About Sandy

Welcome

I’m Sandy, the Clinical Director of Northground.

I have over 15 years of therapeutic and leadership experience across mental health, trauma, grief, and resilience.

My career has taken me from therapy rooms to executive leadership—and now, back into private practice.

I am also a neurodivergent woman living with chronic illness, which allows me to combine clinical expertise with lived experience in all aspects of my work.

My philosophy.

I am a body-based therapist, grounding my work in somatic therapy, trauma theory, and neurobiological principles. I believe:

  • When we feel safe in our bodies, they become a refuge for our vigilant hearts and busy minds.

  • Movement, creativity, play, and curiosity are often more powerful for healing than words alone.

  • Everyone inherently knows what they need—if they can quiet enough inside to hear it.

Why I created Northground.

Northground is where my clinical knowledge meets lived experience.

It is a practice designed to hold:

  • Safety and attunement – where the body, mind, and nervous system are central to healing.

  • Neuroaffirming care – honouring the unique ways our brains and bodies are wired.

  • Boundaries, slowness, and gentle guidance – supporting sustainable growth without pressure.

Through Northground, I help others return to their own North - gently, intelligently, and without abandoning themselves along the way.

My experience.

Over the past 15+ years, I’ve worked in diverse settings, including:

  • Child protection – supporting children and families in the aftermath of abuse, loss, and systems failure.

  • Youth refuges and mental health services – delivering therapy, designing programs, and training clinicians.

  • Education and schools – creating stability and predictability for young people in structured systems.

  • Psycho-oncology – supporting clients through grief, loss, and meaning-making in cancer care.

  • Digital health and national youth programs – leading multidisciplinary teams and designing evidence-based frameworks.

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I’ve also held senior executive roles, including Executive Director of Services at Canteen, where I oversaw national psychosocial service delivery, clinical governance, and cross-sector partnerships. This combination of deep clinical expertise and high-level strategic experience informs every aspect of my practice today

What the work has taught me…..

  • Kindness and trust matter.

    Even the most vulnerable among us have the right to make decisions about their own care.

  • Creativity, art, movement, and play can be sanctuaries of safety.

    They bridge our minds and bodies back to healing.

  • Small windows of predictability and connection are powerful.

    Even brief moments of stability can be life-saving.

  • Sitting with the unmovable, rather than wrestling with it, can invite relief.

    From relief comes clarity and wisdom.

  • Deep loss and pain can open doors to curiosity, honouring, legacy, and hope.

“From homelessness refuges to child protection, schools, youth mental health, and cancer care, I’ve learned that the nervous system holds the truth: regulation is the foundation of therapy. Healing is safest and most effective when the body and mind are aligned.”