About Me

Hi, I'm Carla Anderson,

A Clinical Psychologist, Trainer and Florist. I have more than twenty-five years of experience supporting parents, infants and the clinicians who care for them. I also have a long held love of floristry, which has become an important part of how I support clinicians with grounding, creative self-care.:

My work sits at the intersection of three worlds:

I understand the clinical landscape of perinatal and infant mental health.

I understand how this field has changed and evolved over the past two decades.

I understand the changing landscape of business that clinicians now navigate.

All of this combined, gives me a strong understanding of why sustainable self-care practices matter, including the grounding and creative support that floristry offers healthcare clinicians.

Where My Passion Began

My journey began in 2001 whilst studying my Psychology degree and following my own struggles in the perinatal period. After engaging in a peer support group, I later stepped into a volunteer role as a peer support worker and group facilitator with the Queensland Postnatal Depression Association. This meant I got to support other mothers experiencing similar difficulties to what I had been through. It also gave me the opportunity to begin speaking about my lived experiences in hospitals to clinicians supporting parents. This helped me realise how powerful it can be to feel understood not just by other mothers, but also by clinicians during a tender and often overwhelming season of life.

This is where my passion for perinatal and infant mental health began.

Soon after, I joined the Bonnie Babes Foundation as a bereavement counsellor and became a national trainer of bereavement counsellors and training healthcare clinicians in hospitals in Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart, in support skills when working with bereaved parents.

These early experiences taught me that perinatal care is far more than just clinical work. It is deeply relational and shaped by how we meet people in their most vulnerable moments, and this matters just as much for the wellbeing of parents as it does for the clinicians who support them.

Two Decades of Clinical Experience & Learning

My early work with the Qld PND Assoc. and Bonnie Babes, was followed by work as a psychologist in Child and Youth Mental Health, and Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault services. This work experience taught me to see the layers beneath every story.

When I established my private practice in 2005 my work specifically focused on Perinatal, Children and Family support. All of these earlier insights shaped every part of the care I offered.

Across over twenty plus years, I have stood beside families through fertility challenges, grief and loss, depression and anxiety, birth trauma, pregnancy related fears, early bonding difficulties, parenting challenges and relationship changes.

I have also undertaken extensive training focused on the perinatal period and perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) including for example Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Intensive, Perinatal Bereavement Training, Circle of Security, Newborn Observation Training, Attachment Theory, Reflective Practice Training, Mindfulness and Schema Therapy. I was also fortunate to tailor my Clinical Psychology Masters to focus on perinatal mental health, publishing research in the Australian Psychologist on "Pregnancy-related anxiety: Re-examining Its Distinctiveness", contributing to the evidence base in understanding anxiety in the perinatal period. And I engage in weekly reflective PIMH group supervision ensuring my work remains reflective and responsive.

Outside of training focused on the perinatal period I have undertaken training in Schema Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Family Therapy, Trauma Approaches, Autism & ADHD, Expressive Therapies, and Sex Therapy.

My work is informed by Attachment, Developmental and Relational theoretical frames, with a focus on reflective practice. The support that I provide is grounded in trauma-informed, culturally safe and neuroaffirming practices, recognising the diverse experiences people bring with them.

Clinician & Training Experience

Throughout this time, I have also had extensive experience supporting healthcare clinicians, as I am acutely aware that the emotional and relational demands of their work has grown significantly. I am passionate about supporting clinicians through training and clinical reflective supervision.

I have experience in delivering many perinatal and infant mental health training workshops to various disciplines and organizations across my career, as well as presenting at conferences, projects collaborating with other organizations, contributing to podcasts, and participating in media interviews across a wide range of topics, including;

Perinatal mental health

Perinatal grief and loss

Birth trauma

Fertility and reproductive challenges

Perfectionism in the perinatal period

Pelvic pain and its psychological impact

Perinatal psychological support skills for midwives and child health nurses

Self compassion for health professionals

floriful Workshops combining floristry, self care and mindfulness

Understanding the Business of Care, and Importance of Self-Care

Running a clinic for two decades taught me a great deal about the realities clinicians face today. Both the administrative load and the emotional labour. The responsibility of holding a team. The quiet, unseen work of keeping a service steady. I understand these pressures because I lived them for many years. In 2025, I made the significant decision to close my clinic premises and return to operating as a solo practitioner via telehealth. I did not sell, I closed, and I learned that closing is not the same as letting go. It required clarity, courage and a slow return to what feels purposeful. It also helped me rediscover the part of myself that imagines, creates and looks ahead. Affirming my passion for supporting other clinicians navigating business challenges.

It also reminded me of the importance of clinician self-care. For me floristry entered my life at a time when I needed something grounding and restorative. Studying floristry introduced me to the field of therapeutic horticulture and deepened my understanding of how sensory, hands on creative practices can support emotional regulation, reflection and wellbeing for clinicians. I found that working with flowers invited presence and I noticed that it offered a gentle way for clinicians to reconnect with themselves, especially when the emotional weight of their work builds quietly over time. What began as a personal practice has grown into a meaningful, evidence informed framework for clinician self care.

Conferences & Presentations

Alongside my regular training programs and workshops, I have also presented at conferences and professional events focused on perinatal and infant mental health and clinician wellbeing. These settings have offered space to pause, share my knowledge, and add thoughtful contributions to ongoing conversations within the perinatal and infant mental health community.

