A RAINBOW IN OUR MIDST By Melissa Walsh Photos Gary Sissons
W
ith buzz words like anxiety and stress being bandied about these days and self-help gurus offering cures for all your woes, it’s refreshing to meet a woman who walks the talk of her path. Kim Norton is a holistic counsellor who is on a mission to help adults and children find peace and calm in their lives as the owner of Rainbow Light Therapies. “I love what I do and my clients say I am calm and reassuring, putting them at ease and getting to the core of their stress and anxiety quickly,” says Kim who started her journey to holistic healing when her son was diagnosed with autism. “My son’s autism diagnosis rocked my world and was the catalyst for the greatest and most important journey of my life. It was 2007 and upon hearing the words I had suspected were true, I came to the realisation that the best way I could help him, and others who suffered similarly from stress and anxiety, was to teach him how to manage this himself. Long term medication could simply not be the only option open to our family.”
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32 | PENINSULA
September July 2018 2018
For this holistic counsellor who runs her workshops and sessions in Langwarrin, life has been tumultuous and Kim is the first to admit she has learnt the importance of inner peace from personal experience. “I had a childhood that was pretty stressful and left home at 17 to do HSC. I have attended counsellors and psychologists over the years to sort out some issues from childhood but it wasn’t until I started looking at holistic therapies that it all fell into place,” said Kim, who started studying alternative therapy when her son was three and a half and continues to this day. “Everything I had done previously had led me to this point. I had been a marketing assistant, PA, and personnel consultant. These skills and my holistic training all came together one day which is when I decided to start my own business and help him and others like him.” With Kim finding the autism diagnosis a stressful time and specialists giving a negative forecast for her son’s future, it turns out the holistic healing helped both of them.