Dr Ira van der Steenstraten is a professional coach and the director of Breeze Life Coaching (www.breezelifecoaching.com), where she helps clients to improve their wellbeing.

Her work is informed by her experience of having worked in various medical and therapeutic settings for over 25 years. She is a highly accomplished psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and systems therapist who was born in The Netherlands, where she trained and worked as a consultant psychiatrist.

Ira's extensive experience, combined with her passion for improving the lives of others, make her a highly sought-after coach, workshop facilitator and public speaker in the fields of mental wellbeing.

Commissioned by the AMA Queensland, her award-winning ‘Resilience on the Run’ and 'Wellbeing at Work' programs have empowered close to 5000 (junior) doctors with practical tools to take better care of themselves and each other.

She is a guest lecturer at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands) and University of Girona (Spain) on healthy workplaces and burnout prevention.

Ira has been invited to speak at conferences both nationally and internationally in over 20 conferences, on topics such as mental wellbeing, creating a Healthy Mindset, Healthy Workplaces, Burnout Prevention, Compassion/Empathy Fatigue, Doctors’ Health, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Women in Leadership, Coping with Chronic Disorders, such as Chronic Pain, Endometriosis. 

Ira's work with Mindfulness focuses on preventative rather than curative techniques, and has proved effective and successful in enabling a wide range of people to benefit from Mindfulness. She has developed several innovative mindfulness programs for adults and children, such as Mindfulness for Busy People and Mindfulness for Schoolchildren.

Dr van der Steenstraten is deeply committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all professionals in high pressure working environments and especially doctors. She is the President of the Queensland Medical Women's Society (QMWS) and serves on the management committee of Doctors Health in Queensland (DHQ).

Ira is committed to helping and supporting her clients to empower themselves in finding their best path in life.