Why this work exists

As a teenager, I was expressive, strong-willed and very alive. Then my life fractured.

I suddenly lost my father and family unit aged 14, then fell prey to sexual abuse and violence im my attempts to find belonging. I lost both emotional and bodily safety in a short period of time. My response was anger, volatility and refusal to comply - natural reactions to shock and loss.

They were not received that way.

At school and within authority systems, I was told to manage my emotions, behave and conform. When I couldn’t, I was disciplined and threatened with exclusion. Over time, I learned to suppress myself in order to survive.

What I suppressed did not disappear. It moved into my body.

Through my teens and twenties, this showed up as chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, dissociation, panic attacks, digestive issues and disrupted sleep. Outwardly, I functioned. Internally, I was exhausted and disconnected.

Alongside this, I built a career in public health and policy. I understood health intellectually, yet nothing I encountered helped me connect physical symptoms to unprocessed grief and trauma held in the body. Medical approaches managed symptoms, but did not restore health.

How I rebuilt my health

Recovery began when I stopped overriding my body and started listening to it.

Through breathwork, somatic practice and sustained lifestyle change, I created the conditions for my nervous system to settle and complete processes that had been interrupted for years. Over time, the symptoms that once shaped my life eased and resolved.

More importantly, I learned how to live differently - with clear boundaries, discernment and decisions, no longer organised around over giving or fawning, but my health, pleasure, self respect and love.