Frequently asked questions about The T Cottage and our services. If your question isn’t answered here, please drop us an email.

Location & Accessibility

Where is The T Cottage?

THE T COTTAGE HAS MOVED.

Unfortunately the land the original T Cottage was on has sold and we have moved to a new office in Teneriffe.

You can find us (by appointment) at 91 Commercial Rd, Teneriffe. You’re welcome to come inside and wait in the chairs at reception and we’ll come get you for your appointment.

How do I get to The T Cottage?

If you’re coming on public transit, Fortitude Valley station or Bowen Hills station are closest train stations, about a 20min walk or roll. Both stations are fully accessible. There are wide, mostly flat footpaths in good condition from the train station to The T Cottage. Alternatively, we’re easy to access fron buses along Ann St or Commercial Rd.

If you are driving, there is street parking, but it can be a little competitive so plan time to find a spot. There is a lot out front that can be used for drop-offs but not extended parking.

How are you handling Covid-19? What is your mask-wearing policy?

We take Covid-19 seriously and aim to manage our risks responsibly.

We recognise mask wearing is a highly effective and simple prevention measure against Covid-19. We also recognise it can create other accessibility issues for folks, including issues with sensory processing, audio processing, breathing, anxiety, and hearing difficulties. As such, we do not have a strict masking policy but try to balance risks and competing access needs through series of risk-mitigation strategies.

Everyone working at The T Cottage is fully vaccinated.

We do not require masks for outdoor events or one-on-one sessions, although we welcome mask-wearing and are happy to wear masks on request.

For small-group sessions, we will make masking requirements on a case-by-case basis depending on participant needs.

Is The T Cottage wheelchair-accessible?

Yes! The new office is fully wheelchair accessible, with flat step-free access.

There is a partially accessible toilet onsite–the room is large enough for a wheelchair to enter but with limited maneuverability which may impair some types of transfers.

Can I bring a carer?

Absolutely. Carers are always welcome, and carer attendance is free for group programs. You are welcome to have your carer participate as much or as little as is useful to you.

Please let us know if you are bringing a carer—we just need to ensure we have the correct amount of space for everyone.

Please also let us know if you are bringing a carer who is not queer to a queer-exclusive group. We recognise it is not always possible to access queer carers, and we generally provide a safety briefing to carers who aren’t part of queer community so they can participate in a way that is safe for everyone.

What sort of sensory needs can The T Cottage accommodate?

The T Cottage aims to serve a variety of sensory needs and to configurable to the different and varied needs of neurodivergent people.

It is a low-scent environment with no scents or sprays used in the space.

Lighting is configurable, with options for natural lighting and a variety of lamps to accommodate preferences for different levels of light.

A speaker is available for music during movement or as background music and folks are welcome to select their own music and volume (or no music).

Various seating options and sensory items are also available. You are welcome to move about the space, change between sitting and standing, sit on the floor or different surfaces, and stim openly during sessions.

Is there a toilet onsite?

Yes. (As noted above, it may not be suitable for all wheelchair users. Please let us know if this affects you and we can advise alternatives.)

Is there a place to wait if I’m early or a place for my carer to wait during my appointment?

Yes! There are couches and armchairs in the reception area.

What if I have other accessibility needs?

Please speak to us. We are genuinely committed to working with everyone to get their accessibility needs met and to navigate issues where there are conflicting needs between participants.

Mental Health & Therapy Services

questions answered by Tobi

What’s your cancellation policy?

My policy is that cancellation policies are ableist bullshit.

I do not charge for cancellations. It is an undue burden on disabled, neurodivergent, and folks living with mental illness to bear the cost of needing to occasionally cancel or reschedule appointments due to fluctuating capacity.

I trust folks to be responsible with this and just ask that you give me as much notice as you can. You can cancel and reschedule appointments yourself online anytime before the time of the appointment without needing to speak with me about it or give a reason.

Do you bulkbill or take Medicare referrals?

For therapy services, unfortunately not yet. Medicare requires mental health social workers to practice for 2 years before they are eligible to bill with Medicare. I will offer bulkbilling and low-gap options once I am eligible for Medicare billing in 2023. Currently, I offer sliding scale prices based on income to make services as accessible as possible.

Do you bill with NDIS?

Absolutely. I offer invoice billing for self-managed and plan-managed participants (contact us to enquire about agency-managed participants). I will send you or your plan manager an invoice when services are provided, which you can claim with NDIS before you pay me. I do not require self-managed clients to pay upfront.

My services are primarily billed under Capacity Building funding (line item 15_621_0128_1_3 – Assessment, Recommendation, Therapy, or Training – Social Worker).

Do you offer in-home or telehealth services?

Currently no. This is due to my own disability restrictions. I understand these can be important accessibility tools for many people and I may be able to offer occasional flexibility around this for existing clients but unfortunately it’s not something I have the physical capacity to offer regularly.

What ages do you work with?

I currently offer services for adults (18+) and all of our group programs are currently 18+. The greater Brisbane area has a particular dearth of queer-affirming services for people 25-40, so I am currently focusing my energy on filling that gap.

Can you tell me more about your axes of identity and how that affects you as a practitioner?

