My story…
Over the years, I’ve done quite a few things with my life - I was a university student then lecturer in the UK and USA (in philosophy; rhetoric; film & literature) and a practising barrister for several years too. I was also an overseas volunteer on Galapagos, and in Bolivia and lesotho (all self-funded through freelance editing work), an anthrozoology and philosophy of nature student, a psychotherapist in training… and all this while dealing with ever-increasing chronic neck, hip, shoulder and wrist pain, numbness and tinglingg.
When my pain came to a crisis point - my neck pain was cripplingly severe, and my wrists kept coming out of joint repeatedly, which no-one could consistently resolve - it was hard to know what to do. I lived with increasing pain and worsening symptoms for almost a decade (following medical advice to do gentle stretches, continuing to practise yoga, and also trying various other strategies and healthcare approaches).
Then I discovered Clinical Somatics - and my life really did change forever!
At the time, I was a trainee psychotherapist with long-term clients and volunteering also at Cruse, providing bereavement support. I loved the work, but found it extremely uncomfortable to spend so much time seated. It was dramatically impacting my quality of life at work and at home.
As soon as I discovered what Clinical Somatics could achive within mere weeks (for me, it resolved my hip pain from my ‘birth defect’), I learned as much as I could about it. I then changed my life to train as a Clinical Somatic Educator - because Somatics had started to resolve not just my long-term chronic pain, but also left me way less stressed, and seeing clearly how the impact of stuck stress showed up in so many people, including those psychotherapy clients who’d fully engaged and yet often failed ot maintain their progress.
While I trained as a CCSE (Certified Clincial Somatic Educator) and Essential Somatic Movement Teacher, I maintained my volunteering for some months, and continued to take an interest in psychotherapeutic practice and theory. Ultimately, after 4 years of training in Clinical Somatics, I also trained (for 3 years) to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner - and am currently completing my training as Focusing Practitioner, too. This is because while I changed profession, I remained interested in and committed to listening to the whole person - and, so, engaged with the work of counsellors, psychotherapists, SEPs and others in the listening professions.
(How did I come across Hanna Somatics? At a short ‘gentle somatic yoga’ workshop - where I realised that stretching had been making me worse for all those years; that there was another way, that worked; and that my stiffness and pain was very real (not ‘all in my mind’ or due to some mysterious illness, as I’d started to fear)… and really seemed like it could be resolved through neuromuscular work based in a simple movement strategy grounded in an awareness of stress responses…)
Over the last 3 years, I’ve run in-person workshops for counsellors and psychotherapists, and also a 10-week online course, ‘Soma for Counsellor: Listening to the Whole, Embodied Person’, to inform and support therapists to explore not just Somatics but their concept of ‘the person’ and how that relates to their work and their life.
I’m now changing to a format that betters serves practitioners - by creating an online programme with flexibility built in, and with a focus on taking therapists ste-by-step through ways to actively implement and integrate their learning into their personal and professional life (whatever their therapeutic model, and whatever their expertise).
EMBODY Somatics starts with a simple workshop (Level 1), then a 2-part online programme (levels 2 and 3) - each consisting of an online course with milestones and individualised feedback, as well as regular live small-group calls with me. After the completion of the online programme, there will be the option to attend in-person, hands-on training for guidance and confidence with movement and hands-on work (Level 4).
Throughout the delivery and new developments in this offering, I’ve maintained my own 1:1 client practice and supervision, as I don’t wish to end up distnaced from the challenges and joys of client work, especially with clients who’re experiencing chronic pain and the impact of trauma.
All of this - my work as a teacher, a lawyer, a volunteer, a psychotherapist turned Clinical Somatic Educator - has come together in the work I now do.
My burning passion is to help people deal with pain, be it emotional or physical, and to use Somatics to move beyond it to a better regulated, more enjoyable life…
And my zone of genius?
That’s in helping professionals who already help others, integrate Clinical Somatics into their practice and their life for an even fuller, truly embodied capacity to both listen to and actively respond to somas in pain.
To find out if you’re a great fit to work with me on this - to embody Clinical Somatics for the benefit of your clients and yourself - please arrange a free 15-minute Somatic Chat, or contact me to ask for more details about the EMBODY Somatics programme (6 places available from May/June 2025).