About us
About Ileana
My path into psychology and embodied practice, began not in a classroom, but with my own body. In my late teens, I faced a significant health challenge: Stage 3 endometriosis. The conventional medical path offered hormonal fixes and surgery, but my intuition urged a different way. Fueled by determination, I embarked on a personal healing journey that led to a remarkable outcome: today, I live with ZERO symptoms – no pain – I am a proud mother of two children, CONCEIVED NATURALLY despite multiple medical prognoses that this would never happen. The peaceful home birth of my second daughter during the 2021 lockdown was another testament to the power of trusting one’s own body and inner guidance.
You can read more about this journey on QENDO here.
My formal education is extensive, including a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, and PhD from the University of Sydney. Yet, it was my four years with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) that profoundly reshaped my understanding of healing. Completing three missions – two in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and one on the border of Somalia and Ethiopia – revealed the universal language of the body, transcending cultural, linguistic, and age divides.
“I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars and I started listening to the teaching of my soul”
Rumi
Upon returning to Australia, my clinical work continued in Acute Care Services (Liverpool Hospital) and Community Mental Health (RPA Hospital, Camperdown). These experiences deepened my fascination with the body as the primary communicator of our deepest truths. This fascination propelled me into almost a decade of my own intensive, long-term therapy with a therapist in Israel. This profound internal work, exploring my own psyche, parts, and deep layers of wounding, became an invaluable foundation for how I now guide others.
My healing journey, which is ongoing, has led me to explore a diverse range of powerful practices: Hakomi, Acuenergetics, 5 Rhythms, Kabbalah and Tibetan Buddhism. These modalities inform my unique approach, allowing me to bridge the gap between the mind and body, particularly concerning chronic disease. I passionately believe the body always shows us the truth, whether through subtle sensations, persistent symptoms, or profound intuitive knowing.
When I’m not in session, you’ll find me exactly where I feel most alive: immersed in nature, camping with family and friends in the Australian bush, knee-high in a flowing river, dancing or playing drums with community. I live the principles I share – that true well-being is found when we are deeply connected, grounded, and in tuned with our authentic selves.
Research
My PhD research explored a new theory for why people experience uncontrollable worry and a randomised controlled trial of Attention Training and Mindfulness. My unpublished papers are below:
PhD Thesis: “Generalized anxiety disorder: A test of the defective inhibition hypothesis and the attention training technique” (2010).
Reduced Cognitive Inhibition in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (under review) (2010).
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Attention Training for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (under review).
Fees
The cost of a 60-minute appointment is $240/ hr.
** We offer reduced rates according to a sliding scale in cases of financial hardship. The decision about when this is applied is at the discretion of Dr Hatton.
