Hi there! I'm Ashleigh
Cycle breaker, holder of hard stories, with a passion for
empowering parents
I take a ‘with curiosity’ approaching to helping kids and parents.
My dream is for every child and parent to grow up where they feel good about themselves, they feel connected with each other and their lives are filled with the magic of joy and playfulness.
That’s exactly what me and my incredible team of practitioners are here to do.
We're here to help you and your kids live life together in a
connected and enriching way
We want you to stop feeling:
Stressed and on edge with each other all the time.
So worried that you’re getting parenting wrong.
Like each day looks and feels the same, day in and day out.
Because when you’re feeling good about yourself and your parenting,
connected and regulated, you do well and so do your kids.
why I do what I do
my story
Have you ever opened your mouth and thought ‘CRAP! I sound exactly like my parents when I was a kid?’
Confession time. Me too!
Sometimes my ‘Shark Music’ takes over (thanks Circle of Security Parenting for naming the term) leading to:
Moments where my fuse is short, I feel so frustrated and I’m edging closer by the minute to the point of no return, as I like to call it.
A battle for power between who needs are more important – my kid or my own.
Me not making the best choices in my parenting.
We all have ‘Shark Music’, otherwise known as those moments where we feel triggered.
Once we become aware of it and understand why it’s there, we have the power to do what we need to change so we feel good about our parenting, leading to more peaceful and playful moments.
making commitments
Before my son Oliver was born I made a commitment to myself.
I would not use fear in my parenting as a way to control my children or make my children ‘behave’ in ways that were convenient for me.
I was lucky to know that behaviour is a way of communication, what we see on the outside is a reflection of what’s happening on the inside and at the end of the day, kids are trying to get their needs met in the best way they know how.
Like a whole lot of other people, I grew up in a parenting paradigm where children must be seen and not heard, children must behave and
be good or they missed out on things and timeouts and smacking was considered a good form of discipline.
Don’t get me wrong. I was blessed to grow up in a childhood free from serious trauma and harm, but it didn’t come without its flaws.
I’m only starting to understand the full impacts of my childhood now. I didn’t want the same thing happen for my own kids.
it's hard work
taking responsibility
I’m not going to sugar coat this.
The commitment i made to myself and my kids
has been hard work.
It’s taken a daily commitment of staying curious, reflecting upon my own experiences. sitting in my own stuff, naming up and taking responsibility when I haven’t made the best choices and giving myself exactly what I missed out on back when I was a kid.
That, is frickin’ hard.
Your experiences of parenting might be similar and I’m so glad that you’re here choosing to make this commitment too.
You deserve better, so does your kid and we’re here to help you get started.
I now make a living (along with my incredible team of practitioners) helping other parents to break cycles and feel good about their parenting,
so parenting and family life can fiiiiiiiiinally feel peaceful and playful again.
But before we go any further, let me introduce to you my incredible team!
When you work with us we'll be:
It’s a Circles of Security Parenting thing.
You’re as important as your kids.
We understand that you need
exactly what they’re needing.
To feel safe, to feel listened to, to feel seen and understood like someone else actually ‘gets it’.
To feel held when it all feels too scary and too hard.
To feel celebrated and to know what you’re doing well, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
We don’t claim to be experts.
We are parents like you who come with our own experiences, our own things that we do well, those that we find challenging and are making commitments on the daily to do better for ourself and for our kids.
The difference is that we have a little bit more of knowledge and understanding about kids, parenting and relationships than you might do.
We aim to share our knowledge through education, by showing you what it can look like and giving you a supportive space to practice.
We are leaders and we are
here to help guide you.
We are here to help you discover what you do well and build on that.
We are here to help you get started on your journey of peaceful, playful parenting.
We are here to take charge by breaking it down into small, manageable steps when it all feels like it’s too much and too overwhelming.
our brand values
There are four values that underpin everything that we do here at Nurture, Play and Healing.
They weave through the work that we do with children, with parents, with families,
with how our practitioners treat each other and with ourselves.
Safety
We need to feel safe in order to visit and heal those places and parts of ourselves that are painful and shameful.
Connection
Human connection is powerful.
Healing happens when we restore connection to ourselves and are connected with others.
Attunement
Being attuned is exactly what we mean by the ‘hands holding the hands’.
This is how we see you, how we hear you, how we feel you and how we understand you.
We’ll be attuned to you.
Play
Life is about being connected and playful with each other.
Let’s make the most of being playful so we can make parenting and family life feel peaceful and enriching.
the fun and not so secret
facts about me
I’m a plant lovin’ Schitts Creek fan drinking coffee by day and Milo by night.
I don’t do full price clothing. I prefer to rummage through racks at the op shops, snapping up fun clothing finds and getting a whole lotta bang-for-mah-buck.
I play around with puzzles, Zentangles, paint and play dough.
I’m sensory like that.
I use every small spoon in the drawer and leave empty glasses wherever I go, kinda like a fun game of follow the cookie crumb trail.
Hubby Adrian LOVES it!
I can’t live without my phone, a coffee to start the day and something on Netflix in the background while I’m in ‘my zone’.
I’m a chicken parmie kinda gal.
I love the consistency and predictability that it offers.
And I love a cold glass of Schwepps Sugar Free Agrum Citrus Blend soda on a hot summer day. Ahhhh refreshing.
Would we make a great team
or what?
You’ll bring the ‘errrrrrrrrr ma gooooooddddd I’m feeling so frickin’ frustrated I could lose my shiiiiiiiiiit.’
We’ll bring the ‘Phew let’s take a breath, slow things down,
zoom out a little and let’s see if we can find out
what’s really happening here.’
Together, you’ll become the peaceful, playful parent you want to be, absolutely nailing this whole parenting thing.
