My vision has always been to offer in-person and online access to quality, effective and integrated mind-body psychotherapies—informed by both traditional wisdom and contemporary thinking.  Today’s therapists know that making sense of our life history fundamentally transforms how we related to ourselves and others. Research affirms this: the best indicator of a child's emotional health is how their parent has made sense of their own life narrative.

For over twenty years I’ve been devoted to the fields of mind-body medicine and therapy. I’ve loved all the iterations of creating safe and scared therapeutic containers—for people drawn to explore what truly motivates them, and the roles that body and spirit can play in healing, transformation and awakening. When the pandemic arrived, the move to online therapy was surprisingly seemless. It’s a real joy to be able to offer therapy both in-person and online in ways that remain attuned, relational and alive.

My approach is a living kaleidoscope of ongoing professional development, embodied inquiry, and spiritual practice. The invitation I keep returning to is one of being—of becoming—an embodied presence in the world that helps transform suffering. I truly believe when we learn to be guided—both individually and collectively—by the parts of ourselves that are naturally compassionate, curious and caring, we open the door to a more kind, connected, and fulfilling way of living. One that honours each other, and our precious, vulnerable planet.

My first formal exploration into psychology began in 2004 while writing a master’s thesis on trauma. I was drawn to the question: what happens to the psyche when painful, uncontrollable events occur repeatedly—when a human being is rendered utterly helpless? My research, in alignment with the literature at the time, confirmed that early trauma profoundly shapes how we see ourselves and others.

This inquiry led me to work with families experiencing deep, multigenerational trauma. In those spaces, I learned that change often unfolds in small, delicate windows—yet those windows can open to something transformative.

Over the past two decades, my training as spanned psychodynamic psychotherapy, infant and child development, jungian mind, body and soul, yoga and more recently, sensorimotor psychotherapy, internal family systems (IFS), mindfulness and compassion teacher training with the Insight Meditation Institute and purpose guiding with Purpose Guide Institute. These streams have coalesced into a deeply integrative practice—one that supports calming the nervous system, processing traumatic memory and unburdening the core wounds and identities we carry. What can feel fixed and permanent begins to loosen. What emerges is a sense of inner freedom—and the natural arising of compassion, joy and purpose.

Pain and suffering is often what brings people to therapy. Beneath the surface, we may find protective strategies formed to survive overwhelming experiences such as child abuse and neglect, parental addiction or mental illness, chronic illness, bullying, loss or relationship breakdown. Therapy can also be a refuge when life simply stops making sense—when work, relationships, or the roles we’ve inhabited no longer feel aligned or sustainable.

Many of my clients arrive exhausted—burnt out from decades living in a state of overwhelm. Others speak of chronic flatness and disconnection. Some oscillate between the two. A common thread is the loss of meaning or purpose. Therapy offers a space to gently uncover how the autonomic nervous system has learned to respond to stress, often in ways that no longer serve. As we build capacity for self-regulation, we gain access to deeper emotional truth—and to the core beliefs that shape our lives. With time—and the willingness to feel grief—something spacious opens. A quiet grace can emerge—a seemingly untouched by wounds of the past. 

“You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”
— Pema Chödrön

My work as a psychotherapist continues to evolve. It began in the psychodynamic tradition with its focus on the unconscious and has naturally expanded to include psycho-spiritual integration—recognising how our psychological patterns and spiritual longings are deeply interconnected.

Because each person’s adaptation to life experience is unique, I prefer to co-create a therapeutic map that honours known strengths and gently explores the parts of self that may be ready for change—or ready to open to the stillness and presence that’s always here. My approach draws from body-centered therapies and the Buddha Dharma to loosen the survival strategies that hold a fixed sense of a seperate self in place.

I appreciate how Mark Epstein, a New York therapist and long-term meditator, puts it, “Buddhist contemplation is a kind of therapy, after all; it’s whole orientation is toward relieving people of needless self-inflicted psychological suffering. And psychotherapy, like meditation, is, at base, an inquiry into the nature of self. The more you examine your experience, the more mysterious, and, elusive the self becomes”.

I mostly draw from sensorimotor psychotherapy and IFS to support trauma healing and reconnection. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, developed by Pat Odgen PhD, supports mindful exploration of the body and how it organises around wellness, attachment wounds and traumatic experience. It offers a way to track and transform embodied patterns with care and curiosity.

IFS understand the psyche is made up of parts—each with positive intentions—and a core Self that is naturally compassionate and wise. Trauma can force parts into extreme roles and casue them to carry pain. The IFS process gently supports these parts to release old burdens and restore trust in Self-leadership.

The Buddha Dharma

The Insight Meditation tradition draws from the early teachings of the Buddha, offering a path of spiritual awakening. Grounded in the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path, these early teachings of the Buddha invite us to meet life with clarity, compassion and embodied presence.

Rather than avoiding suffering, the Dharma teaches us to turn toward it with awareness—revealing the possibility of freedom, insight, and wholeness already within us. This living tradition continues to guide both my inner practice and therapeutic work.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness (sati) lies at the heart of Insight Meditation. It is the practice of calming and bringing steady awareness to our moment-to-moment experience—body, feeling, mind, and the unfolding of life. In both therapy and meditation, mindfulness supports nervous system regulation, clarity, and the freedom to respond rather than react. Within the Eightfold Path, it is part of a larger ethical and contemplative framework for waking up to the truth of impermanance and the impersonal nature of life.

Wisdom

Wisdom in the Insight tradition is cultivated through direct experience—by seeing into the impermanence, interconnection, and insubstantiality of all things. Through the development of right view and right intention, we grow in discernment, soften reactivity, and align more fully with what is true. Wisdom is what allows us to meet life with clarity, and to let go of what no longer serves.

Compassion

Compassion is the natural response of the heart when we meet suffering with presence. In Insight Meditation, it arises alongside wisdom—not as something extra, but as a vital force for healing and transformation. Compassion is expressed in how we speak, act, and relate to both ourselves and others. In therapy, it creates space for wounded parts to return home. In practice, it opens us to deeper connection and shared humanity.

Teaching Experience & Resources

I’m currently undertaking a four-year Dharma Teacher Pathway through Insight Meditation Institute, under the mentorship of Subhana Barzaghi. This invitation has been a deep honour and a natural extension of my personal and professional practice. I’ve recently begun facilitating with Melbourne Insight Meditation and co-taught a beginner’s course on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness earlier this year. Sharing these foundational teachings continues to be a rich and humbling experience.

For guided meditations and dharma talks see Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg & Jess Huon

"No ray of sunlight is ever lost, but the green which it wakes into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted the power to live to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith"
Albert Schweitzer

Caroline Browne, MAPS

Clinical Psychologist & Meditation Teacher

Stable Health Clinic

22 Alma Rd St Kilda VIC 3183

m 0498 007 925

therapy@carolinebrowne.com

In-person & online appointments available-please reach out to set up an initial intake call.

BRAND MARK

(Designed by RoscherCreative)

The well-known Rorschach Inkblot Test inspired the Caroline Browne brand mark. The pattern the inkbot makes is mandala like in shape, which taps into Caroline's use of Eastern philosophies and methods in her approach to therapy. The inkblot is the coming together of two faces, two profiles. This speaks both of the collaboration of client and therapist and also the layered nature of the human psyche. The colours, from the magenta bottom to red heart centre, stretch up to the enlightened gold. The shape is uplifting and suggests progress and evolution.

It is an inkblot test.

So what do you see?