About Tess

Tess was born in Launceston and is a proud 8th-generation Tasmanian. She first left Tasmania at the age of 11, and subsequently lived in Canberra, Gold Coast and Melbourne, before returning to Tasmania at the age of 25 to attend university in Hobart. Twenty-five years later, Tess moved back to Melbourne to reconnect with her husband's family and old friends. In 2023, Tess returned home to Tasmania and is currently based in Hobart.

PSYCHOLOGY EXPERIENCE

Tess is an Australian clinical and forensic psychologist with over 20 years' experience in such diverse areas as community mental health, the prison system, perinatal mental health, university lecturing, and private practice.

Tess has a PhD in clinical psychology, has published one business-related book and is in the midst of writing a second. She is also a former actor, which some say explains a lot! In fact, she met her husband of 30+ years while they were involved in a Melbourne stage production of Macbeth (also explains a lot!).

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

Over the past 20+ years Tess built two well-respected Tasmanian mental health clinics (Crawley Clinic Hobart and Crawley Clinic Launceston), selling the Hobart practice in 2020. The Crawley Clinic is still a proudly Tasmanian business, based in Launceston with additional staff located in Melbourne.

Tess launched a third business during Melbourne's lengthy lockdown in 2020, Crawley House, which acts as serviced offices for several psychology practices, including The Crawley Clinic's Melbourne team, and the private practices of close colleagues.

Something of a serial entrepreneur, Tess is currently developing a not-for-profit focussed on supporting the mental health of mental health professionals. She is also working on plans for a fifth business outside of the mental health sector (but that’s a bit of a secret just now!).

BUSINESS COACHING

Tess has become one of Australia’s most sought-after business coaches for private practice owners in the mental health profession. Her passion for supporting business owners (of any industry) grew out of her own experience of the ups and downs of business ownership, as well as growing up in an entrepreneurial family and observing the impact of business stresses from the inside.

In her work as a business coach, Tess has helped hundreds of business owners build teams, consolidate growth, launch new businesses, publish books, start speaking careers, overcome staffing crises, and more. It is her mission to see you escape overwhelm and isolation on the way to reaching your potential. Always proud of her clients' successes, she also walks the painful path alongside them when things don't go to plan ... because business is full of ups and downs (it's a rollercoaster, not a merry-go-round), and Tess refuses to sugar-coat that truth.

Tess' business coaching strategies include helping you to develop a CEO Mindset despite being a small business owner. She works with you to take control over your time. To reduce your sense of overwhelm, she will teach you vital skills around business ownership (strategic planning, recruitment and retention, marketing, administration, legacy-building, personal branding, and more). She will also draw together a team of like-minded business owners to share the journey with you, reducing the awful sense of isolation common to the business ownership journey.

Tess won't pretend to have all the answers for you. Her closest coaching clients also have access to the brains trust that supports Tess (meaning financial advice, administrative advice, web advice, and more).

MISSION

It is Tess' mission to support business owners to overcome isolation and overwhelm through building the courage to take strategic risks, the confidence to lead with candour, and enough clarity in their own mission to draw their ideal clients, team, and colleagues to share the journey with them.

"I am endlessly proud of the achievements of my clients. I feel incredibly honoured to be trusted with their inner-most fears, their courageous decisions, and their amazing growth. Loving what I do every day, how does it get any better than this? By sharing it with the inspiring clients I am lucky enough to work with every day!" ... Tess.

Above all, Tess is most proud of being mother to two sons who make her laugh every single day.