Best life coach counsellor North Queensland

My story

My whole life, people have wanted to tell me their stories. When I was still a teenager, adult family friends would ask me for relationship advice and, while happily dispensing it, I was always secretly thinking, “Guys, you do realise I have ZERO experience here?” To this day, complete strangers continue to off-load to me while waiting in line at Woolies.

And I love it … But, in recent years, it did make wonder whether I should formalise this natural inclination.

The other thing I have always been, at my core, is a teacher. I remember lining up my teddy bears, dolls and poor little brother and proceeding to teach them the day’s learnings. (He still hasn’t forgiven me for this and is quite convinced he’s been scarred for life).

Yet, I’m pretty sure the way I teach is NOT what you’re imagining. I think my greatest strength as a teacher has always been my ability to find the spark in the individual and bring it to life.

Finally, I’ve always maintained my participation in the arts. Creativity is a huge part of who I am (in fact, it’s my number one strength), because it informs how I take apparently diverse concepts and integrate them, to make a whole. This is also a bit like how I work with people.

What I love most about the unique techniques and programs I have developed, is the way women transform physically before my eyes. Where they often come in with great heaviness surrounding them, over the course of an hour together, I literally watch them become lighter, more youthful and even begin to glow. If I had a dollar for every time a client has said to me, “I feel different,” well………

Everything I have ever done has led me to this work and it remains an absolute privilege to go on this transformational journey with you.

“I watch women become lighter, more youthful and even begin to glow.”

~ Kirsten Cottone

How I work

  • Unlike traditional psychology which focuses on what is wrong with you, positive psychology focuses on your strengths; what is working well (even if the answer feels like "nothing" at the moment). My coaching style uses an appreciative inquiry approach.

  • ​Neuroscience tells us that our mind and body are intimately connected. Yet, most talking therapies stay in the head.....sometimes for years. I offer an experiential approach, which also involves the body and heart, so clients walk out of the room feeling profoundly different. From there, it is much harder to slip back into old habits.

  • ​I passionately believe we all possess creative insights - those flashes of genius - that hold the answers for our next steps. I will help you gain access to these brain zones, but you are the expert on what we find. 

…let’s talk

 

Qualifications and Certifications

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) - Dean’s Honours List Award
Diploma of Education (Dip Ed)
Bachelor of Arts (BA) - Literature, Drama, Music, Mathematics
The Neuroscience of Change
Trauma Informed Healing
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) & Life Coaching practitioner course
Grade 7 AMEB Violin
Grade 6 AMEB Speech and Drama
Grade 5 AMEB Music Theory