We're on a mission to connect all beings to themselves. We do this by creating high-quality, innovative tools that bridge the gap between science, psychology and self-care. We were founded in 2018 by Rachael Akhidenor, a Naarm-based woman of colour who wanted to upend the stereotype that self-care was only for the thin, white, and female, and challenge the rhetoric around self-care being fluffy and baseless, or frivolous and basic. This is non-superficial self-care. Founded by one of the top innovators in Australia, co-created with psychologists, making self-care and looking inward meaningful, accessible, and fun.

Text a friend. Pick a flower. Do deep breathing. Turn off your phone. Write a journal entry. Listen to a throwback playlist. Draw something. Eat something. Forgive yourself. There’s plenty of ways to self-care. We’re on a mission to get more people doing it.

We believe self-care consists of three core pillars: self-awareness, self-knowledge, and self-compassion. To truly practice self-care, we must embrace all three. It’s our toolkit to living the life we want – more conscious and connected to our humanity. Self-awareness clues us in to what we’re thinking and feeling at any given time. Self-knowledge helps us understand why we say things, do things, or behave in certain ways. Self-compassion helps us forgive, so we can properly heal and authentically connect – not just with ourselves, but with others too. Why do we need self-care? Because life can be hard – empowering and rewarding, but hard. The natural ebbs and flows will always provide us with challenges. Self-care helps us navigate these everyday challenges so we can move through the world more conscious, more present, and more connected. And while we know self-care isn’t the answer to all of our problems (sometimes we need a good cry on a psychologist’s couch), it helps us truly get to know ourselves – beyond the filters, feeds, and wellness fads.

We value relatability. We are city-living millennials and Gen Z making self-care, science, and psychology relatable to city-living millennials and Gen Z. We value quality. We value quality at our core. To be a product-based business in the modern world means that we only create high quality products with great intentionality. Our products must be innovative, needed, and bring genuine value to the people who use them. We value inclusivity. Everyone should have access to self-care, regardless of race, class, sexuality, gender, ability, or religion. We welcome everyone and hold space for all experiences. We value connectivity. We know our wellbeing is connected to the wellbeing of others and the planet. It’s why we advocate for a ‘culture of care’. And why we have been built on a bedrock of advocacy, activism, and inclusivity. We also value our people and our planet. The beings we work with, the brands we partner with, and the policies we implement serves to support the wellbeing of our community and the planet.

It started with a conversation in 2018. Self Care’s founder Rachael Akhidenor was having a conversation with a friend about the term ‘self-care’. In a world of likes, algorithms, and sponsored posts, Rachael noticed the self-care conversation was centred around white, thin, wealthy women. It was the same whenever she entered spaces designed for self-care: yoga studios, meditation classes, reiki waiting rooms. Self-care had the same specific flavour – elitist, classist, and exclusive. As a city-living, twenty-something of mixed race, it wasn’t sitting right with her. So she decided to stand up against it. She put the commonly used phrase on a t-shirt to promote the concept and turned that one conversation into hundreds of conversations. What started as t-shirts has evolved to become a revolution and social movement within Australia. In 2021, Rachael evolved the brand one step further. Instead of just talking about the benefits of self-care, she wanted to create products that could genuinely support a self-care practice. So she, alongside Self Care’s creative team and a Melbourne-based psychological practice, developed our Self Care Tools – a journal, prompt cards, and game, grounded in science, intentionally designed to support our mental wellbeing. These mental wellbeing tools bridge the gap between psychology and accessible self-care; the development of which saw her named as one of Australia’s Top 100 Innovators by The Australian in 2022.