Dr Danielle Arabena

Dr Danielle Arabena

General Practitioner, International Board-Certificated Lactation Consultant, Neuroprotective Development Care (NDC) Accredited Practitioner (Possums Approach)

Co-National Clinical Lead Royal College of General Practitioners - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Senior Medical and Cultural Educator

FRACGP, IBCLC, MBBS, B Nursing, B Business in Communications

Dr Danielle Arabena, a descendant of the Meriam Mer people of the Torres Strait, joins Vera Women's Wellness as a GP with expertise in perinatal and breastfeeding medicine.

Dr Danielle is dedicated to accompanying you and your family through every stage of becoming a family — from pre-conception and pregnancy to birth and postpartum. Whether addressing feeding choices and concerns, sleep challenges, maternal health, or infant well-being, her wholistic, supportive, and nurturing approach integrates evidence-based medical care with the profound wisdom of 'women's business' as seen through her Indigenous Knowledge lens.

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Dr Danielle is passionate about practising medicine with a focus on the whole person, delving deep into the root causes of health concerns and diseases. She is committed to providing individualised healthcare, selecting the most suitable diagnostic tests, and utilising a wholistic approach to optimise healing. Emphasising the body's innate wisdom, Dr Danielle strongly believes in a shared decision-making process, ensuring that each patient's journey towards health is collaborative and tailored to their unique needs.

Her commitment to families is driven by a deep appreciation of the evolutionary biology of the mother-baby dyad, fostering solid connections and attachment and a thriving family foundation. Recognising the transformative nature of the antenatal and postpartum periods, Dr Danielle combines reverence for these rites of passage with medical practices to bring about profound positive shifts while fostering a safe and caring environment for families to grow within.

She aims to bolster parents' confidence, encouraging them to explore and experiment within their parenting approaches. Dr Danielle's methodology is deeply rooted in sensitivity and respect, ensuring that each family's values and needs are cherished.

General Practice at Vera

As a passionate and highly sought-after educator, Dr Danielle has presented at major medical and birthing conferences in Australia and across the globe - sharing her wealth of knowledge on 'women's business' — ranging from doula training and antenatal care to childbirth, breastfeeding, menstruation, and menopause.

Day to day, Dr Danielle travels Australia, getting ‘on country’ to educate fellow doctors on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, emphasising the importance of decolonising medicine, particularly in the perinatal space.

Grounded in her cultural lineage, Dr Danielle seamlessly merges her medical knowledge and counselling skills with being a healer and birth worker, assisting families to embrace the sacredness of family.

Dr Danielle enjoys living on her mountain surrounded by nature with her husband and her three dogs, trying to grow some vegetables, doing yoga, having ice baths, weightlifting and spending time with her family.