Dr Stephanie Azri brings both professional knowledge and personal experience to her work supporting women and families. Her own experiences of loss, heartbreak and motherhood have shaped her passion for helping others heal, reconnect and build stronger relationships. Through her work in trauma recovery, relationships and sex therapy, she helps people find a way forward while also teaching and mentoring other therapists. A mum of six, Stephanie has learnt that happiness comes from noticing everyday moments rather than waiting for everything to fall into place. Here, she shares the experiences behind her business, her changing approach to balancing work and family, and why she’s making more time to enjoy life today.
The Passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
People often assume therapists have their lives perfectly sorted.
Spoiler alert… we don’t.
Like many therapists, I was drawn to this work because life handed me a few plot twists I definitely didn’t order. Even as a child, I somehow became the unofficial playground peace negotiator. While everyone else argued over whose turn it was on the monkey bars, I was the one trying to broker world peace before lunchtime.
Life, however, has a funny way of teaching lessons no university ever can.
The death of my daughter Talina in 2002 and the end of my first marriage after 25 years taught me something every textbook misses: qualifications don’t protect us from heartbreak. They don’t stop bad things happening, and they certainly don’t stop other people making painful choices.
What they can do is help us heal.
Those experiences fuelled my passion for trauma recovery, leading me to train in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) and Schema Therapy. Watching people rediscover themselves after trauma never gets old.
But perhaps my greatest lesson came only five years ago.
I realised I’d spent decades living in “soon”.
I’ll relax soon.
I’ll travel soon.
I’ll enjoy life once the kids are older… once work settles down… once the mortgage is smaller… once everything is finally under control.
Here’s the problem. “Soon” never arrives.
These days, my philosophy is beautifully simple: happiness isn’t waiting at the finish line. It’s hidden in your morning coffee, your child’s terrible jokes, a sunset, five quiet minutes in the spa, laughing with your partner or watching your kids dance around the kitchen in their pyjamas.
Life doesn’t become meaningful because everything goes right. It becomes meaningful because we notice the little moments while it’s happening.
That’s the message I hope every parent hears.
The Launch: How did you start out?
My business started exactly how many family businesses do… with a pregnant mum giving it a crack.
I was in my mid-twenties, expecting my third child, working out of a little room at the back of the Beenleigh Neighbourhood Centre and seeing a couple of clients each week.
There were no fancy websites. No Instagram. No TikTok reels.
Just me, a printer, a stack of flyers and a very optimistic pair of walking shoes delivering them around the neighbourhood.
Honestly… I miss those days.
It gave me the chance to really know my community, build genuine relationships and learn that people don’t need someone perfect; they simply need someone willing to sit beside them when life gets messy.
The Innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough?
People often ask what the secret was to growing my business.
I wish I had a clever business strategy to share.
Truthfully… I blinked.
One minute I was seeing a handful of clients at the community centre, and the next I had a six-week waiting list, specialising in relationships, couples and sex therapy.
The biggest shift wasn’t business; it was perspective.
Training in EMDR and Schema Therapy completely changed how I saw people. I stopped asking, “What’s wrong with this person?” and started asking, “What happened to them?”
Because underneath anxiety, anger, conflict and unhealthy coping strategies is usually someone who simply wants to be loved, safe and happy.
That changed everything.
Another unexpected joy has been teaching and mentoring other therapists through roles with the Australian Association of Social Workers and the Society of Australian Sexologists, alongside managing a Queensland Health mental health team.
But the biggest breakthrough didn’t happen in my career.
It happened in my lounge room.
As my six children were born, I realised I’d spent 25 years racing from one responsibility to the next.
Finish the washing.
Finish the degree.
Finish work.
Finish the grocery shopping.
Finish… finish… finish.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot to enjoy the ride.
Now I remind parents every day that yes, raising children is exhausting. There are lunches to pack, washing mountains to climb and Lego pieces determined to destroy your feet.
But joy isn’t something we earn after the to-do list is complete.
It’s something we choose to notice while the washing basket is still overflowing.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I used to think balance meant squeezing everything into the day.
Now I know balance is deciding what actually deserves to fit.
For years, my priorities looked like this:
Work.
Responsibilities.
Everyone else.
Maybe me… if there was time.
There usually wasn’t.
These days, I protect the things that fill my cup because I’ve learnt burnt-out mums don’t magically become patient mums.
I spend time with my husband, travel whenever I can, escape into my sauna and spa, embarrass myself playing Beat Saber for exercise and occasionally achieve the impossible…
I drink an entire hot chocolate while it’s still hot.
Some days are wonderful.
Some are complete disasters.
Both are part of life.
The difference now is that I don’t wait for the perfect day before deciding to enjoy it.
The Drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Much of my work is shaped by my own experiences.
I was born in Australia before being taken overseas by my mother without my father’s knowledge, growing up separated from him for many years. Later in life, I experienced profound loss with the death of my newborn daughter, Talina, and, after my divorce, faced the heartbreaking experience of parental alienation.
As a child, I was also paralysed down my right side, leaving me with a noticeable limp and making me painfully aware of what it felt like to be different.
None of these experiences define me.
But they do help me understand what it feels like when life knocks the wind out of you.
Trauma changes the way we see ourselves, the world and often how we parent.
Healing changes it back.
That’s why I’m so passionate about helping women and families realise they are never broken beyond repair.
For Better or Worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The best part is flexibility and purpose.
Every day, I get to help people build stronger relationships, heal old wounds and create happier families. That’s an incredible privilege.
The downside?
Running your own business is a little like having another child.
It doesn’t clock off.
Ever.
When you’re not working, you’re thinking about working.
But I wouldn’t trade it.
Hopes and Dreams: What’s next?
Travel.
Then more travel.
Then probably even more travel.
After years of rushing through life, my husband and I are making memories instead of waiting for “one day”.
Personally, my greatest dream is simply watching my children build happy, meaningful lives – hopefully learning from a few of my mistakes instead of making all of them themselves.
Professionally, I want to continue supporting women in their journeys as well as training therapists, sharing what I’ve learnt over the past 25 years so even more families can heal, connect and discover that life isn’t about surviving until tomorrow.
It’s about truly living today.
Visit stephanieazri.com to learn more about the services she offers, and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.
