Hi, I'm Shelly
About Me
Therapy works best when you feel safe, understood, and able to be yourself. That’s what I offer here.
I didn’t come into this work from textbooks alone. I’ve lived through major life changes, loss, rebuilding, and starting again when it felt like everything had fallen apart. I know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed, stretched thin, or unsure where to turn next. Those chapters shaped the way I show up as a therapist today: grounded, steady, and fully present.
My background includes years working in supportive roles, counselling, volunteering with the Samaritans, and a long career helping people through difficult life storys. Over time, I’ve combined this with researched therapy, mind-body approaches, hypnotherapy, and a focus on confidence, anxiety, and emotional resilience.
Clients often tell me they feel calmer within the first few minutes. My role is to help you untangle what’s heavy, understand the patterns that keep looping, and make space for clearer thinking and steadier choices.
I work with women who are capable, bright, and carrying far too much. Women who want support that feels real, practical, and human. You don’t need perfect words or a neat story. Just come as you are.
What I’ve learned through both life and work is simple: You can rebuild from anything. You can feel like yourself again. And you don’t have to do it alone.
Shelly Dar
Finding My Purpose
Life has a quiet way of pointing you toward your path. When illness affected my family in the early 2000s, I shifted from retail and HR into caring roles because it felt natural – almost like something in me already knew how to support others.
I trained as a counsellor and threw myself into volunteer work, spending hundreds of hours with organisations like the Samaritans, The Red Cross, Coping With Cancer, and the Rape Crisis Centre. Every person I supported reminded me why this work mattered. I wasn’t just offering techniques from textbooks. I was sharing lived, hard-won wisdom.
By my 40s, I thought I’d built a life that was solid and lasting – a home, a career, a sense of stability. But life changed again. And even though I had to start over, it brought me back to something important: clarity about who I am and what truly matters.
And here’s what I can say with certainty now: I’m not done. I’m still growing, still building a life that feels calm, intentional, and mine. What I carry forward can’t be taken away.
Why I Do This Work
This latest chapter taught me something important: we can’t keep waiting for life to happen to us. You deserve more than surviving, you deserve to thrive. You matter first. You deserve peace, stability, and happiness.
When I see my clients reclaim their confidence, soften their anxiety, and reconnect with themselves, that’s what drives me. Against all odds, they choose themselves. They rise. They stop accepting less than they deserve.
That’s why I do this work.
My Approach
Over the last 15 years I’ve blended counselling, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, mind–body work, and real-life experience. I’m ABC registered and have been featured in Glamour, Metro, and on BBC Radio 5 Live.
But the truth is, my greatest qualification is lived understanding. I know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed, to doubt yourself, and to keep carrying more than anyone can see. My approach is calm, steady, and focused on helping you think clearly, feel stronger, and move through life with confidence.
Beyond the Therapy Room
Outside my work, you’ll usually find me practicing yoga, walking in nature, enjoying beauty and skincare, or watching a good thriller. I love quiet routines, creative hobbies, and spending time with my grandsons.
Fun fact: before therapy, I once dreamed of becoming a makeup artist. Life took me in a different direction, and I’m grateful it did – every twist brought me to the work I’m meant to do.