“There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in”
- Leonard Cohen
“There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in”
- Leonard Cohen
THERE IS A DEEPER STORY WITHIN EACH OF US
a story shaped by pain, resilience, and the desire to grow. At Life Medicine Collective, we honour this journey by creating a space where you can be truly seen, heard, and understood.You may have been to therapy before, perhaps even told yourself, “I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.” Maybe you’ve sat in countless sessions, talking about the same problems, only to leave feeling misunderstood, unchanged, or even more discouraged. You might have been in and out of programs, tried different therapeutic or medical interventions, and still find yourself repeating the same painful patterns. At times, you may feel broken, too much, too hard to help, or like you simply don’t fit anywhere. We understand how deeply exhausting this cycle can be — and we want you to know that there is still another way. Our approach goes beyond traditional talk therapy, offering a depth-oriented, trauma-informed, and transpersonal process that reaches the parts of you that have long been hidden, feared, or silenced. This is work that doesn’t just treat symptoms, but explores the root causes of suffering and the stories you carry about yourself and the world.
OUR APPROACH
EDUCATE | ENGAGE | EMPOWER | EMBODY | EVOLVE
Through our five pillars — Educate, Engage, Empower, Embody, and Evolve — we guide you to not only understand your patterns but to transform them. Together, we create safety to explore the deepest parts of your experience, even the places you’ve been afraid to go alone. Our team brings a unique blend of professional expertise, lived experience, and a passion for working with complexity. This depth allows us to hold space for your depth — to walk beside you through the discomfort, triggers, and challenges that arise when real change begins. If you are ready to try something different — something real, honest, and transformative — we are here to guide you. Healing is not about fixing what is broken, but about rediscovering the light that has always been within you, even in the darkest places.
Education is where the journey begins: what if your symptoms aren’t flaws, but survival responses shaped by hardship? By demystifying therapy and meeting yourself with compassion, shame softens and possibility opens. As we ask, why do I react this way? what happened to me?—tracing nervous-system patterns, trauma responses, attachment wounds, and core beliefs—we bring the unconscious into the light, creating the coherence and safety needed for deeper healing. Education isn’t just information; it’s illumination that turns confusion into meaning and suffering into a path of real change.
EDUCATE
Healing isn’t passive—it asks for your full presence. After mapping your inner world, the work is to engage: lean into what you’ve avoided, feel what you’ve suppressed, and stay with discomfort long enough to learn. In depth work, change begins when you join the dialogue between conscious and unconscious—can you meet the parts that were hidden and trust the process when the path is unclear? In a held therapeutic relationship, insight becomes action and old wounds are reworked in real time. You reclaim your voice and truer connection—this is a collaborative, not solitary, unfolding.
ENGAGE
True healing is embodied, not just understood. Trauma lives in the nervous system, locking us in survival patterns—hypervigilance, numbness, collapse, dissociation. Embodiment is the slow practice of attending to breath and sensation and learning to regulate arousal so the past stops pulling the present. As safety grows, insight becomes a felt sense: emotions once overwhelming can be expressed, integrated, and transformed. In this return, the body becomes both guide and sanctuary—and aliveness is reclaimed.
EMBODY
Trauma can erode agency, so we survive by silencing needs and splitting off emotions—patterns that calcify into fear, avoidance, and self-doubt. Empowerment is reclaiming and integrating those silenced parts, especially trapped anger: when met with presence, it becomes energy, clarity, and truth rather than shame or depression. This is wrathful compassion—not rage, but a fierce, protective expression of your whole self. As that energy is released, you move from survival to inner authority, living with clarity, courage, and integrity aligned to your deepest truth.
EMPOWER
Healing isn’t a finish line—it’s an ongoing practice. As you integrate insight, emotional truth, and embodied tools, old patterns loosen and you meet relationships and life with more freedom and purpose. Evolution is therapy spilling into daily life—how you love, create, lead—trading perfection for resilience and adaptability. To evolve is to live aligned with your deepest truth, widening your capacity for connection and meaning, becoming who you are beyond your wounds—courageous, authentic, and free.
EVOLVE
OUR THERAPIES
PSYCHOLOGIAL
Psychological therapy offers a safe and supportive space to explore the deeper currents of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Rather than simply managing symptoms, this work seeks to reveal the unconscious patterns, early wounds, relational dynamics, management strategies and core beliefs that shape how you experience yourself and the world. Through a compassionate, trauma-informed lens, therapy becomes a journey of self-discovery and integration, guiding you beyond survival and toward authenticity.
MEDICINE ASSISTED THERAPIES
Medicine-assisted psychotherapy can open transpersonal states—expanded awareness where boundaries soften—so long-hidden memories, emotions, and trauma residues can surface. Grounded in harm reduction, it uses thorough preparation, skilled support, and careful pacing/containment so what arises is met safely. The heart is integration—embodiment, reflective dialogue, and creative or relational practices that weave insights into daily life—turning breakthroughs into durable change in clarity, resilience, and connection.
