Meet Monika

In my vocational life I have been involved in the hospitality industry, natural therapies, Monika and Beloved Treesacademia and hospice and palliative care. Now firmly on my true vocational path, I provide a range of services including those that specialise in loss, grief, bereavement, dying and end of life care.
Over a ten year period I immersed myself in academia land, hungry for learning. I completed four degrees including a Bachelor of Social Science (Human Services), Bachelor of Arts (Honours/Ethics), Masters of Counselling and PhD (end of life ethics). I take seriously my professional responsibilities and obligations as set out by the Queensland Counsellors Association (QCA) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA). I maintain up to date knowledge and skills in the field of grief, bereavement and end of life issues.

I have many years’ experience in supporting and assisting people in their loss and helping them to ‘ride the waves’ of grief. I am passionate about the need to recognise and acknowledge all types of losses, including the unique grief reactions we all experience. As a counsellor, educator and researcher in the field of end of life care I am firmly focused on helping people die well – to exit life in truly special and loving ways – in line with how we all enter life. I believe that as a human species, if we don’t do dying better, we won’t do living better. Living and dying are part of the same picture. We tend to pay great attention to the birth time, but we seldom turn our focus towards our significant exit from life. The living-dying process can be so amazing. All that anyone ever talks about is the fear and how horrible it is, and certainly it may be full of sadness and chaos, but it can also be incredible – spiritual, loving, humorous, full of courage and transformative. People get the chance, like never before, to heal themselves and their relationships. I want more than ever to help people see the peace and possibilities at the end of life and to understand that it’s not just a medical-body event, but so much more.

I put energy into finding balance in my life and being able to prioritise what’s valuable to me. This is something that working in this field has taught me. I live with nature on acreage, so I spend a lot of time with trees and chatting with the animals. I take photographs of nature, especially fungi. I meditate, read and go bush walking with my beautiful husband. I highly value the time that I get to spend with women, sharing ideas and thoughts. I live according to an ethical framework which includes not killing – this translates into a vegan diet. When I get the time I go for extended meditation retreats – 10 days of silence and meditation – wonderful! And I seek out the fun and joyous things of life. Finally, I am guided by an ethic of giving service and believe that ReConnections honours that spirit of service.