FOR 20 YEARS,
ALL I WANTED
WAS FOR SOMEONE
TO TRULY F*CKING
GET IT.
Not the surface-level stuff. The deep crazy shit.
That's why I built this. So you don't have to wait 20 years like I did.
— PERTH BASED. LIVED EXPERIENCE LED.
YOUR LIVED EXPERIENCE MENTAL HEALTH MENTOR PERTH.
If you've been searching for a Mental Health Mentor you can actually trust - someone who gets it because they've lived it - you're in the right place.
I'm Lou. A Perth-based (but online) Mental Health Mentor with 20+ years lived experience navigating anxiety, depression, identity loss, burnout, you name it - I've probably been through it.
Not a clinical therapist. Not a wellness influencer. A Mental Health Mentor that humans come back to because the work actually lands.
If you've tried therapy and it didn't quite fit - maybe a lived-experience-led Mental Health Mentor might be what's missing.
FROM THE OUTSIDE,
I LOOKED LIKE I HAD IT TOGETHER.
FROM THE INSIDE? IT WAS A FUCKING SHITSHOW.
For 20 years, all I wanted was to not worry.
All I wanted was for people to stop telling me to "just forget about it" or "just don't worry about it" - or the worst one of all, "just chill out." (Massive fucking 'THANKS' for that HELPFUL advice...NOT!)
All I wanted was for the noise in my head to stop.
For someone to actually get it.
Not the surface-level stuff.
The deep crazy shit.
On the outside, people would paint me as energy, fun, organisation, eagerness, get-shit-done.
On the inside?
Complete fucking Chaos.
Lonely.
Empty.
Empty with chaos and no bloody exit doors.
My mind would NEVER switch off.
ALWAYS planning, thinking, planning for all the "what if" scenarios. I'd second-guess every decision. I'd lie awake at 2am running highlight reels of every social interaction since Year 4. I'd grind my teeth so hard I'd give myself headaches.
I'd overanalyse E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Then spend the next 8 days stressing about whether I'd said something wrong, looked like a dickhead, or worse - made someone think I was "just a bat-shit-crazy banshee fraud of a human."
That last one? That was the big fear. "I don't want them to think I'm crazy." That voice ran every move I made for 20 years.
I tried EVERY fucking thing.
Therapy. CBT. ACT. Mindfulness. Meditation apps. Yoga. Diet changes. Self-help books. "Have you found your triggers?" "Have you tried breathwork?" Every wellness fix under the sun.
$17,000+ worth. Years of it. And every single time, the anxiety would come crawling back, usually with reinforcements.
By 2018, I was cooked. Like, properly bloody cooked.
I had the whole "good life" - the husband, the kids, the masters degree on the wall, the business, the Perth dream. And I was slowly disappearing inside it.
That was the year everything broke. And honestly? Thank fucking god it did.
I MADE A CALL.
IF NO ONE ELSE WAS
GOING TO FIND
THE ROOT CAUSE,
I WAS.
SO I WENT DEEP. GET-REAL-GET-RAW-GET-HONEST-WITH-YOURSELF DEEP.
The kind of work nobody tells you about because it doesn't fit in a 5-step framework. The kind that requires you to face the parts of yourself you've been hiding from for 20+ years. The kind that's messy and uncomfortable and necessary.
I took myself on a self-discovery, hard-truth-finding type process. I dug into the deep work, the identity work, the root-cause work. The stuff every therapist had circled around but never actually DOVE into.
But I found it. The actual root cause. The thing that had been driving everything all along.
And that became the foundation of everything I now teach.
If any of this is landing for you - let's have a chat about it. No pressure. No pitch. Just a real conversation.
FROM SHIT-STORM TO MOVEMENT.
The build wasn't pretty. But it was real. Here's how a rock bottom became The Anxiety Project - and how The Anxiety Project became BESHU.
Hit the wall. Stopped pretending I was fine. Started doing the actual deep work - identity-level, root-cause stuff. The kind nobody had told me about because everyone was too busy selling me coping strategies.
Started sharing what I was learning publicly. The first messages started rolling in - "I feel like you're in my head... you're actually describing ME!" That was the moment I knew this wasn't just my story. It was a whole generation of people quietly suffering with the same shit, behind the same masks, in the same silence.
The process I'd built to get myself out of the shit-storm became Confidence to Be - the exact method I'd used on myself, refined into something I could walk other people through. Over the next four years, hundreds of clients moved through it. 1:1 mentoring. Group programs. Workshops. Speaking gigs. Watching the masks come off in real time. Watching their real selves come back.
Started the podcast because the stuff I was teaching across the kitchen table needed to reach more ears than I could ever sit across from. Real conversations about mental health, identity, anxiety, and the messy work of being human. Free. Honest. No fluff.
Have a listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Something shifted. Men started reaching out. Parents of anxious kids started reaching out. People who didn't fit my original "audience" - and yet every single one was carrying the same weight, in the same silence, with the same hunger to be SEEN. And every single one came back saying the same thing: "everyone needs to do this."
That's when it hit me - this work was never really about anxiety. It was about people wanting to be Seen, Heard, and Understood. To stop performing. To start being. To finally let themselves be who they actually are - without apologising for any of it.
