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  • About Kaitlin
  • Somatic Workbook [Pre-Order]
  • Podcast & Blog
  • Learn with Kaitlin
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  • FREE STRESS RELIEF TRAINING

Integrating to Empowerment with Griefology™️

with Rosemary Wanganeen
Please ‘Subscribe‘ and leave a review if this podcast has benefited you.

Welcome to the fifteenth episode of Season Five of Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast.

In this episode, Rosemary Wanganeen talks through her path of healing from loss and grief.

Want to keep in touch? Head to @drkaitlin on Instagram or @wisdomforwellbeingpod on Facebook to connect.

What is covered in this episode:

>>Introduction to Rosemary and her 30 years + of experience doing this GriefologyTM  work

>>The path of healing through the ‘intuitive research’ that required Rosemary to cultivate wisdom, connect to ancestral wisdom and integrate her counselling skills

>>Understanding victimised inner child states and grief triggers

>>Exploring how grief presents

>>The Seven Phases to Integrating Loss and Grief, and where we can start our journey from victimhood to empowerment

Links Discussed

lossandgrief.com.au

Rosemary Wanganeen 

Working in the space of health, welfare and social justice for Aboriginal people, Rosemary has nearly 30 years’ experience. Between 1986-1988, Rosemary worked as an advocate and full-time research officer in the Committee to Defend Black Rights (CDBR). In the Sydney office, she campaigned vigorously for a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. CDBR became instrumental in forcing the Hawke government into calling for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC 1988-1991).

As an Aboriginal research officer, she worked in the Adelaide office of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1988-1991), while at the same time, still grieving and healing from her own personal lived experiences. Combining her work, her studies and her personal lived experiences, Rosemary developed the holistic and culturally safe and appropriate framework: The Seven Phases to Integrating Loss and Grief©.

The Seven Phases to Integrating Loss and Grief© model was strengthened by studying with Bereavement Educational Services (SA) in 1994 and with COPE (SA) in Counseling Basics and Counseling Strategies in 1991.

Rosemary has come to the realise that loss and inter-generational suppressed unresolved grief is the basis of so many of the challenges that beset contemporary Aboriginal people as individuals, families, communities and as a race of people. It was also the cause of many of the barriers that contribute to a fear of participation in society and accessing help from mainstream services.

Over 30 years Rosemary has become widely recognised for her expertise and successes in bi-cultural training and griefology. Her work is gaining growing attention and respect from academics and health professionals alike. The Seven Phases to Integrating Loss and Grief© is published in reputable articles and papers about her research, theories and methodologies and her work has featured in several specialist journals.

Rosemary is now renowned nationally and internationally as a public speaker for conferences, seminars and round table talks. Her compelling works pertain to Griefology which pervades the lives of all Aboriginal people and therefore matters to the healing potential for all Australians.

Listen to previous Podcasts

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Season 5: Episode 20

What You Need to Know to Use Yoga as a Therapeutic Health Practice

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Season 5: Episode 19

Therapists on the Mic: Psychological Reflections on the Podcast and Life 

with Kaitlin Harkess, PhD & Kate Matthew, MPsych
Season 5: Episode 18

Valued Living in the Holiday Rush

with Kaitlin Harkess, PhD
1 2 3

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Why I use a sauna as a psychologist… and why it mi Why I use a sauna as a psychologist… and why it might support your nervous system too 🔥 

Saunas can be a powerful self-soothing tool because they give your nervous system a clear sensory shift. When you are overwhelmed, your thinking brain goes offline, so having simple practices you can reach for in the moment really matters.

In The Somatic Workbook for Nervous System Regulation and Anxiety Management: 85+ Body-Based Practices for Deepening Awareness, Navigating Emotions, and Building Resilience, I share how sauna therapy can support you when you are feeling low, numb, or stuck. The warmth, endorphins, and growing research behind sauna bathing can help bring calm, clarity, and a sense of being back in your body.

A quick guideline: use cold when you are anxious or panicky, and use heat when you feel shut down or flat. You can move between the two depending on what your system needs.

The reel shows a glimpse from the Self-Soothing Toolbox chapter.

If this resonates, save it for when you need a nervous system shift. Your future self will thank you.

Follow for more psychological and somatic strategies to regulate your system and support emotional well-being.
✨ Last day to grab the free book copy! ✨ A little ✨ Last day to grab the free book copy! ✨

A little reminder that today is the final day to download The Somatic Workbook for Nervous System Regulation and Anxiety Management for free via Kindle. It’s being offered as a gift to support building Amazon reviews 💝

A lot of you have shared how the practices are already supporting you, and quite a few psychologists have messaged saying they’re using the exercises with clients too. While the book is written for a general audience, the tools are very clinician-friendly.

