The Rise of “Self-Partnering”: Australian Psychotherapist Reveals Why Women Are Choosing Healing Before Relationships.

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Queensland, Australia, 11 February 2026 - Australian psychotherapist, domestic violence survivor, and Amazon number one bestselling author of The Rebuilt Woman, Dawn Williams, says a growing number of Australian women are choosing "self-partnering", a conscious period of independence focused on healing, nervous system safety, and emotional recovery rather than rejecting relationships altogether.

According to Williams, what may appear as independence on the surface is often a deeper internal process of restoration.

"Women are choosing safety," says Williams. "What looks like independence on the outside is often something much deeper, healing. This isn't a rejection of love, it's a pause for survival."

Williams challenges the common narrative that self partnered women are avoidant or emotionally unavailable.

"There's a story circulating that women who step away from relationships have given up or become closed off. In my work with women recovering from relational trauma, I see something very different," she explains.

"This shift isn't about avoiding intimacy, it's about restoring nervous system safety after years of emotional unpredictability, instability, or harm. When love has felt unsafe, the body remembers. Before the heart can open again, the nervous system needs to exhale."

The Truth Behind Independence

Williams says independence often reflects emotional regulation rather than empowerment alone.

"For many women, independence isn't empowerment, it's regulation," she says. "After relational trauma, the nervous system can remain stuck in survival mode, including hyper vigilance, people pleasing, fear of abandonment, and chronic anxiety around safety."

"A season of autonomy gives the body what relationships once couldn't, predictability, stability, control, and safety. This isn't selfishness. It's self preservation."

Why Financial Security Is Being Reframed as Emotional Safety

Williams notes a growing trend among women prioritising financial independence, which she says is frequently misunderstood.

"Money isn't the goal. Safety is," she explains. "Financial independence reduces vulnerability and removes the fear of being trapped, controlled, or forced to tolerate harm for survival."

"When a woman knows she can support herself, she can finally ask a powerful question, 'What do I actually want, not what do I need to endure?'"

Self Partnering as a Healing Phase

Williams emphasises that self partnering is often temporary rather than permanent.

"Self partnering is often a season, not an identity," she says. "It's the space where women rebuild trust in themselves, learn what calm feels like, reconnect with intuition, and establish boundaries without guilt."

"Only after safety is restored does healthy connection become possible again. Love chosen from wholeness looks very different from love chosen from fear."

A Message for Women in the Process

"If you've stepped back from dating, focused on independence and self trust, or found that partnership feels less urgent than peace, you're not broken, you're healing," says Williams.

"Self partnering isn't the end of love. It's often the beginning of healthier love."

-ENDS-

Note to Media:  

Dawn Williams is available for interviews on dating, relationships, abuse, DV and healing. 

If you would like a copy of the bestselling book, The Rebuilt Woman, please get in touch.

Dawn is available to write articles or to comment on any of the following topics: 

• You left the abuse, so why does life still feel so hard
• Leaving was not the hardest part of abuse, healing is
• Domestic violence does not end when you leave
• If you feel broken after leaving abuse, this is why
• Trauma bonds are not love, they are survival
• Why calm relationships feel wrong after abuse
• Stop telling survivors to move on
• You are not weak for missing your abuser
• Abuse ends, trauma does not
• Why healing after domestic violence takes longer than people expect
• You are not broken, your nervous system is protecting you
• The green flags no one talks about in healthy relationships

Media Contact: Candice Gersun, 0481 369 484 candice@reconnectpr.com.au

About Dawn Williams and The Rebuilt Woman:

Dawn Williams is an Australian-based certified counsellor, psychotherapist, and social work student, and the founder of The Rebuilt Woman—a trauma-informed healing movement and six-book series supporting women recovering from domestic violence, abuse, and dysfunctional relationships. She also leads The Rebuilt Foundation, the charitable arm dedicated to advocacy, education, and pathways to safety and independence for women and families impacted by trauma. Drawing on both professional expertise and lived experience, Dawn specialises in relationship recovery, nervous-system healing, identity rebuilding, and women's empowerment. She is the author of The Rebuilt Woman series and Finding Fearless, and a sought-after speaker on healing, independence, and rebuilding life after trauma with compassion, strength, and clarity.