Avá Joy Sloan, MA, BSc, ATR

It was the desire to share healing with others that initially led me to complete an honors degree in psychology at Queensland University of Technology. Irritated at the dualism of the biomedical model and sensing there was more to healing than psychology could offer, I moved to an ashram in the foothills of the Northern Indian Himalayas to study yogic philosophy and the wisdom of the Vedas. Eventually, I began teaching yoga and meditation in India. From India I moved to Sri Lanka to support in the establishment of a community mental health program in Colombo. In 2016 I relocated to Melbourne, and began to slowly weave the wisdom gained from eastern philosophy together with what I had learned within my studies of western neuropsychology. In doing so, I founded Deviná (formerly "Laprana"), a holistic integrative health practice that is now based in the inner north east of Melbourne. Feeling called to deepen my knowledge about health, healing and whole-ing, particularly from the world’s indigenous cultures, I have spent much of the last 15 years travelling around the world on a journey of teaching, learning, healing and inspiration. Time spent in various indigenous communities has given me the opportunity to witness the peace and well-being that naturally arises when living in harmony and sacred reciprocity with evolution and nature. These communities have also illuminated the power of the creative and sacred to heal and transcend. Upon returning to Australia, I completed a Master’s degree in Therapeutic Arts Practice at The Melbourne Institute of Experiential & Creative Arts Therapies (MIECAT) and later completed a Certificate of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy. Through deepening my practice of Vedic meditation and my connection to the earth-based wisdom of my own Celtic ancestral roots, I have developed richer tools to support others along their journey. I am passionate about the much needed integration of expanded states of consciousness and ultimately support people to make contact with and develop, their unique and innate gifts so they can be of greater service to the collective.