The Return - Dr Zac Elizabeth Buchanan

The Return - Dr Zac Elizabeth Buchanan Woman, mother & clinical psychologist. Come join me ♥ drzacelizabeth.kit.com/signup For 10 years, I held space as a clinical psychologist. For you. For me.

I created The Return to move from fixing to witnessing and communion—a sanctuary to let go of who the world told you to be and remember who you are. I’m woman, mother, wife, daughter and fellow traveller on this beautiful road of life. But what I really wanted was to sit in circle. Not to fix, but to witness, empower and be in communion with other women. I wanted to create a place where women coul

d let go of what the world told them they had to be, and remember who they actually are. And thus, The Return was born. For every woman treading the path home to themselves.

I’ve had something on my mind lately. With Mother’s Day around the corner, I’ve been thinking about what it actually mea...
08/05/2026

I’ve had something on my mind lately.

With Mother’s Day around the corner, I’ve been thinking about what it actually means to be a “nurturer.” For so many of us, regardless of parenthood status, it’s just who we’ve become—the observers, the anchors, the ones who hold the space. And while that’s a beautiful thing, I’ve realised how easy it is to get stuck looking so far outward that we forget to look back in.

I’m tired of the narrative that “self-care” is a bath or a treat. When you’ve lost sight of your own needs and desires, you don’t need a day off —you need to reclaim the parts of yourself you’ve pushed aside to make room for everyone else.

I need this. And I have a feeling some of you might, too.

Starting June 4th, we’re gathering for four weeks to move past the people-pleasing and the “shoulds.” No performance, no “doing”—just a safe place to find our own voices again.

Early Bird pricing ends this Monday, May 11th. I’d love to see you there. 🩷

An invitation to come home to yourself ✨Have you ever stopped to wonder how much of your daily life is driven by your ow...
06/05/2026

An invitation to come home to yourself ✨
Have you ever stopped to wonder how much of your daily life is driven by your own desires, and how much is a collection of shoulds, musts and the quiet habit of people-pleasing?

I’m excited to announce that The Return: A 4-Week Immersion is coming to this June.

Dr Zac Elizabeth Buchanan, local mum & psychologist, will facilitate this 4 week workshop series - a dedicated space for women who are ready to peel back the layers of societal conditioning and rediscover their true voice.

Over 4 Thursday evenings, we will gather to:
✨ peel back the layers of people pleasing
✨ distinguish your yes from your no
✨ reclaim true rest with Yin Yoga & somatic movement
✨ sit in circle with a community of like-minded women

When: Thursday evenings, June 4-25
Time: 7-9pm
Where: , Greythorn Village

Early bird pricing is currently open. Tap the link in .zacelizabeth‘s bio to claim your spot 🩷

As we make our decent into the darker, quieter months of the year, it brings an opportunity and permission to turn inwar...
02/05/2026

As we make our decent into the darker, quieter months of the year, it brings an opportunity and permission to turn inwards, to reflect and prepare our roots for what lies ahead. A pause to take stock and be intentional with how we want to spend our energy.
Yet for so many of us, our shoulds, people pleasing and societal conditioning has dampened the sound of our own internal voice, making this a challenging task.

This winter I’m so excited to share that I will be hosting a special in-person workshop to support this process.

Over the course of four evenings in June, we will gather together to strip back the shoulds, tune into your internal wisdom, distinguish your yes’s from your no’s and reclaim true rest.

If this resonates and you feel called to connect with like-minded women in a supportive, intentional space - this is for you!

For details and to book visit the link in my bio.

I would love to see you there 🩷

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something here & thought it was time for an update. I’ve been quietly working on a f...
23/04/2026

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something here & thought it was time for an update.
I’ve been quietly working on a few projects in the background and focusing on the beauty of real world connections.

As I turn my energy more towards in-person connection, I’ll be pivoting slightly and announcing events and bookings to my mailing list first.

If you’re keen to follow along and find out more about my upcoming offerings, I welcome you sign up to my mailing list (link in bio).

I so appreciate the support and love on this platform and I’ll continue showing up albeit less frequently and more intentionally 🩷

Big love xx

12/03/2026

Only a few days left before the March Reset women’s circle, and Bopo Women have generously gifted essential oil rollers and body oil to all the women attending 😍
I’m so excited to be holding space on 16 March at Curate U - an evening of connection, grounding and reflection.
We have a few spots remaining and if you’re still considering attending take this as your sign!

Link in bio to book ✨✨


We were never meant to be this independent. There is a specific kind of grief in realising that the “village” we were pr...
26/02/2026

We were never meant to be this independent.

