About me
I was born in Winchester in the UK and grew up in Queensland. I went to Bundaberg High School and studied medicine at the University of Queensland. I became a psychiatrist, and psychotherapy has been at the heart of my work ever since.
Alongside medicine, I have other passions: teaching meditation, poetry, gardening, the theatre, comedy, and collecting. My home is full of paintings, gifts and whales, and each one carries a story. Those stories became my memoir, Collections and Recollections.
I live in Brisbane, and I am still working.
Qualifications
MBBS, DPM, DCH, DPAE
- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, University of Queensland
- Postgraduate Diploma in Psychological Medicine (1974)
- Diploma of Clinical Hypnosis (1990)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Queensland (1999)
- Meditation Teacher Training with Ian Gawler
- Fellow of the Australian Institute of Psychiatry
Career
For most of my working life I have practised as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, seeing people one to one and in groups. My studies have included psychoanalytic psychotherapy, transactional analysis, family therapy, child psychiatry, and group therapy. Ethics has run alongside that work. From 1996 to 2001 I was Medical Coordinator with the Medical Board of Queensland, where I worked on complaints about doctors, on support for doctors who were themselves unwell, and on the Board's policies. I also served on the Human Research Ethics Committee at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
I am a long-standing member of the Medical Association for Prevention of War, and for some years served on its Queensland executive and its national council.
Practice
Psychiatry and psychotherapy
I am a consultant psychiatrist who practises psychotherapy: unhurried, talking-based treatment that looks at what lies beneath the difficulties people bring. Where it helps, I also teach patients to meditate, as a skill they can keep using for the rest of their lives.
To claim the Medicare rebate, you will need a referral from your GP or another doctor.
- Consulting rooms
- 24 Oriel Road, Clayfield
- Appointments
- By phone, 0417 182 325
Teaching
Teaching and speaking
I have always enjoyed teaching, whether the audience is a room of doctors, a group of lawyers, or a circle of people learning to meditate.
- For many years, lecturer on the Australian Society of Hypnosis postgraduate training course, for doctors, psychologists and dentists
- Lecturer in ethics on the graduate medical course
- Workshops for general practitioners through the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
- Medico-legal workshops for government and legal staff
- Papers and workshops at state, national and international conferences
- Talks on peace and health for the Medical Association for Prevention of War, while I was on its executive
My own learning has included conflict resolution, and Ericksonian and hypnotic language skills. If you would like me to speak to your group, please get in touch.
Classes
Stillness meditation
Most of us spend our days thinking, planning and worrying. Stillness meditation offers something different: a few minutes in which the body lets go and the mind grows quiet, without effort and without trying to get anything right. You need no experience, special clothing or flexibility. You sit comfortably in a chair, and I guide you through each step.
What happens in a class
Progressive muscle relaxation
We move slowly through the body, tensing and releasing each group of muscles, until you feel heavy, warm and settled.
Into stillness
With the body at ease, we let the mind become still. Thoughts may come and go. There is nothing to do and nothing to achieve, simply quiet.
- When
- Tuesday evenings, 6 to 7 pm
- Where
- 24 Oriel Road, Clayfield
- Cost
- Free
Before your first class. Meditation is gentle, but it isn't right for everyone at every time. If you have a history of trauma, or you are unwell at the moment, please have a word with me first so we can make sure it suits you.
Writing
Collections and Recollections
A memoir in objects and stories. I walked through my house, stopped at each object, and wrote down what it recalls: where it came from, who gave it to me, and what was happening in my life at the time. My friend Jim Brownett photographed each piece.
The stories wander. A whale painting leads to a snowbound drive across Vancouver Island. A still life recalls a birthday. Some stories are light; some touch on harder chapters of my life.
Blue Wren
My love of birds began with the ducks on the pond in Bradgate Park UK. When Grace and I arrived in the Australian outback I heard a kookaburra for the first time and was delighted. Seventy five years later my love affair with my avian friends continues.
Whales
Whale images are scattered through the house. Mosaic whales, whales in cross stitch, water colour whales. Yes I have a passion for whales!
Poetry
I also write poetry. My poems have appeared in anthologies, and I have published two collections of my own. This is the opening of a poem I wrote on a trip to Tangalooma, once a whaling station:
Once the tennis courts ran with blood
See the malls where blubber falls
to boilers where squash players call
And suntan oil is sold
In anthologies
- Dandy Lion Poets (1999)
- Moongalba: Poems in Honour of Oodgeroo (2000)
My own collections
- Poems from Down Under
- Love Matters
Other books
I have self-published two other books:
- The Little Picture Book of Anger
- A Biography of My Mother
Beyond work
On stage
Theatre
For many years I had a parallel life in amateur theatre, in drama and musicals. Favourite roles include Belinda in Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings, Regina in The Little Foxes, and Magenta in The Rocky Horror Show.
Singing
I have sung in many choirs. A highlight of my singing life was touring Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in 1991 with the World Festival Choir, singing Verdi's Requiem with Luciano Pavarotti as tenor.
Comedy
I have always loved comedy on stage. I'm writing my own sets of one-liners, drawn from a long life and a career in medicine.
Get in touch
For appointments, a place in a meditation class, or a copy of the memoir, please get in touch.
For appointments, please phone 0417 182 325.
For meditation classes, the memoir or anything else, email racheldarken43@gmail.com.