Meet Dr Kathy Rasch, Co-founder of the Wellbeing Natural Health Group
With sea glimpses from its leafy home up on the hill, the Wellbeing Natural Health Group clinic sits high and welcoming on the corner of Wooralla Drive and Bundara Crescent.
The enticing weatherboard cottage nestled within a beautifully landscaped exterior is a hub of dedicated and caring wellbeing practitioners that offer Mount Eliza the best of natural health care.
A story of local synergies inspired by a 2017 Maui retreat
Live Love Mount Eliza was intrigued after seeing an invitation to a SOUL – Retreat on Maui in March 2017 – a series of workshops led by Dr Kathy Rasch, co-founder of the Wellbeing Natural Health Group. We had to find out more.
We were pleasantly surprised to discover that co-founder Dr Kathy Rasch is a great friend of Kimberlie Furness from Lotus! And the parallels appear to be endless, starting with locations that share a history of being sites of nurturing.
Like the Lotus Chiro site, the Wellbeing Natural Health Group site was also once home to an early childhood learning centre, St Trinians! We discovered this thanks to another Live Love Mount Eliza Stories from Mount Eliza subject, Andrew Stark of Andrew Stark Garden Design. Andrew responded to an Instagram photo we posted of the Wellbeing Natural Health Group clinic, sharing his memories of spending some afternoons after attending The Peninsula School, at St Trinians.
The tranquility of the waiting room is just the beginning.
You can find out more about the broad range of natural health services provided by the Wellbeing Natural Health Group on their informative website.
We interviewed Dr Kathy Rasch to dig deeper and satiate our curiosity! We learned a lot in the process.
Q. Tell me about your connection to Mount Eliza. What brought you here? And what do you love about working and living in the Mount Eliza community?
My husband, Carl (Co-founder Dr Carl Rasch), is from Melbourne. I graduated in 1991 with Carl and Kimberlie (Furness) then moved back to where I grew up, Toowoomba in Queensland, for a number of years. Carl and I realised our dream of opening our own practice in the beautiful undulating lush green hills of Maleny in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in 1995. While we loved it, our two girls were about to start their formal school years. We wanted continuity for them and it felt like the right time to settle here. We trust our intuition and it proved right. Both our girls have enjoyed all their schooling at The Peninsula School. Our daughter Georgia is now in Year 11, and our eldest daughter, Sophia, is about to finish her first year of Law at University.
“Mount Eliza feels right for us from a holistic sense of place. The community, the bush and beach settings, and the people – together it all feels exquisite. There is a real gracefulness to Mount Eliza and its people. It is polished and warm, not presumptuous.”
Mount Eliza is the most beautiful location. Where we are in Barmah Street everything is in walking distance. We can walk to the practice, walk to the beach, walk to the village and walk to school. As a family, we always felt easily accessible to one another.
I love the trees and being in amongst nature. We lived on Bellbird for the bush experience and now we have Barmah for the beach experience.
“I love the people in Mount Eliza, hugely. It is the families that make the community.”
I’ve watched them grow. I’ve had clients that I met as toddlers and are now 16. I’ve shared school graduations, engagements, weddings, and the birth of children. I love watching people grow in every sense of the word.
“Mount Eliza has a sense of unity. I see beautiful people every day, from the inside out. The energy in Mount Eliza is superb. It has soul. That is what keeps us here.”
It is an honour to contribute to the growth, health and wellbeing of Mount Eliza families.
Tell me about the Wellbeing Natural Health Group practice
In Mount Eliza, we have 9 practitioners offering a full suite of natural health opportunities such as chiropractic, psychology, myotherapy, hypnotherapy, reiki, shiatsu and acupuncture right through to Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.
The range of services reflects our philosophy of healing the whole person from deep within. All the practitioners and staff contribute efficiently.
“We’re one of the lighthouses that help show the way. We feel deeply honoured to be up here on the hill.”
Q. How did the Soul workshops come about, and particularly the retreat in Maui?
I’ve embraced lifelong education. I’ve studied Chiropractic Paediatrics, Nutrition and Childbirth Education, Mastering the Mind and Emotions and Meditation among other courses of learning.
