Raised by a psychotherapist, I came to appreciate the therapeutic arts at quite a young age. My mother was like a superhero to me. She was so passionate about her work and shared so much knowledge with me about how the human mind works. How therapy leads to real, tangible change. I saw in my mother hope for people who had been told that their situation was hopeless. Very early on in my life I understood what healing looked like.

With my aspiration in life to be an artist, as an adult I moved to London to undertake a degree in classical music. When I play music, I sometimes get the sense that my mind has surrendered, and together we are observing my body acting on my behalf. I have seen my fingers slide into the perfect position on the fretboard far before my mind has caught up with them, almost as if the hand is channelling, acquiring a piece of music that was already written but just needed someone to express it. In studying music I learned about spirituality.

I am trained as a yoga teacher and have had a daily yoga practice for nine years now. Yoga has taught me about the power of the body-mind connection (there really is no separation) and how in training one, you train the other. Yoga taught me about deep relaxation and the power of the breath.

While I knew that my life would always in some respect be in pursuit of music, creative lives are notorious for being financially inconsistent, so I found myself taking up a job in a school for children with physical and mental health issues. In this role I saw children suffering with debilitating anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, self-harming, eating disorders and also physical illnesses which left them with long standing symptoms such as chronic fatigue. While I was there to teach, for many of my students I fell into a role of mentor, and there I witnessed some seismic transformations. I saw energy return to children suffering for years with chronic fatigue, students with anxiety rendering them housebound returning to the classroom, and students who’s academic results were a lost cause getting straight As across the board. These children taught me about the power of faith and of friendship. 

Following that job, I trained in the therapeutic technique of ‘Parts Work’. This encompasses Voice Dialogue and IFS and is a remarkable technique which involves viewing the psyche as being made up of multiple ‘parts’. When parts of ourselves act in conflict with one another, we enter a state of inner turmoil which can affect all aspects of our lives. The task is to heal this internal conflict. Parts Work taught me about the depth and beauty of the human mind.

In my personal life, I have overcome several psychological afflictions including intrusive thoughts, OCD, anxiety, depression, disordered eating and somatic symptoms in the form of physical pain, panic attacks, vomiting, fatigue and fainting. Over the last ten years I have collected so many skills for the body, mind and creative spirit. I have used them with others and used them myself.  I have never known them not to garner results.