The Sydney ACT Centre

25/03/2026

Lovely Facebook friends

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, and I want to take a moment to thank you for your patience and understanding. Also, to update you.

For the past 18 months, caring for my ailing elderly parents has kept me pretty busy. It’s also encouraged me to rethink how I organise my time and energy to align more closely with what matters to me.

I’m excited to say that I’ve decided to combine The Sydney ACT Centre with my other practice, Mend Psychology. Having both practices under the one umbrella, Mend Psychology, offers administrative and operational advantages that free me up to focus on the part of owning a business that is most important to me – being an ACT therapist!

At a practical level, it’s business as usual. Our clinical work remains grounded in ACT, and Lara and I continue to offer appointments in-person in the Sydney CBD and Oatley, and via telehealth. I also continue to provide supervision in ACT.

I have also set up a new Instagram account to connect with you all. A bit of a Luddite, I am still figuring it out! 😳 However, we’d love for you to follow us there and share anything you like.

Thank you again for your loyalty. Please reach out if you would like to know more. We look forward to reconnecting!

Janine 🌸com.au

23/12/2024

Wishing you a very safe, restful and meaningful Christmas/New Year period, however you choose to spend it. Amidst the inevitable stresses of this time, may you find snippets of sweetness and joy. Please keep your values close to you as you navigate this wonderful and tricky season - Janine 🌸

23/12/2024

11/09/2024

Today is R U OK day, so it's important to us that we check-in with you - we hope you are doing OK 🌸

Life is anything but straightforward, and we humans face no end of challenge from issues that occur on a global scale to the daily struggles that are deeply personal. So, if you are noticing difficult feelings like sadness, fear, anger, confusion and hopelessness, please know that these make sense. Hold yourself kindly and remember that our suffering connects us rather than separates us from each other.

If today is a tough day for you, remind yourself that it is ok to not be ok. Please reach out to a caring friend or family member. Alternatively, if you feel that we can help, please reach out to us to book an appointment. You can contact us on 02 9251 6222.

We hope you appreciate this beautiful quote by Maya Angelou – a reminder for us to be there for each other.

And here are some questions to ask yourself – to set you on your way today, because being there for ourselves is important too.

How do I want to treat myself today? What small step can I take now?

Stay safe and well and have a meaningful R U OK day.

Warmly

Janine 🌸

"Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike."

06/09/2024

Where do you find peace?

For me, it’s when I’m out running in the early morning when everything is fresh, still and quiet - Janine 🌸

05/09/2024

How often do you find yourself hoping for something? It's pretty natural, and part of our mind's pre-occupation with outcomes.

An outcome focus, however, is really tricky when we don't directly control what we are hoping for. It also leaves us questioning what to do while we wait for the 'hoped for' outcome.

The next time you find yourself 'hoping for' something, try instead to live hopefully? Living hopefully is process-focussed. It provides more options, more flexibility and a more empowering approach to moving life forward - Janine 🌸

29/08/2024

Defusion, in ACT, is a process that enables us to get some space from our thoughts - to look at them, to consider their usefulness and their impact.

We can get a sense of this process by imagining what it would be like to receive our thoughts via SMS, and to read them with curiosity. Perhaps you might give it a go?

If getting tangled up with thinking is making it hard for you to live fully, please reach out - Janine 🌸

23/08/2024

If something you do today feels scary, remind yourself that you are learning to be brave - Janine 🌸

06/08/2024

It's not only joy that alerts us to what matters. Fear, sadness, anger and other tricky feelings are also brimming with information about what we care about, if we care to tune in.

The next time you notice a tricky feeling, hang out with it a little and ask yourself a question:

What would I need to stop caring about to not have this feeling? - Janine 🌸

28/07/2024

ACT Snack # 18: Striving for perfect ignores an important reality, namely that mistakes, flaws, imperfections and inaccuracies are inevitable.

When we prioritise perfection, our creativity is limited and our productivity hampered. How do I know? I've been there - Janine ☺️