Do you look forward to the holidays, or does it fill you with dread? Let’s talk about it! It's been about adjusting your perspective on managing your holidays in stepfamily life. The first step is to foster gratitude with a more positive view of the bigger picture. It's easy to get stuck in negative feelings; impatience, intolerance, resentment, negative judgement and anger can rise and take over. Gratitude is the antidote to these emotions; it reduces depression, anxiety, stress and feeling like a victim.

When setting up my private practice in Sydney, I chose to specialise in stepfamilies as Sydney had limited resources and professional guidance back then. As a young step mum, I wish I had guidance when starting life as a step mum.

So, after my Postgraduate in Psychotherapy Studies, I set out to become informed about stepfamilies. Fortunately, I was able to train with Jeannette Lofas in New York city with the Stepfamily Foundation also with Lisa Doodson of Happy Steps in London. And I continue to expand on this knowledge primarily through my clients, who teach me so much.