It is my passion and hope to provide a safe, caring and healing space in which all ages are welcome to spend time, releasing held negative energies and beliefs, stored in the body, leading to poor health and low mental and emotional states. Getting to the root cause of problems, anxieties and worries, I work in a gentle, calm and client-focussed way. I use NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), hypnosis, trauma-informed techniques, alongside practices informed by music, art and play therapy. My specialism in children and families, alongside my own lived experience as an educator, and parent of two children/teens, gives me a unique perspective, in supporting parents, caregivers, teaching staff, and our most important future assets: our children, and our own inner children!!
I have spent most of my life working in the education sector in one form or another. I was a Primary school teacher for nearly 20 years, including some time out for having my own two children. I have a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, from Bath Spa University, and later I taught there, as a lecturer and tutor on the Education degree course. I have also tutored children of primary and secondary school ages, in after-school support clubs. I am a trained Forest School Leader and was fortunate enough to visit the Danish Forest Kindergartens during my Master's Degree, confirming my love of nature as a healer and educator. I am a qualified Trauma-Informed Schools mental health practitioner, and this training literally turned around not only my own teaching practice, but my whole outlook on life: every behaviour is communication! More recently, I worked with the NHS (Cornwall Partnership Trust) as an Educational Mental Health practitioner, working in primary schools with children on a referral basis.
My experiences both in the workplace, and life in general have led me to this place of compassion and concern for our young people, as they navigate today’s world. The global Covid pandemic brought a rush of ‘survival’ instincts to the fore, and working in Early Years classes throughout this time, showed me that children as young as four have been very much affected by this trauma, and it is now seen in their daily interactions; there is an increase in trauma held in the body, showing up in the form of speech and language development delays, anxiety, depression, insomnia and behavioural and social difficulties. Sadly, the global pandemic is now one of mental health and emotional wellbeing needs.
Furthermore, as a teacher and educator for so many years, I have witnessed and experienced burn-out and high levels of anxiety that these roles can contribute and cause. I was there myself: a burn-out teacher at 42. During my teaching career, I had suffered intestinal diseases, migraines and sickness bugs, developed chronic fatigue syndrome, been increasingly at the mercy of dreadful panic attacks and anxiety.
Equally, the role of parent and caregiver is one without any rulebook, a world which is full of well-meaning advice, but one which can be incredibly lonely, especially if you are caring for a child or young person who is suffering from mental health issues, traumas, stress or grief. I have two teens of my own, and we have all lived through the loss of their grandparents, relationship break-ups, COVID, friendship breakdowns and the storms of life in general. I am a fully trained facilitator of SPACE (Supporting Parents and Children Emotionally) sessions.