While my approach is completely non-denominational, I want people, if they choose, to connect deeper into themselves and their divinity. Divinity to me is a deep sense of self and reverence for the consciousness that connects us all.
“That’s what excites me, the whole picture.”
My approach to healing is centred on a person’s energy and matching wherever they are. It is about finding the most efficient way to help someone heal if they are open to reaching in and healing.
I’ve been running seminars and soul/wellbeing workshops for over ten years, educating and inspiring people to increase their level of health, and find out more deeply who they are.
The SOUL retreat in Maui is the first time I’ve run five consecutive days of workshops.
Maui is a very heart centred location. I took my daughter Sophia there last year for a mid-year break in Year 12. As soon as we arrived, I knew this was the right place to run a SOUL retreat.
“Maui radiates an energy that is so grateful and loving. An energy that allows people to simply be what they are.”
I loved it and couldn’t wait to go back again. I did go back, this time with Carl in April this year. This was when we found the right location for the SOUL retreat. It truly is a paradise.
Then, in July I took three of my team over and met with our event manager at the Hyatt Regency in Maui. The Hyatt Regency in Maui offers so many options for soul revival, adventure or relaxation outside of the half day SOUL workshops.
Some of the Wellbeing Natural Health Group team at Maui, climbing volcanoes!
Q. Who are the retreat workshops as part of the Maui experience, best suited for?
The SOUL retreat is for anyone who wants to understand themselves better. The workshops and the setting are for people that have a curiosity and yearning to see fresh perspectives of themselves as human beings.
This beautiful opportunity is for those who long to:
- Have a greater understanding of the relationship between their mind, heart, body, reality and soul
- Increase awareness of the functioning of the mind and emotions
- Feel more peaceful, and content being who you are
- Feel that you are enough
- Be able to relax more effectively
- Learn and enjoy Meditation
- Get to know yourself deeply on a soul level
- Learn strategies to honour who you really are.
The workshops are designed for all levels of experience, starting with the physical nuts and bolts and working all the way up to understanding ourselves at the deepest level.
We’ve already had 27 people register (as of September 2016), just under half from Mount Eliza so far. We’ve also attracted some participants from overseas. The range of levels of awareness are vast from beginners that are not even aware that their physical health needs attention, let alone their soul health; to people that are very aware of the many aspects of their being. A number of well-known local health practitioners have already registered, along with business owners, teachers, mums and daughters, couples and also people needing some solo time.
The number of men registering may surprise people. This really busts the stereotype of men neglecting their wellness on a general level.
Q. What are you looking forward to most in regards to the SOUL retreat?
I have an enormous amount of gratitude to be by people’s side and walk with them to where they want to go. To do this together, as a diverse group and be a part of their journey in paradise is an honour. It will be incredible.
Collectively we’ll be increasing each other’s awareness - awareness of our physical bodies through to the thoughts that are controlling how we see their world.
“Behind your emotions and thoughts is your soul. By raising self awareness you are embracing your mind, heart and body, and living a more soul driven life.”
Regardless of the size of the group that will join me, the group dynamics work themselves out. We are all on our own individual journeys, and at the same time we get to share the path as a collective. Everyone will become more aware of who they are and honour their own path and truth. When you have a collective wanting to make this happen, the size of the group becomes irrelevant.
Q. What inspires you to continue practising, studying and contributing to wellness?
I honour who I am. And I love every second of what I do in service to our community. I love growing and expanding myself. That’s my journey – to learn and share what I’ve learned to help people grow, evolve and honour who they are.
To find out more about SOUL – Retreat in Maui
Read the flyer
What’s On > SOUL – Retreat in Maui
Contact Dr Kathy Rasch
Email: Kathy@wellbeinggroup.com.au
Phone: 03 9787 2111
To find out more about the Wellbeing Natural Health Group
Visit the website
Article funded by Vicki Sayers, Live Love Mount Eliza | Written by Julie Pearce, Content Services Melbourne