Kelleigh Ryan is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi people of South-East Queensland and the Australian South Sea Islanders on her mother’s side. Kelleigh is a registered psychologist, working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous clients from Australia and overseas. Her passion lies in providing psychological consultancy through her company The Seedling Group, who deliver Culturally Safe Trauma-Informed Practice Training and Healing work for organisations, communities, and individuals across Australia. Kelleigh specialises in combining both Western clinical knowledge and Aboriginal and First Nations knowledge of healing to guide her counselling, holistic therapeutic intervention, and training. Kelleigh holds a seat on the Australian Indigenous Psychologist Association Board (AIPA) and is one of the founding members of the newly formed First Peoples of the World Psychology Network. In 2019 Kelleigh was honoured with the Indigenous Allied Health Australia’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” and was the first Aboriginal Psychologist to be appointed as a Clinical Assessor on the Psychologist Panel of Assessors for the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). Kelleigh develops and delivers specialised therapeutic support, supervision and group consultation for agencies working with First Nations workers who continue to respond the changing healing needs of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of complex trauma. Her goal is to support change, through a transitional practice moving from Trauma Informed to Healing Informed and Trauma Aware, so clients can grow from merely enduring, to a stronger more resilient approach that is healing.
