We had met during a weekend of training for counsellors who wanted to specialise in a certain type of interviewing style, so given that part of the course included practicing on each other, many of us experienced being triggered when it was our turn to be ‘the client’.

When we were paired up, we got along so well, that we ended up staying in touch. It was a surprise that we had so much in common, as I had a voracious appetite for eating junk and take away food, and she was green juicing before it had even become a ‘thing’ in popular culture.

I think we secretly wanted to convert each other to our respective ‘wild sides’ as we were both so appositionally extreme. When I reflect on our connection, I was actually in awe of her unapologetic indifference of what others thought of her, and I was drawn to that sense of self assuredness like a moth to a flame.

Rachael hails from the tail end of the Stolen Generation, and she was adopted into a white family and suffered from mean spirited racism because of how she looked. After forging a singing career for herself travelling around Country, she also overcame drug and alcohol addiction.

One of the many plot twists that she shares of her life, is the time she read an article about a notorious criminal. A few days later, Link Up contacted her to tell her that they found her biological father who had just been released from prison. It was the same felon she had read about only days earlier!