I am a physically disabled, fat, trans, queer, autistic person with lived experiences of trauma, poverty, and migration. I am white and migrated to Australia 10 years ago from an English-speaking country with a hope of find a safer place to live as a queer person and better access to medical care. I use a wheelchair part-time and a cane at all other times.

My own experiences living as a marginalised person in unsafe environments and my subsequent healing journey have formed an approach to trauma healing that is primarily based on finding and rebuilding safety—safety within our bodies, our selves, our relationships, and our community—even when our safety in broader society cannot be guaranteed. I believe finding safety within ourselves is foundational to any healing or mental health work.

I work hard to find ways of authentically showing up in this often hostile world and to create spaces where others can hopefully find experiences of safe connection.

Can you tell me more about the work you’ve done to try to be a safe practitioner for folks who have different axes of identity or oppression than you, such as for people of colour or of refugee experience?

I find deep resonance in Chela Sandoval’s work on differential oppositional consciousness, one principle of which is that I can use my experiences of marginalisation to build compassion and a container for understanding how to show up for people with different experiences. I can reflect on ways I have been harmed in my own marginalisation and use that knowledge to reduce the risk of harming others along their axes of marginalisation.

For example, I do not know what it is like to live as a Muslim person in Australia. But I know what it’s like to have strangers ask invasive personal questions based on your appearance and their assumptions about it. I know what it’s like to show up to appointments unsure if the medical professionals are going to be hostile or ignorant about your identity. And I can reflect on what makes me feel safe and respected around people who don’t share my identity and how I can build that safety and respect for others, even if I am not familiar with their specific experiences.

I aim to practice from a place of cultural humility and never from a place of seeing myself as the expert. I trust you as the expert in your own life and will work to honour and support whatever you bring to the table.

I recognise I also live steeped in this toxic world and the internal work of undoing its impact on me—particularly in areas where I have privilege or benefit from supremacy—is eternal. I aim to be responsible for doing my own work in these areas and to repair any harm I may inadvertently cause.

I never expect clients to be responsible for educating me but you are always welcome to point out areas where you think I need to seek more learning on my own in order to better support you.

Do you work with sex workers? What’s your approach to this?

I do. I believe sex work is work and should be fully decriminalised. I approach sex work the same way I would approach any other job—we can talk about it if you like or not talk about it if it doesn’t feel relevant. Your work will never be held against you. I will not tell you to stop doing sex work or treat quitting your job as a precondition to doing any healing work. I support you in making the work choices that are right for you and can help connect you into resources to support your safety and well-being as a sex worker if you like.

Do you work with people who use drugs? What’s your approach to this?

I do. I am drug-neutral and believe humans can make their own choices in regards to what they put in their own bodies. A choice to use drugs will never be held against you. I may check in with you about whether you feel the way you are using drugs is serving you or not serving you, and I will respect your answer. We can also discuss risk-mitigation and safety-building options around drug use if that’s helpful.

I do not offer addiction-specific counselling or counselling with a primary goal of ceasing drug use. However, if you are using drugs in a way that you don’t feel is serving you, often doing trauma and healing work can be a powerful and effective way to help negotiate a new relationship with substances that better serves you.

While we don’t turn away people from services for being impaired, we do ask that folks coming to group programs show up in a way that maintains safety for everyone, so please be aware of your level of impairment. Please come to group programs with the the ability to be aware of your surroundings and capacity to be aware of the needs of others.

Do you work with people who have lived experience of prison? What’s your approach to this?

I do. I am centred in the politics of prison abolition and restorative justice. Your experience of prison and conviction will never be held against you. People with lived experience of prison deserve access to healing and supports to rebuild their internal experiences of safety.

I do not typically work with people who are currently incarcerated because the type of therapy I practice is generally not able to be safely engaged in from within the system of carceral violence; however, I am happy to discuss this further if you have a specific circumstance you want to ask about.

If I’m in non-monogamous or different kinds of relationship structures, are you going to be weird or pathologising about that?

Absolutely not. There are as many ways to structure relationships as there are people in relationships with each other. I’m happy to help you figure out what kinds of relationships you want and build towards having a healthier relationship with yourself, your friends, partner(s), and communities–not to dictate what those relationships “should” look like. They should look like whatever you and folks in them want them to look like.

I noticed you have TCTSY (Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga) qualifications but don’t use any yoga language. Why?

TCTSY is an evidence-based treatment for complex trauma. While it has some of its roots in the yoga community, it is at its core not a yoga practice, but framework of somatic movement which can be applied to any type of physical activity. There is a growing number of TCTSY practitioners who want to drop all associations with yoga and move towards more neutral movement-based language. I am one of these.

I personally do not practice from a yoga framework or use any yoga language. I think yoga language can be harmful in many ways. From the perspective of decolonialising my practice, I am deeply uncomfortable with the ways white, western practitioners engage in the commercialisation of yoga without any connection to the cultural or spiritual traditional yoga arises from. As a survivor-practitioner, I too have experienced the insidious and harmful “Have you tried yoga???” weaponisation against folks struggling with mental health issues and never want to contribute to that. As a fat, queer, disabled person, I am acutely aware of the ways most yoga spaces are not safe for many of us or our bodies, and I find yoga language quite loaded in that context.

I think there are many ways to move our bodies and rediscover safe connection to them. Yoga is one way that works for some people, but I think it is a limited framework and I am much more comfortable engaging in somatic movement practice in a broader context.