About me

My name is Leigh Lonsdale. 

As a qualified Counsellor and Life Coach, I’m extremely blessed to live out my passion and purpose every day. For as long as I can remember, I have felt my purpose was to go deep into my experience of life; deep into joy, love, creation, relationships; to seek out meaning and then find ways to offer my understandings to others so they may also experience their inherent worth and value.

In practical terms, that has meant I’ve studied and worked in various fields; nursing, first aid instruction, ambulance transport, theology, religion, the interfaith movement, counselling and life coaching. All the while, diving deep into marriage, birthing and raising children of my own and others, and now I bathe in the role of grandma to 10 beautiful souls! I’ve lived in almost every state of this magnificent country at one point or another, and was fortunate to spend a few years living in Malaysia, soaking up the wonders of a new culture, again going deep into life and all it offers. I’ve traveled other countries extensively, have dear friends and family around the corner, and others’ around the globe.

Whilst my life is full of depth and joy, it certainly has not been all rainbows and roses - after breaking my back 24 years ago, I was required to do a total rethink. I needed to re-imagine my career based on my new physical capacity, so I used that period of recovery as a launching place for a new career into Counselling. I graduated from La Trobe University in Melbourne in 2000 with a Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Human Services.  These skills have been in use ever since – that was 21 years ago. 

I continued my studies at University, this next time at the Melbourne College of Divinity completing a Graduate Diploma in Theology. In my ongoing professional development I have undertaken courses around Bereavement, Grief and Loss, Child Protection, Drugs and Alcohol misuse, and Suicide Prevention.  In more recent times, I’ve completed studies in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming); the most common modality used in the coaching field.

You may be forming a picture about me by now - that I’m a “doer”; an “achiever”; a person who is powered and motivated by all that life has to offer. Whilst that’s true, I have to say that I was not great at ‘taking care’ of myself, and the end result of that was a total burn out 11 years ago: a burn out that led to major depression, where suicide became an option for me. Through raising my awareness ‘above’ my thoughts, taking care of myself, and living from the power of the present moment, I have come out the other side, alive, positive and confident that others can do the same.  I practice gratitude, and find deep joy and meaning in life every day.  

It is a privilege to be the safe place for others who are struggling against life.  I have great respect for the unique story each person carries and I live my life, which includes my counselling and coaching roles, based on the foundational philosophy that all people are of worth and deserve to live the life they choose, in balance and in harmony.