Appendix H — About The Founder: Joane Goulding
Joane Goulding is the Creator of The Goulding System.
Based on biographical and historical material
Early Life and Formative Influences
Joane Goulding was born in London during the Second World War and spent her early years in the small village of Potters Bar, north of London. School was not easy. Dyslexia and dyspraxia—unknown and untreated at the time—meant she was often told she “wasn’t bright.” Yet her innate curiosity and creativity found other pathways. She discovered comfort in music, needlework, dance, and the arts, and she developed an early interest in philosophy and theosophy. These influences shaped a compassionate, resilient worldview—one that would later become the foundation for her work with children and families.
At eighteen she left school, began working, married, and welcomed her first daughter, Michelle. In 1969 she emigrated to Australia with her husband and two young children, stepping into the next chapter of her life.
A Pathway Into Helping Others
Joane’s first professional pathways were in the arts, working as a violinist and dance teacher. After arriving in Australia, she became increasingly drawn to the emerging field of clinical hypnotherapy. What began as exploration soon became a vocational calling. Over the decades that followed she earned a reputation as an ethical, thoughtful, and well-trained practitioner who combined compassion with thorough professional standards. Her early work laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the Goulding System.
A Leader in Hypnotherapy, Training, and Education
Across more than thirty years in education, health training, and stress management, Joane developed deep expertise in:
- biopsychosocial models of stress
- psychonutrition
- emotional development
- communication and counselling
- mind–body interactions
- trauma-informed practice
For 22 years Joane served as Director of the Australian Academy of Hypnotic Science (AAHS). In 1998 the Academy became a Government Accredited Private Provider of Education and a nationally recognised training organisation. She authored the curriculum, accreditation documents, assessment frameworks, and the clinical hypnosis training manual—work that influenced the minimum education standards for the profession throughout Australia.
She lectured widely in Australia and overseas, published numerous papers, and received professional recognition and awards, including the Hall of Fame award in 2016 for her contributions to the science.
Joane also served as a hypnotherapist, lecturer, examiner, supervisor, and mentor for several national and international hypnotherapy organisations.
Advocacy and Reform
From the mid-1970s Joane and her late husband Jim became central figures in efforts to reform restrictive Victorian legislation around the practice of hypnotherapy. Many practising “hypnotists” at the time had no formal training at all, while well-trained clinicians faced prosecution for advertising or practising.
Over decades of advocacy, research submissions, and professional development work, Joane helped contribute to reforms that took effect on 1 January 1998—permitting properly trained hypnotherapists to practise ethically without fear of legal reprisal. These reforms helped bring safety, standards, and accountability to the profession.
Her leadership continued as a founding influence within the Council of Clinical Hypnotherapy where she chaired key committees relating to ethics, training, and minimum standards and later the Hypnotherapy Council of Australia, where Joane remains as a consultant to the profession.
Developing the Goulding System
From starting in 1974, Joane formalised what became known worldwide as The Goulding System, a gentle, home-based process designed for parents to support their child’s emotional wellbeing during sleep. Its roots, however, trace back to her early experiences raising Michelle and helping families in private practice long before the System had a name.
Her goal was simple but profound:
to create a safe, ethical, family-centred process any parent could use.
She designed and refined:
- the Foundation Routine
- the Foundation Statement
- the Support Process and Parent Coach training
- the international professional standards
- teaching materials used globally today
Her work has helped countless families navigate anxiety, confidence, behaviour cycles, trauma recovery, school challenges, sibling issues, and everyday childhood stresses—always through a message of unconditional love.
Training Parent Coaches Worldwide
What began in Australia grew steadily across the world.
Joane established a structured Parent Coach Training Program, teaching in:
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Singapore
- the United Kingdom
- the Middle East
- Europe
- the United States
She emphasised safety, consistency, ethical communication, and the importance of emotional resilience.
Today, there is an international network of Certified Parent Coaches, Trainers, and Supervisors who carry her work forward with fidelity to the philosophy she built.
Community Service and the Black Saturday Bushfires
After the catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria in February 2009, Joane joined the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project—an interdisciplinary team supporting families experiencing trauma.
She supervised Parent Coaches, guided parents, and used the Goulding System with children affected by the fires. Her work contributed to the long-term emotional recovery of many families during an extremely vulnerable period.
International Speaker, Author and Ongoing Legacy
Joane has presented keynote papers internationally and authored training materials, publications, and professional programs in stress management, psycho-nutrition, emotional development, and clinical hypnosis. But above all, she remains known for her compassion, her integrity, her clarity of teaching, and her unwavering belief in the potential of every child.
Her signature message has been shared with thousands of families:
“It’s not what we leave to our children that matters;<br> it’s what we leave within their minds.”Parents talk, children listen – creating happiness while they sleep<br>
Today Joane is retired from active teaching, but her work continues through Certified Parent Coaches around the world and through every parent who uses the nightly ritual she created.
The Goulding System remains her gift to future generations—not just a technique, but a legacy of gentleness, belonging, and unconditional love.<br>