
About
Over the past 30 years I’ve studied human psychology from behind the lens, as professional photographer, a marketing creative and an educator. The love of learning has led to higher education through a Master of Counselling. Discovering a passion for academic research through post graduate studies, I continue with an ongoing Master of Philosophy researching neurodivergent students and their experience at school.
As a highly creative and empathic person, I thrive in helping others. A love of science and human behaviour informed all career choices through teaching, group facilitation, sales and marketing. My varied career has provided a strong scaffolds for working in the mental health and neurodivergent advocacy field. Research on neurodivergence and school attendance problems, through a Master of Counselling and now a Master of Philosophy, I’m working on a mixed methods photovoice pilot program, anticipating an empowerment of students to advocate for inclusive change in the school environment.

Lived Experience of Neurodivergence
Lived experience of ADHD offers a unique experience to investigate mindful photovoice as a method to re-engage students who are challenged by the school environment. Working with children early in my career as a primary school teacher, I know all too well the demands of the classroom for some students can be sensorily overwhelming.
Likely the reason I didn’t stay in the career for a very long time. Having a chair thrown at me by an 11 year old may have been one of the reasons I left teaching, but not the only one. The allure of moving to Sydney for love and new opportunities, I left the teaching profession after only a few years, with the desire to teach still there, I worked with educational institutions supplying Apple computers, informing ICT teachers how to set up networks and use their computers. As a lifelong learner of all things, the desire to know how things work has always been part of my experience.

History of Following Shiny New Things
A love for technology and all things photography started when I was young, the visual medium has always been an area that engages me, film or digital. Becoming a professional photographer in 2006, photographing real estate, headshots and products, I enjoyed the process of working with clients o get the best shots to market their products, large or small.
As I developed my photography business, merryimages.com.au, I found joy in working with individuals to get the best headshots for them to put out into the world, and put their authentic image of themselves and their business. Working with public speakers and small business owners, I found a similar story; people did not love looking at photos of themselves. Recognising the common humanity of this experience was obvious, and yet eye opening.
This was the beginning of wanting to work one on one with people to help them feel better about their experiences in the world.
Mindful Photography

Mindful Photography in the early days






I taught classes of adolescents and adults about the value of learning photography in manual mode. Although it started as a photography class, it always had a flavour of mindfulness to it. The Royal Botanic Gardens offered a great space to have a variety of beautiful colours, shapes, textures, smells, sounds and movement to look at and inspire any photographer. Setting up mindful photography as an idea, I think most thought it was a bit out there. They were right, it is about it being out there rather than in here!
Parents of autistic adolescents gave positive feedback about the classes as a mixture of socialisation, getting outside, understanding the use of the technology and how every setting impacts the shot and connecting with others through the safety of the lens.
Contorting myself into weird angles to get the best angle of a dragonfly or a bee in a bush, I found the purpose of these walks were to get out of my head and into the external world at first. It sounds very obvious to go for a walk, it will make you feel better, but when you are in a dark place, this can be an overwhelming task, so maybe wandering around your backyard was a good first step. A helpful counsellor once said to me, what is in front of you for the next 10 minutes and that was one of the best pieces of advice anyone has ever given me, confirming mindfulness as a pathway to moving in the direction I wanted to go









I continued to use the camera as a tool for mindfulness personally throughout the pandemic when classes were not able to run. It was a great way to connect the outside with the inside and find ways to process the difficult emotions of the changing world. Noticing that the bees were still pollinating the lavender, the spiders were still spinning webs, the world felt a bit less changed. Photographing sharp and pointy seeds helped to alleviate some of the anger that I felt and the growth of flowers through the cracks in concrete reminded me that growth can happen in the strangest of places.