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Megan Walker: Welcome to Healthcare Online. I'm Megan Walker, and today our very special guest is Dr. Ingrid McGuffog. Hi Ingrid, how are you?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: Hi Megan, I’m very well, thank you.

Megan Walker: Wonderful. I’ve kind of sprung this interview on you, but I’m excited to talk about your amazing background and to share with clinicians, practitioners, and therapists what you’ve been doing in your traditional work — and the projects you're now developing in the digital healthcare and online course space. To start us off, can you share who you are and what your traditional work has looked like up until now?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: Sure. I’m a criminologist with a PhD in criminology, and my field is broadly drug and alcohol. Most of my clients are referred by criminal lawyers or family lawyers — people caught in destructive cycles, often addiction, or other behavioural patterns that get them into trouble. I spent six years teaching at a liberal arts college in upstate New York. My teaching was very experiential and group-based, and through that I realised I’m actually more of a practitioner at heart.

Just before COVID I returned to Australia and completed a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy. I started my private practice on Wickham Terrace, and that’s been bubbling away nicely. But like you often say, the “selling time” model has limits — especially when it comes to growth and revenue. I discovered you through Power Diary and was really drawn to what you're doing. One of the big things for me was that you're AHPRA-aligned. I’m not AHPRA-registered because I’m not a clinical psych — I’m a counsellor and psychotherapist — but I align my practice that way because it adds credibility.

I started thinking about creating something that felt like a passion project — something creative and fun — and I realised I want to appeal more to women. Most of my clients are men, which surprised me. I do love working with men, but women tend to be more proactive and more engaged, though they don’t always have the same financial flexibility. And because I’m in recovery myself — coming up on 20 years — congratulations, thank you! — there are so many things I’ve learned that I now apply clinically. I realised I can translate those into an online environment where it’s not therapy, but where I can teach skills, tools, and psychoeducation around things like, “What do I do with my feelings?”

Megan Walker: I love that. Your background is incredible — personal, professional, academic — and you’re bringing it all together. Tell me about the women you want to help. What are they struggling with?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: I have two “hero” women in mind — my daughter and my sister. My sister is an empty nester looking toward the next phase of life, but old beliefs and past experiences can limit what she thinks is possible.

The larger group is working women with children and partners who feel overwhelmed. High achievers who get caught in perfectionism. And while some programs focus on organisation and systems, that’s not my wheelhouse. Mine is the internal world. So many women suffer from what I call obsessive compulsive busyness. They're exhausted. They don't know what genuine self-care looks like in practice.

That’s where my program, Reframe Your Life, comes in. It draws from neurobiology, habit formation, emotional development, and the relationship between past experiences and present behaviour. It's contemplative and meditative, centred around creating corrective emotional experiences — something we work toward in therapy, but people can learn to create themselves.

Megan Walker: You mentioned a younger audience too — women in your daughter’s stage of life. What are they dealing with?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: They often feel undervalued at home. Their caregiving role takes over everything, and they become depleted. They want to be the best mum, but then they snap at the kids, feel guilty, and fall into that cycle again. Sometimes the solution is simple: pause, check in with what you're actually feeling, and ask yourself what you need. Maybe it's a rest. Maybe it's putting the TV on for the kids and taking a breath.

But we can go deeper too — looking at where these patterns started. Childhood, adolescence, early adulthood — the roots are often there. Emotions aren’t dangerous. They’re signals. Once you know how to listen, you often discover an inner child who needs attention. Mums forget about that inner child because they’re caring for the external ones. And often, the partner becomes a “third child,” emotionally. Women end up carrying the emotional labour for the whole family.

I’m even thinking of adding a small bonus module for dads — so both parents share the same emotional language and tools.

Megan Walker: It sounds incredible — and it’s not a small undertaking to put all this into course modules. What have you learned so far that you'd share with others creating online courses?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: You don’t have to get it perfect. My perfectionism definitely showed up at the start. I always encourage people to join your Academy — it was great for getting my feet wet. Then I reached a point where I was stuck, so I joined Accelerator.

And honestly, the name is perfect — it has accelerated everything. Ideas evolve, and the program now looks very different from my early drafts. Group coaching and guest experts have shaped it along the way. I’ve had to stop going down rabbit holes and start focusing. And it’s fun — it’s creative. It fills a need in me that I hadn’t been meeting.

Megan Walker: I love that. Where can people follow you and watch your work evolve?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: I’m on Instagram and Facebook as Dr. Ingrid McGuffog. I’m building out landing pages and my new brand, Reframe Your Life. I’ve bought the domain, and once I’ve mastered Kajabi, that’s where everything will be. I also have my main professional website, and my email is [email protected] .

Megan Walker: Beautiful — I’ll put the links below. Is there anything else you’d like to share with your peers?

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: Keep going. Baby steps. When I get overwhelmed, I use the very same steps I’m teaching — pausing, creating stillness, listening inward. The answers are always there when you get quiet.

Megan Walker: Rest and breathe — that’s been my mantra this year.

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: Exactly. And even though there are similar programs out there, each of us has our own language, our own voice, our own creative way of expressing things. The people you’re meant to work with will resonate with your voice.

Megan Walker: Absolutely. Ingrid, thank you — it’s been a delight.

Dr. Ingrid McGuffog: Thank you, Megan.

Links and Further Information
 

🌐 Website: https://dringridmcguffog.com/ 

📖 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dringridmcguffog 

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dringridmcguffog/ 

🔗LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/ingrid-mcguffog-phd 

📧 Email: [email protected] 

🖥️ Free 30-day Kajabi trial: https://app.kajabi.com/r/8qkVLZCy/t/dh4tz2bb