• Masters in Psychology: Mindfulness-Based Approaches from the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, Wales, UK. This qualification is the longest and most in-depth mindfulness training currently available in the UK and includes certification in teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) as well as the Neuroscience of Mindfulness
• Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) from John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
• Bachelor of Arts with honours in Fashion Design with a specialism in sustainable design from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
• Qualified Teacher Status through the UK Teaching Regulation Agency
• Embodiment Practitioner Certificate
• Global Healing Circles Training

Like many young people growing up in the UK in the 1980s going to university wasn’t really a viable option for me. Coming from a large, working-class family, money was tight which made me eager to leave school as soon as I could to make my way in the world. I did pretty well and started my work life in a junior role and ended up running the operations for large, mainly creative companies, including a prominent West End theatre production company.

I had a great time and met some wonderful people. But something was amiss. I wanted to be absorbed in my work, have the opportunity to use my creativity, and make a difference. As cheesy as it sounds, I wanted to ‘be the change I wanted to see in the world’ so, in my 30s I decided to go to university and as I had always been able to design and make anything out of fabric, fashion seemed a logical subject choice.

I relocated with my family to Liverpool to study with the added benefit of giving our daughter a taste of the good life whilst she was young by moving near the beach on the Sefton Coast. Unfortunately, this transition into university life didn’t run smoothly, on the day my classmates were having their induction to the course, I found myself having a biopsy, which confirmed I had leukaemia. Not ideal.

My diagnosis led me on a healing crusade. I explored a whole range of healing modalities, from energy healing to collective healing in wild women and cancer survivor groups and everything in between. It was at this time that I found meditation and mindfulness and was lucky enough to meet the most wonderful teacher, who continued to guide my practice for the 5 years I stayed in Liverpool, and until she was aged 84. She shared so much of her wisdom and life stories, which to this day I feel privileged to be a guardian of.

My fascination with the mind-body connection grew and I read everything I could find about stress, trauma, repressed emotions, the nervous system and traumatic loss and grief and finally did the inner work I needed to do in order to heal from the traumatic loss of my firstborn child, who after a 42-week‘ perfect pregnancy’, caught an infection during delivery and died one hour after his birth ten years prior.

Whilst studying for my bachelor’s I became disillusioned with the fashion industry and in particular the exploitation of garment workers throughout the world and the catastrophic environmental effect of fast fashion. I became passionate about adopting sustainable and fair practices and techniques and incorporated these principles into my life in general as well as my textile design work, writing my dissertation on greening the clothing industry.

Once I completed my Bachelor of Arts with honours degree, I continued my education with a postgraduate certificate of education. Subsequently, I went on to teach textiles as well as a broad spectrum of creative subjects to young people in secondary schools in London as well as adults in community settings for the next ten years.

Over these years I saw a rapid increase in young people struggling with their mental health. School was becoming a toxic environment for many of them and oftentimes they would gravitate towards my classroom, which was becoming an unofficial ‘safe space’ where they could be themselves and talk about their worries without fear of being judged and ridiculed and of course where they had access to cupboards full of wonderfully healing textile and art supplies.

My teaching colleagues were also struggling with stress due to an ever-increasing workload and their well-being needs being ignored by a chronically underfunded and failing school system which puts exam results and league tables above the well-being and happiness of its children. It was then, almost six years ago, that I decided to try to make a difference and began studying for a master’s degree in Mindfulness-Based Approaches.

Fast forward to now, my focus is split between helping people cope better with living with chronic illness, reducing stress and implementing positive habits with mindfulness training and developing my own, and helping others to nurture their own mindful creativity practices.

As well as delivering programs within a variety of workplaces, I offer community mindfulness drop-in sessions, workshops, and a range of mindfulness courses mainly online with some in-person courses coming soon in London and I am currently writing several online courses.

I am also hoping to fulfil a dream and start my mindful creativity retreats next year with trips to Ireland and the Greek Islands in the planning stages.