"The Anxiety Project" had been honest. But it kept us defined by the thing we were moving THROUGH - not the thing we were moving TOWARDS. Be Seen, Heard & Understood is the bigger truth. It's the underlying foundation everyone was really chasing the whole time. Same lived experience. Same no-BS approach. New name. New voice. New mission - and a hell of a lot louder.
This is the chapter. And it's only just getting started.
I'M NOT A THERAPIST.
I'M NOT A COACH.
I'M SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN IN THE SHIT-STORM AND COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE.
That's the whole point.
For 20+ years, I sat across from every "qualified" professional under the sun. No disrespect to them - I'm a huge advocate for those modalities. But I never felt like they TRULY got it. I never felt like I could really connect.
What I wanted was someone real. Someone honest. Someone who could break down the surface-level stuff and get really fucking relatable, raw and HONEST with me. Someone who'd been through it, not just read about it.
That person didn't exist. So I became that person.
I'm a lived-experience Mind Mentor for High-Functioning Humans. I went through it. I dug into the deep shit myself. I rebuilt myself from the ground up. And then I built a method - tested in real life, in real time, with hundreds of clients - that actually works.
You won't get textbook answers from me. You won't get "manifestation". You won't get bandaids. You won't get "have you tried mindfulness?"
AND SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE WAY OUT.
IF ANY OF THIS HITS HOME, LET'S CHAT.
Mental health doesn't discriminate - and neither do I. These are just the patterns I see most often in the people who find their way to me. If any of them sound like you - or some hybrid I haven't named here - reach out anyway. If you feel the pull, that's the answer.
The One Who Looks Fine
On the outside? You've got it together. Career, relationships, social life - all looking solid. Inside? You're running on fumes and you haven't felt like yourself in longer than you'd care to admit. You hold it all together for everyone else while quietly unravelling.
The One Who's Tried Everything
Therapy. Books. Meditation apps. Journalling that just says "I don't know" 47 times. Nothing sticks. You're tired of being told you're "doing great" when you can feel yourself slowly disappearing. You don't need another hand-holding Kumbaya circle or prescription. You need something that actually works - long term.
The One Who Knows Something's Off
You can't put your finger on it. You're functioning, but barely. The anxiety lives under your skin like static. The overwhelm sits in your chest like a permanent storm. You don't need a diagnosis. You need someone who actually gets it and can not just name it - but help understand it...ALL OF IT.
The Completely Cooked One
You're cooked. Properly bloody cooked. You've spent so long doing-all-the-things-for-everyone-else that you've lost track of what YOU actually want, what YOU actually like, what YOU need. The people-pleasing has become a personality. You're just over it. And underneath all of it? You don't even know who you are anymore.
RECOGNISE YOURSELF IN ANY OF THESE?
COME CHAT WITH ME.
FROM ONE METHOD TO A WHOLE MOVEMENT.
Different entry points. Same core philosophy. Pick the one that fits where you're at.
Confidence to Be™
The signature program. The exact process I used to get myself out the other side - refined over years of working with hundreds of clients, structured into 8 modules and lessons you can do in school-hour blocks, with kids screaming, in real life. Self-led, CALL or ALL-IN tiers. Next intake opens soon. Get on the list to know first.
Join the waitlist →1:1 Mentoring
Deep, personalised mentorship. F*ck Yeah Chapters. For anyone who wants me in their corner, weekly, walking them through the work face-to-face. Standard or High Support tiers.
Book a chat →Getting Vulnerable Podcast
Real conversations about mental health, identity, anxiety, and the messy work of being human. Free. Honest. Available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Speaking + Workshops
I show up at schools, events, retreats, and corporate spaces to talk about the stuff nobody else is willing to say out loud. If your audience needs to hear the truth - get in touch.
Get in touch →WORDS FROM THE OTHER SIDE.
"Lou's support is boundless. She's been where you are and gets it. Because of this, you get the true support you need to come out the other side."
— C2B Program Client
"I learnt more about myself in six weeks with Lou than I have in 12 months of working with a psychologist. She goes above and beyond and truly wants to help you come out the other side."
— 1:1 Mentoring Client
"I feel like a different person. More relaxed, happier, and excited about the life I can build for myself and my family. Anxiety is in the background of my life now."
— C2B Program Graduate
WHEN I'M NOT MENTORING, I'M MOSTLY...
40 years old. Scorpio. Married to my high school sweetheart Mike (20+ years). Mum to two young boys. Late-in-life ADHD diagnosis that finally explained why my brain runs 14 tabs at once with at least 9 of them on hyper-focus mode and the others with open carts, productivity hacks and 'what can i cook for dinner' sites.
Things I love: Basketball (been playing since Year 4, will play till my knees fall off). Gin. Coffee. M&Ms. Lurpak butter on fresh bread. Lychee martinis. The beach. Margi's with mates. A really good book (the spicier the better). And lying on the sand without anyone calling me "MUUUUM" - in my dreams.
Right now I'm: Being kind to myself - because you know, its just a chapter of my life where I'm surrendering to young childrens needs but also doing what I love in between - which is this - BESHU. I'm being intential about Less phone, more books and being present - even when it's boring as batshit (I know my future self will thank me). Currently obsessed with learning all things Claude. And building epic resources for the BESHU community - watch this space.
NO PRESSURE.
NO PITCH.
JUST PICK YOUR ENTRY POINT.
If this is hitting home and you want to take a next step - here's three ways in. Pick whatever feels right. We can always go deeper later.