Homoeopath, Lactation Consultant & Reiki Master


After graduating from Newcastle University in 1971 with a BA DipEd, I taught in NSW before moving to western Queensland with my husband (www.neilhatherly.com.au) in 1972. I taught full time and part time (English and History) in Mount Isa until 1980.

With the birth of my first child in 1975 in a situation lacking extended family support, I found help in the Childbirth Education Association (CEA) and the Nursing Mothers’ Association (NMAA). [Now re-named the Australian Breastfeeding Association].I fulfilled a variety of committee positions and went on to train as a Breastfeeding Counsellor. I helped to establish groups in Mount Isa, Collinsville and Bowen, before moving to Brisbane in 1985 when I became involved in the Medical Schools’ Programme as a group facilitator for NMAA. I eventually retired as a Breastfeeding Counsellor upon first certifying as an IBCLC in 1989. Since that time I have continuously worked in private practice as a Lactation Consultant.

Certification as an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) entails passing a fully accredited examination set by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBCLE) which is a member of the prestigious US National Commission for Health Certifying Agencies. The International Board includes representatives from the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) and the Nurses Association of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NACOG).

With twenty years professional experience working as a certified Lactation Consultant, providing a solid foundation of clinical skills and expertise, I am an advocate for the breastfeeding mother/baby dyad and have the necessary skills and knowledge to facilitate breastfeeding and can offer support and specialist assistance to mothers in every area of lactation.

I have particular expertise in the management of:

  • colic and reflux
  • supply problems (over supply and low supply)
  • galactagogues
  • failure to thrive
  • mastitis
  • thrush and white spot
  • attachment and suckling problems
  • nipple trauma
  • working and breastfeeding

Following the birth of my third child in 1981, I underwent training to be a Childbirth Educator. I worked initially in private practice in western Queensland, and was then associated with CEA Brisbane as a Consultant Educator until 2000.

My interest in natural therapies began after a health crisis following the birth of my second child in 1977 when I suffered a detached retina. After working part-time in a homoeopathic clinic in the late `80s, I decided to go back to full-time study and was awarded a Bachelor Health Science (Homoeopathy).

As well as being registered with the Australian Register of Homoeopaths (AROH), I am a professional member of the following:

  • Australian Homoeopathic Association (AHA)
  • Australian Naturopathic Practitioners Association (ANPA)
  • Effectiveness Training Institute of Australia (ETIA)

As a Reiki Master, I conduct workshops in Reiki I and II, and I also teach PET (Parent Effectiveness Training, www.etia.org) whenever I can. I offer private mentoring and clinical supervision to students and new graduates; and, since commencing private practice, have lectured at all colleges in Brisbane which offer homœopathic subjects. Additionally, I have lectured in Homœopathic Philosophy and Materia Medica at the Southern Cross University Lismore and at the Sydney College of Homœopathic Medicine. I have also been a guest lecturer at the North West College of Homœopathy in Manchester (UK) and have conducted seminars and given papers at homœopathic conferences both throughout Australia as well as in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. I am a regular contributor to homœopathic journals world-wide and produce my own e-Newsletter Milk Matters three times a year. Subscription is free; just send me an email Contact Me asking to be added to the mailing list.

I have served as a committee member of the AHA (Qld branch) for 16 years and am currently the branch president and convenor of the 2012 National Conference which will be held in Brisbane. I am also a former president of AHA's National Council having been the Qld branch representative to that committee for 6 years; and am currently the AHA representative to the ICH (International Council for Homoeopathy).

A Distinguished Service Award was bestowed on me in September 2008, in recognition of that service to the AHA.

I have been in private practice as a homoeopath since 1995. I have a busy practice; and although I offer classical homoeopathic treatment for individual complaints of people of all ages with all manner of conditions, because of my unique combination of clinical skills in lactation as well as homoeopathy, I have a particular interest and expertise in treating women and children especially babies (most commonly with respect to colic and reflux). A large portion of my clientele seeks help for infertility, a wide range of breastfeeding problems (such as mastitis, thrush and white spot) and the treatment of all manner of behavioural problems in children.