Hi, I’m Mary-Leigh, a fully qualified and licensed nutritional medicine practitioner and lifestyle consultant. Thanks for checking in and taking a look around my website.

For the past 25 years my professional career has been dedicated to the welfare and wellbeing of others. After years of working in hospitality I studied and became a social worker before moving into corporate where I held senior and executive roles in human resources, executive and career coaching, and change management. While the delivery vehicle and type of care has changed over the years, the underlying care of others remains a driving force for me.

I became a clinical nutritionist because like many of my clients, I had experienced a health crisis. I was at a stage of my life where things were ticking along really well. I had a great corporate career, a beautiful family, supportive partner and fantastic social life. I ate what I thought was a healthy diet and I exercised regularly (although, sometimes that meant walking to the bottle shop)! I wasn’t afraid of the odd indulgence, and probably like you, I believed in “moderation”.

Then it happened, slowly, without warning or explanation, it crept up like a ghost in the night; I burnt out. In hindsight, and now with a comprehensive health science education, I can see that all the signs were there, I just didn’t know they were signs. I thought that how I felt was normal for a successful, busy, “gen-x” woman. Even though what I was feeling maybe “common” I can tell you it certainly isn't “normal”. Little did I know that my increasingly high blood pressure, low energy, sleep problems, brain fog, irritability, constant bloating, low motivation and poor immunity was my body screaming at me that things had to change! I know - Daa! Right?

I was a busy professional under constant pressure and despite thinking I was indestructible, a concept I still struggle with I might add, I just couldn’t maintain my high level of performance, manage stress, and support my family and organisation without it taking its toll on my physical and mental health.

Long story short, my body eventually shut down on me and I was so sick that I couldn't work for a year. I thought I was going mad because every test the doctors gave me came up "normal" or in a “healthy range”, so along with not being able to diagnose me with something, they also couldn't help me to feel any better. I thought I knew what being tired was from having had two children under two; this was a whole new level of fatigue and exhaustion that went beyond description. I learnt the hard way - I hope you don’t have to.

But there is good news. My burnout has proved to be one of life's greatest gifts. As I searched for the answers to my health issues with doctors, specialists, and natural health practitioners, my interest and love of integrated medicine grew and eventually led me to study nutritional medicine. I not only got well and went back to work, I went back to university and retrained so I could go on to help others experiencing the same issues.

So here I am, an ex-burnout-corporate-career-junkie-turned-nutritional-medicine-practitioner!