There is a specific kind of grief in realising that the “village” we were promised in motherhood often doesn’t exist unless we build it, or buy it, ourselves.

When I had my second baby, I made a radical choice: I funded my village. I interviewed for support. I signed contracts for care. And while that choice saved my sanity, it also highlighted a heartbreaking truth—we have devalued the very thing that is a necessity for mothers to thrive.
Motherhood isn’t a solo sport.
We live in a culture that celebrates the low-maintenance mother—the one who handles the transition back to work, the sleepless nights, and the domestic load without complaint. But there is a cost of that performance. It’s a relentless juggle of learning a brand new person while your body is still healing, managing the house, and tending to older children, all while being told to “sleep when the baby sleeps”.
And we need to change the gaze. We need to move the focus from “how is the baby” to “how are you?” We need to acknowledge that if the village isn’t showing up at your door, there is zero shame in creating one.

But beyond the practical help, many of us are still craving for the flock. We need spaces where women from all walks of life come together to hold one another—whether maiden, freshly made mother, or woman further down the journey.

This is why I created The Return.

And for those in Melbourne - on March 16, we are gathering in Thornbury to be the village for one another. To put down the “I’ve got this” mask and remember what it feels like to be held in a circle of women.

Click the link in my bio to join ✨

This is a favourite quote of mine 🩷 I hope it resonates for you too…I feel like we spend the first half of our lives col...
25/02/2026

This is a favourite quote of mine 🩷 I hope it resonates for you too…

I feel like we spend the first half of our lives collecting layers. We collect roles, expectations, ways to behave and “shoulds.” We learn to shrink to fit the rooms we’re in, and we call it being “easy-going” or “reliable.”

But the journey of the return isn’t just about adding a new wellness habit to your to-do list. It’s about the slow, sometimes messy process of peeling those layers back.
It’s realizing that many of the scripts we were given were survival strategies, not something to stay loyal to for ever.
We aren’t broken, and we don’t need fixing. What we need is space, support and time to unbecome the versions of ourselves originally created to stay safe. To peel back and reveal the women we are beneath it all.

Which layer are you in the process of peeling back?

The truth is, we don’t need more “protocols.” We need a flock.Lately, I’ve been sitting with the feeling that the “villa...
23/02/2026

The truth is, we don’t need more “protocols.” We need a flock.

Lately, I’ve been sitting with the feeling that the “village” we talk about so often is the exact thing missing from our modern, busy lives. We’ve replaced deep, witnessed connection with “to-do” lists and “self-care” routines that we have to do alone.

I’m hosting an in-person circle on Monday 16th March in Thornbury because I want to bring that “way of being” back into our local space.
It’s a night for us to simply pause. To step out of the mental load of the start of the year and decide, with intention, how we want to move forward.

No “fixing,” no performance—just grounding, journaling, and being held in community.

If this resonates with you, I’d love to share that space with you. And if you have a friend, sister, or neighbour who you know is craving a bit of a “reset,” please share this post with them or send them the link in my bio.

Sometimes the best thing we can do for each other is just to offer a space to breathe.
Details are at the link in my bio 🩷

Can we be honest about the wellness industry for a second? There is a pervasive lie being sold to us that says if we jus...
21/02/2026

Can we be honest about the wellness industry for a second?

There is a pervasive lie being sold to us that says if we just work harder on ourselves, we can find peace anywhere. We’re told to fix our thinking patterns, disentangle ourselves from survival mode, and stop our “limiting” behaviors—all while we’re still standing in the middle of the very environment that created those responses.

In my work, I see the damage this does. It puts the entire onus on the individual, ignoring the reality of their context. It suggests that if you can’t “zen” your way out of burnout, you aren’t trying hard enough.

But here is the truth: your nervous system is smarter than your affirmations.
If your environment is keeping you in a state of consistent stress, your body is doing exactly what it should do by staying on high alert. It is deeply unrealistic—and frankly, unkind—to expect yourself to be “calm” in a storm. Your survival strategies aren’t failures; they are evidence of your body’s incredible intelligence and its commitment to keeping you safe.

Please give yourself some grace. You can’t “snap out of” a biological threat response that your body still thinks you need. Healing isn’t about “fixing” your brain so you can endure more stress; it’s about acknowledging your reality and finding the spaces where you can finally exhale.

We need environments that allow us the space to reflect and tune into what’s important beyond just surviving. We need a “flock” that doesn’t demand a performance.

And I wonder... what spaces in your life currently allow you that freedom? Where do you feel safe enough to put down the “Reliable One” mask and just breathe? Perhaps this is your prompt to consider this more deeply.

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