Gladstone Mater Hospital- Maternity Services: Understanding perinatal grief & loss. (2008)
Qld Health Perinatal Mental Health Symposium Bundaberg: Psychological support and assessment strategies in the perinatal period. (2011)
Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN) Sunshine Coast Perinatal & Infant Mental Health: Is Pregnancy-specific anxiety distinct? (2016), and Perinatal relationship challenges (co-authored with Elly Taylor 2023), Perinatal grief & loss (co-authored with Bronwyn Leigh & Charise Deveney 2025).
Qld Health Child Health Service Sunshine Coast Inservice: Identification of perinatal mental health concerns (2017)
Sunshine Coast Fertility Expo Presenter: Emotional wellbeing through the fertility journey (2019)
Let Me See My Baby Event: Panel member on perinatal grief and loss (2020)
Australian Psychological Society (APS) Sunshine Coast Presentation: Overview of Perinatal Training Centre's Bearing the Unbearable: A relational approach to perinatal loss (co-developed with Bronwyn Leigh, Charise Deveney & Julie King) (2021)
University of Sunshine Coast- Student Midwives: Psychological concerns in the perinatal period, assessment and support skills (2021)
APS (Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Interest Group) Presentation: Perfectionism in the perinatal period (co-authored with Emilie Bull) (2022)
Perinatal Training Centre Webinar Presentations: Pregnancy-related anxiety (2018), Perfectionism in the perinatal period (co-authored with Emilie Bull 2022), Frame for approaching perinatal loss information (co-developed with Bronwyn Leigh & Charise Deveney 2025).
Qld Health Early Intervention and Parenting Clinicians (EIPC) Statewide Workshop Presentation: Psychological concerns, assessment and support skills in the perinatal period (2022).
Gidget Foundation Guest Speaker Presentations: Perfectionism in the perinatal period (2022 & 2024), The fertility journey; Psychological considerations (2023).
Radiance South West Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Symposium Presentation: Overview of the Perinatal Training Centre's Bearing the unbearable: A relational approach to perinatal loss (co-developed with Bronwyn Leigh, Charise Deveney & Julie King, 2023)
Australian Endorsed Midwives Conference: Birth trauma. (2022)
Coastlife Midwifery Knowledge to Practice Workshop: Birth-related trauma, Perinatal loss and referrals (2024)
Qld Health EIPC Statewide Workshop: Birth-related trauma (2024)
Maternal, Child & Family Health Nurses Australia (MCaFHNA) National Conference: Infant and perinatal mental health and birth-related trauma (2024)
Childbirth & Parenting Educators Australia (CAPEA) Conference: Perinatal mental health in antenatal education (co-authored with Elly Taylor 2024)
Australian Association of Infant Mental Health (AAIMH) Conference: Let's talk about why we give flowers when a baby is born: How we can use flowers therapeutically (2024)
CAPEA Conference: Integrating psychological skills into perinatal healthcare for Midwives and Child Health Nurses (2025)
AAIMH & MARCE Conference: Overview of Perinatal Training Centre's Grief, trauma and attachment: An integrated approach to perinatal loss therapy (co-presented with Bronwyn Leigh and Charise Deveney 2025).
AAIMH & MARCE Conference: Poster presentation on Integrating flowers, mindfulness & perinatal and infant mental health (2025)
Queensland Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Symposium: Integrating psychological skills into perinatal healthcare for Midwives and Child Health Nurses, and Poster presentation on integrating flowers, mindfulness & perinatal and infant mental health (2025).

Projects & Collaboration

Across the years, I have been fortunate to work alongside many organisations, teams and clinicians who share a commitment to supporting families in the perinatal and infant mental health space. These collaborations have shaped my work, grounded my perspective and widened the ways I contribute to the field. Some of the roles and collaborations that have been meaningful to me include:

Board of Advisors for the Perinatal Training Centre.
Co-creator and Trainer of the Perinatal Training Centre’s Grief, Trauma and Attachment: An Integrated Approach to Perinatal Loss training (delivered annually since 2019, including training for the NHS in the UK).
Co-facilitator of Perinatal Training Centre’s Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Masterclasses,
Co-facilitator of Elly Taylor’s Becoming Us Perinatal Relationships, Wellbeing & Mental Health training.
Training for The Pink Elephants Support Network workforce support program.
Guest professional development presenter for Gidget’s Start Talking Program clinicians.
Facilitator of Precious Wings Support Group.
Co-developer with Kristy Howard: Nurtured by Nature: Working Therapeutically with Plants and Flowers.
Earlier in my career, in addition to my work with Bonnie Babe's Foundation and Qld Postnatal Depression Support Assoc., I was also involved in nationally funded projects including: Gladstone Communities for Children Initiative establishing peer led perinatal mental health support groups.
The Department of Communities Lighthouse Project: Seen but not heard, developing resources for supporting children in domestic violence, and Relationships Australia Point of Contact project, training child health workers in responding to children in domestic violence.
As well as assisting in the development of Queensland Health's Perinatal Mental Health Strategies Symposium for GP's, maternal and child health clinicians, mental health workers and other professionals.