ABOUT ME
I believe every women must feel empowered to recognise their own unique needs for better mental health. Every woman deserves to prioritise her needs to feel more balanced, energetic and confident so she can enjoy life again. I am passionate about supporting women to flourish not simply survive
I grew up fascinated by psychology and how the mind worked as a close family member struggled with their mental health for many years. As a child I saw first hand the devastation anxiety and depression could have on someone's life. I hoped for a magic cure to make my loved one happy and to be able to enjoy life again.
After studying Psychology at university in my home town of Belfast I moved to Manchester and started working within the field of mental health. I trained as a Mental Health Nurse and gained experience in a variety of clinical settings. Always being interested in nutrition and complementary therapies I was amazed how little these modalities were spoken about within the mental health profession.
I was soon to find out that working in mental health did not make me immune from anxiety and depression. Whilst working as Mental Health Nurse was challenging at times, I loved my job and always felt I was a resilient enough to cope with the role. I worked in the NHS for over 14 years with the last 5 years been dedicated to working within a child and adolescent mental health service.
The stress of working long hours with a high caseload began to take it's toll on both my physical and mental health. I was tired all the time, constantly feeling overwhelmed and like I wasn't doing a good enough job. I had digestive issues, my mood was low and I had trouble sleeping. Instead of slowing down I tried to do more in an attempt to keep on top of things but I was sinking. I was overworked and stressed out in a job I used to love
I had to take some time off work to get back on track. I used this time to increase my knowledge in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to heal my body and mind. I read many self help books, ate nourishing meals, meditated and journaled for hours at a time. Slowly I began to feel better, I started to feel alive again. It was during this time I realised I needed to find a new way to help people if I wanted to stay healthy myself. I made the leap from full time Mental Health Nurse to running my own women's mental health clinic and have never looked back.
I am still a registered Mental Health Nurse as well as a registered Nutritional Therapist. I now integrate my experience of mental health, psychology ,nutrition and lifestyle medicine to provide a unique holistic approach to improve women's mental health
Qualifications
Registered Nutritionist MBANT
Registered Nutritional Therapist CNHC
Registered Mental Health Nurse NMC
Bsc Hons Psychology
PgDip Applied Psychology (Clinical Specialism)
Applied Functional Medicine Mentoring Programme