HOLISTIC
Holistic therapy sees healing as whole-system—mind, body, soul, relationships, nature—since imbalance in one part ripples through all. Beyond symptom relief, it works with breathwork, sound, movement, mindfulness, and supportive lifestyle/exercise, with nature (time outdoors, herbal/plant practices) and community (groups, retreats, shared practice) as allies. The aim is grounded wholeness: living authentically, connected to yourself, others, and the wider web of life.
OUR SPACE
Our space is located in the Gold Coast Hinterland, surrounded by trees, wildlife, and the calming rhythms of nature.
Here, the natural environment offers a peaceful sanctuary away from the busyness of daily life. Clients often share that simply arriving in this space helps them feel more groundedand open, creating the ideal setting for deep therapeutic work and authentic connection.
FOUNDER AND RESIDENT PSYCHOLOGIST
DAN ZALCBERG
Dan is a Registered Psychologist (Clinical Registrar) and the founder of The Life Medicine Collective. He supports clients across a wide range of complex mental health presentations, including trauma, PTSD, Complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance dependence, relational difficulties, identity concerns, and treatment-resistant conditions. Dan provides a safe, compassionate, and non-judgmental space where clients can explore the deeper patterns shaping their lives, while developing the tools and resilience needed to create meaningful, lasting change.
Dan’s approach blends evidence-based therapies with depth-oriented and transpersonal frameworks, allowing for work that is both clinically rigorous and profoundly transformative. His therapeutic process moves beyond symptom management, exploring the unconscious patterns, attachment wounds, and core beliefs that often underlie emotional and relational struggles. Drawing from modalities such as Schema Therapy, EMDR, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and somatic-based practices, Dan helps clients move toward insight, embodiment, and authentic self-expression.
As part of his research and clinical focus, Dan explores the role of trapped and repressed emotions — particularly anger — in perpetuating feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. In a society where anger is often judged or suppressed, many people lose connection to this vital life force. Dan is passionate about helping clients rediscover their voice, safely express difficult emotions, and reclaim the power and clarity that come from embodying their full emotional experience. This work enables clients to step into their truth with confidence, authenticity, and purpose.
Dan has a particular interest in working with individuals who have tried multiple forms of therapy yet still feel stuck or disconnected, as well as those seeking deep relational healing. He also provides psychedelic integration support and works with clients exploring alternative therapeutic pathways, with a focus on harm reduction, education, and safe integration.
Before founding The Life Medicine Collective, Dan spent over 15 years immersed in both clinical training and personal exploration, studying with teachers and mentors from around the world. His journey has included training in Buddhist psychology, transpersonal psychology, shadow work, Jungian depth psychology, indigenous wisdom traditions, and the latest advancements in modern psychological science.
Dan’s work is deeply informed by his own personal challenges and transformative experiences. He understands the courage it takes to be fully seen and believes that every part of a person — even the parts they have learned to hide — is essential to the healing process. His mission is to create a therapeutic space where clients feel truly welcomed, accepted, and empowered to explore who they are and who they are becoming.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness-Based Interventions, Somatic Approaches, Psychedelic-Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy,
THERAPEUTICAL APPROACHES
Trauma and PTSD, C-PTSD, Dissociation, Depersonalisation, Treatment-resistant depression and anxiety, Substance dependence and addictions, Complex attachment and relational issues, Personality and identity development, Psychedelic integration, Self-esteem and self-actualisation, OCD and ADHD, ASD, Spiritual emergence and transpersonal experiences
AREAS OF INTEREST
ABOUT THE LIFE MEDICINE COLLECTIVE
LIFE IS MEDICINE
The Life Medicine Collective was founded in 2023 from a vision to heal not just symptoms, but the whole of life—mind, body, soul, relationships, community, and spirit. It is a collection of modalities, people and community here to work together on your journey back to you.
NEED URGENT SUPPORT?
Life Medicine is not a crisis or active addiction service. For immediate support, contact your GP and/or click through to relevant links below. For all life-threatening emergencies call 000.
Safe Steps Family Violence
Lifeline - suicide prevention
Beyond Blue - Mental Health Support
1800 Respect - family violence
Mensline - Mens Health Line
Blue Knot Foundation
Suicide Call Back Service
ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR JOURNEY?
Reaching out for support is a meaningful step — one that begins the process of change. Whether you are navigating challenges, seeking deeper self-understanding, or ready to engage in profound inner work, we are here to walk alongside you.
The Life Medicine Collective offers in-person appointments on the Gold Coast, QLD, as well as secure online sessions for clients across Australia. Medicare and Health Fund rebates are available where applicable, for psychological sessions only. As a collaborative team, we work together to create a safe and supportive environment where every aspect of your care is considered. By drawing on our diverse skills and approaches, we shape a path that reflects your unique needs and goals.
Click the link below to fill out our introduction form so we can get to know you and determine the best way for you to work with Dan and The LMC Team, ensuring you feel supported and ready for this next step in your journey.