HUMAN CENTERED THERAPIES

CREATIVE AND ARTS BASED THERAPIES

NEUROAFFIRMING PARENTING SUPPORT

SUPERVISION

TRAUMA INFORMED YOGA

EMDR THERAPY

PLAY THERAPY

ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

I have had a long career so far; working across government and private sectors. I’ve worked in youth homelessness; drug and alcohol programs; child protective programs including foster care and residential care; and community mental health programs like headspace; and Berry Street Take Two. I went out on my own in 2019 and started as Girl and Dog Psychology; before joining forces with my bestie Chenai Mupotsa Russell to co-direct Rainbow Muse Clinic; where we have been working for the last three years.

We made the decision to dismantle the Clinic after reflecting deeply on all of the ways that this capitalist structure continued to exploit and create harm by unevenly distributing the labour. We realised that Rainbow Muse Clinic had moved away from Chenai’s original vision; and that in order to live with integrity we needed to say goodbye.Choosing to create Rainbow Muse Collective has been a liberatory practice; and a love letter to my bestie Chenai; whose original vision for Rainbow Muse was centred around healing justice. Chenai was, continues to, and will always be my rainbow muse.In creating our own businesses within a collective, we equally redistribute the systemic load; and create space for equity and dreaming. Everyone is responsible; nobody is burnt out holding the hard parts.

ABOUT BILLIE

Therapy Dog (She/Her)

Hi I’m Billie! I’m a Kelpie/Labrador Cross, and an accredited Therapy Dog. I have been working with young people for six years alongside Sammy, and I am extremely passionate about helping young people through tough times. I am a rescue dog, and I had a really tough start to life. I know what it’s like to be scared and untrusting of people – and I know what it’s like when traumatic memories get stored in your body.

In 2020 I had cancer, and I lost my leg. So I also know a thing or two about resilience, gratitude and the importance of having a good support network (like my mum). I absolutely love eating. I have a bottomless stomach and will eat anything I’m allowed to. My other hobbies include going for (slow) walks, chasing sticks in the park, lying in the sun for hours like a lizard; and begging for tummy rubs.

Qualifications
(* I do not prioritise these learnings; but here is a list)
- Masters of Therapeutic Arts (MIECAT) – 2024 – Present
- Masters of Clinical Psychology (Swinburne University) - 2019.
-Honours in Psychology (University of Western Australia) – 2010
- Bachelor of Arts (University of Western Australia) – 2008

Professional Development / Learnings
• Trauma Informed Yoga & Embodied Social Justice Training (2022)
• Synergetic Play Therapy (2022)
• Yoga Teacher Training (2021)
• EMDR Training – Advanced (2021)
• Clinical Psychology – Board Approved Supervisors Training (2021)
• Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (2021)
• THERAPLAY Training (2021)
• Circle of Security – Attachment Parenting Facilitator Training (2021)
• Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Advanced (DDP – 2020)
• Treating Complex Trauma and PTSD (2019)
• Who’s In Charge – Violence Against Parents Facilitator Training (2019)
• Tuning Into Teens – Emotion Focused Parenting Facilitator Training (2018)
• The Body Project – Disordered Eating Facilitator Training (2018)
• Animal Assisted Therapy Training, Lead the Way (2017)
• Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST - 2017)
• Dialectic Behaviour Therapy – Advanced Training (2017)