transforming carer experiences
Coaching to keep you grounded while supporting a loved one through mental health challenges
transforming carer experiences
Coaching to keep you grounded while supporting a loved one through mental health challenges
"Caring for someone with mental illness can be exhausting and isolating but you don't have to face it alone."
Lou Wardlaw
ABOUT ME
I’m Lou Wardlaw, founder of Melbourne based coaching business, Grounded Together. I bring the unique combination of lived experience as a carer and sibling, formal coaching expertise, corporate leadership, and over two decades in mental health advocacy, to help families gain stability through mental health and substance use challenges. I understand how to navigate the system and keep hope alive even when the path feels uncertain.
As a mother, sister, colleague, friend and advocate, I’ve lived through the realities of mental illness, substance use, and loss and understand this journey first-hand. I’ve walked the complex path of the mental health system, fought for care, and learned what it takes to stay grounded and hopeful through uncertainty.
When someone you love is struggling with their mental health or substance use, it can feel like your world has tilted. You’re doing everything you can to help, but often without a roadmap carrying the worry, exhaustion, and fear of getting it wrong. Family breakdown, isolation, and work pressures can add further stress. My role is to help you gain stability, find clarity, build strength and reconnect with hope so you can support your loved one without losing yourself in the process.
HOW COACHING IS DIFFERENT
Coaching isn’t counselling or therapy. It’s not about diagnosis or treatment, it’s about helping you find balance, clarity, and direction so you can keep moving forward with confidence.
Many families already have psychologists, counsellors, or clinicians supporting their loved one. Grounded Together provides you with direct support and complements traditional therapeutic interventions. We help you take actions to create stability and strength during times of challenge.
COMPASSIONATE AND PERSONALISED COACHING FOR CAREGIVERS
A safe non-judgmental space to pause, breathe, and focus on you. Through one-on-one coaching, we help you:
• Build emotional resilience and manage stress
• Set healthy boundaries while staying connected to your loved one
• Find clarity and confidence when making decisions about care
• Reconnect with your own wellbeing and sense of purpose
• Understand pathways through public and private care
• Prepare for appointments and advocate effectively
You don’t have to have all the answers. Together, we’ll work through the challenges, explore what’s within your control, and help you find stability, connection and strength along the way. Move from feeling lost and frustrated to informed, supported, and empowered.
SERVICES
Single Session
Single Session
Single Session
$195+GST - 60 minutes
$250+GST - 90 minutes
Tailored 1:1 coaching session to support you with developing strategies and actions while caring for your loved one.
Foundations
Single Session
Single Session
$720+GST
4 x 60 minutes
Build strategies for resilience, self-care, stress management, boundaries, and navigating complex mental health systems
Grounded
Single Session
Grounded
$1,100+GST
6 x 60 minutes
Foundations strategies plus additional coaching for sustained change, clarity and calm.