Lana is a counsellor, group facilitator, and supervisor with lived experience as both a consumer and carer in the mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) sectors. As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Lana brings a trauma-informed, intersectional, and lived experience lens to her work. She is passionate about creating inclusive, supportive spaces that centre empowerment, recovery, and social justice.

Lana is an experienced counsellor, group facilitator, and supervisor with a deep commitment to supporting individuals, carers, and families impacted by mental health, substance use, trauma, and systemic challenges.

With lived experience as both a carer and a consumer, Lana brings authenticity, compassion, and insight to her work. She creates safe, inclusive spaces grounded in trauma-informed, strengths-based, feminist, and culturally responsive frameworks, supporting people to feel seen, heard, and empowered in their healing and recovery journeys.

Over more than a decade, Lana has worked across community outreach, education, early intervention, peer support, and clinical-adjacent services. She provides individual counselling, therapeutic group programs, psychoeducation, and professional supervision. Lana is also actively involved in service design and delivery through Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Lived Experience Working Groups.

Lana brings a holistic lens to her work, integrating mindfulness and somatic approaches when appropriate.

Lana is passionate about challenging stigma, promoting ethical practice, and amplifying lived experience within mental health and care systems.

Lana has worked as a Counsellor and Group Facilitator with Jesuit Social Services in the Mental Health Wellbeing Connect program, and as an Intake and Case Worker in their Navigator Program. She has held roles as a Peer Support Worker with the HOPE Program at North West Mental Health, and as a Mental Health Support Worker with Primacy Care Australia. Her experience also includes volunteer peer support work with PANDA, as well as early years roles as an Inclusion Support Specialist at Hartington Street Early Learning and an Early Intervention Educator at the Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning Centre at La Trobe University.

Lana currently works at the Western Mental Health Wellbeing Connect, providing individual counselling and group support to families, carers, and supporters of people experiencing mental health or AOD challenges. Her work is grounded in trauma-informed, lived experience-led practice, with a strong focus on inclusion, accessibility, and community connection

Lana holds a Bachelor of Psychological Science and a Graduate Diploma in Relationship Counselling. Her qualifications are complemented by extensive professional training in areas such as suicide prevention, family violence (MARAM), cultural safety, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and somatic therapies.

Lana’s approach to supervision is relational, reflective, and grounded in creating a safe space for honest exploration and professional growth. She supports supervisees to find meaning in their work, navigate complexity with compassion, and stay connected to their values. Deeply informed by her own lived experience, Lana honours both personal insight and professional knowledge as equally valuable in the supervision space.