Amazon has made the setup a bit confusing, so here’s how to get the free version without Kindle Unlimited:

📚 Go to the book page

📚Tap Kindle

📚You’ll see two options: “Read with Kindle Unlimited” and “Buy for $0.00”

📚Tap “Buy for $0.00” — this gives you the book for free (no subscription needed)

📚 Read it in your browser or the free Kindle app

If the workbook resonates, leaving a quick review on Amazon helps it reach more people who might really need these nervous-system-supportive tools right now. 💛

Link is in my bio or at drkaitlin.com/somaticworkbook.
Here’s what psychologists quietly teach: reflectin Here’s what psychologists quietly teach: reflecting on death can redirect your life.

I often use mortality reflection to help people get clear on their values, priorities, and how they actually want to live. Learning here about the idea of death tracking, colouring in a square each Monday to mark another week lived, and I am intrigued by how it can gently nudge us toward alignment (weekly!)

A few important notes: this may not be for everyone. If it triggers anxiety, rumination, or avoidance, trust yourself and skip it. Mortality awareness is a tool, not a punishment, and individual differences matter.

If it does support you, it can act like a compass, helping you focus on values, relationships, lifestyle habits such as movement, sleep, nourishing food, and social connection, and the kind of life you actually want to be living. Pair it with a reflection like, “If someone had to write my obituary today, what would I want it to say?” and suddenly Mondays feel like a check-in with purpose, not just a day.

Big thanks to @mamamiaaus @mamamiaoutloud  and @wainwrightholly for bringing this fascinating practice to my attention. Mondays may never be the same!

Save this for a day you need clarity 🧭 
Share it with someone who might be looking for their purpose this week 🤗
“Free therapy? Not quite. But something that might “Free therapy? Not quite. But something that might support your nervous system in a really beautiful way…” 💛✨

The Somatic Workbook is FREE on Kindle from Nov 14–18 - so go ahead and grab it (I did too!) at drkaitlin.com/somaticworkbook.

This isn’t just about getting a book into more hands. It’s about something bigger.
When even one of us feels a little more regulated, grounded, and connected, the ripple effects touch our families, our workplaces, our friendships and our whole community.

Sharing nervous system tools is one of the most accessible, compassionate things we can do for collective wellbeing. And right now, with everything happening in the world, small acts of care genuinely matter.

If you download your free copy and it resonates, leaving an Amazon review helps the book reach people who might really need it. And please feel free to share the link with friends, clients, or anyone who could benefit from a gentle, research-backed mind–body resource.

A small action. A big ripple.
Thank you for being part of this community. 💛

Download free via Amazon or head to drkaitlin.com/somaticworkbook
So… are you “in therapy because of your almond mum So… are you “in therapy because of your almond mum”?
I say that jokingly, because therapy is supportive for so many reasons. It can also be the place where we finally understand where certain unhelpful patterns began.

Growing up around constant diet talk, rigidity, or fear-based messaging about food and bodies does more than shape habits. It creates patterns in the nervous system.

Patterns of tightening.

Patterns of overriding hunger or pleasure.

Patterns of confusing control with safety.

*the defectiveness schema (typo in captions says ‘effectiveness’ whoops! 😅)

Over time these patterns blunt our interoception. We lose touch with hunger, fullness, emotion and intuition. When the body gets policed, the body gets quiet. When cues are judged, cues retreat.

And this work is not about blaming ourselves or our mums. Many of us inherited generations of anxiety about worth, safety and appearance. Understanding that helps us step into something new with compassion.

Healing asks us to soften rigidity, rebuild interoception, and let intuition speak again. It asks us to offer care to the parts of us that coped the only way they knew how.

Therapy, nervous system work and psychological skills help us understand these patterns and gently rewire them. Not because we are broken, but because we are finally safe enough to listen inward again.

Your cues are not gone. They are waiting to be trusted.

Follow for more psychological and somatic strategies to reconnect with your body and create healthier patterns. 

And, send this to a friend or sibling who will get the mum dynamic…😳
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Dr. Kaitlin pays her respects to the Kaurna peoples as the Traditional Owner’s of the land on which she works and lives. Dr Kaitlin acknowledges that the Kaurna people have social, spiritual and historical connections to this land and their connections are as strong today as they have always been. She would like to extend this acknowledgment out to the Traditional Owners of the land on which you are based, and to acknowledge the Ktunaxa and Kinbasket Peoples of what is now called Canada, as she was born and gratefully raised on their traditional unceded territory.

Mandala Artwork by Scarlet Barnett
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