HARBOUR Therapy Clinic’s Wellness Studio held a Wellness Vintage and Market Day on Sunday 9 January providing free yoga sessions, market stalls, massages, food, coffee and door prizes.

“The day was wonderful, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the sense of community that the market created,” Rowena Bianchino told News Of The Area.

Advertise with News of The Area today.
It’s worth it for your business.
Message us.
Phone us – (02) 4981 8882.
Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au

Rowena is the founding director of Harbour Therapy Clinic and the Wellness Studio and a practising psychotherapist, social worker, clinical supervisor and presenter.

“Apart from a smattering of rain in the morning, the weather was fab.

“We met new people and loved touching base with our team of instructors and massage therapists who were giving 15-minute massages for $10.00.

“The sound healing was a hit, and everyone booked to come to our next Ground in Sound event on Sunday 23 Jan at 4.00pm.

“The inspiration for these events was a response to the impacts of lockdowns, on both small local artisan/retail businesses and on the mental wellbeing of our community, having spent time isolated and anxious.

“We wanted to create events for the community where they felt safe, connected and included, and held our first Market Day in November 2021.

“This time we offered an experiential sound healing with Leanna Mirenda – people floated down the stairs afterwards.

“At the Wellness Studio we have created experiences of mindful movement for people who might be looking to find alternative ways to care for their health as the medical system comes under increasing pressures to respond to COVID-19.

“People appear to be more conscious of how important staying well physically, mentally, and emotionally is for quality of life and our regular classes form just one part of the services we offer to care for the whole person in the community.

“In our practice, therapists have spoken about the impacts on both themselves and clients on having to adjust to rapidly shifting ground.

“People have needed to ‘pivot’ in ways they would never have imagined two years ago, leaving a sense of being less confident of things they thought were certain.

“The radical climate-related events added to this sense of unease especially for young people and children.

“Combined, these events have been anxiety-provoking and have affected people’s moods, sleep, sense of purpose, relationships, and health.

“Around the vaccine debate we noticed a lot of anger and fear as people were struggling to identify information to help them make the best decisions for themselves, often vulnerable people who already mistrust people in power.

“In November, we organised a professional online event with over 200 health professionals from around Australia with Dr Simon Longstaff from The Ethics Centre to consider how we should best support our clients and ourselves with an eye on the ethics of our role as professionals.

“We found we were all seeing similar issues and themes arising.”

By Andrea FERRARI