Work
As a Life Coach, Counsellor, Soul Midwife, Mindfulness Teacher and Vibrational Energy Healer, I am able to create a complete package of professional therapeutic support, through all stages of your life.
Underpinned by over 20 years’ of therapeutic training, experience and continued personal and professional development, my practice has extended across the private, voluntary and public sectors - including 5 years working in both primary and secondary education, and 5 years within the NHS. I have been running my own private practice in South Devon as since 2010.
In 2017 I launched Next Steps - for Gentle Transition, a non-profit community project which is currently being registered as an unincorporated charity. Next Steps provides a much-needed forum for members of the local community to ask questions, share experiences and reach out for support on any topic related to death, dying and grieving.
At the moment we are one group, run by one person, in one town, meeting once a month. I intend for that to change. My vision is to ultimately expand the Next Steps model throughout the country. Right now we are "Next Steps in Kingsbridge". In time we will also become "Next Steps in Totnes", "Next Steps in Plymouth", "Next Steps in Exeter" and so on.
I am passionate about empowering people to move forward in life, and equally passionate about empowering people to prepare for death.
Instead of avoiding the subject of death, let's face it, embrace it and then reclaim it. Together, as a community.
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live
Training and Qualifications
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Whilst deeply passionate about my work, I also have a real zest for life and a thirst for fun, travel and adventure. When my two children were young, the three of us took some time out from the pressures of life, and spent almost 18 months in total travelling. Our first trip took us around Europe, camping in Germany, France and Italy for a total of 7 months. The second adventure took us to Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa, including South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and Lesotho. I home-schooled them both on each trip - in a tent or campervan, on a beach, in the desert, up a mountain, even on a volcano - designing their education around the environment in which we found ourselves. Every place we visited nourished and awakened our souls, and the whole experience has deeply enriched not only our relationship, but our entire perspective on life.
I love being out in nature and feel truly alive outdoors, particularly when walking or camping out on the beach, on Dartmoor or in the woods near my home. Feeling that connection with the elements re-energises every part of my being and reminds me of the joys of living. My friends know me as "Pixie", because being out in nature and spending fun time with my family or friends, brings out the playful, fun-loving and ever-so-slightly mischievous elements of my personality!
The children have now flown the nest, both studying at Uni, and I live with my husband, Stevie, who has put up with my quirkiness (and my passion for wearing dreads at festivals in the summer) for the last 8 years.
Like me, Stevie loves the outdoors. He has a much calmer, quieter and more grounding nature, which perfectly complements my bouncy Pixie energy. Stevie is an academic, a PhD Researcher with Surrey University. Intense academic studies can become quite overwhelming at times, so my bubbly nature reminds him that there is also a lighter side to life. We are fire and earth, yin and yang - a good, healthy balance!
Apart from going camping and embracing my hippy soul at festivals, I have a regular self-care routine; I have to, so that I can be fully present for my clients. I follow a plant-based diet, practice sound healing and meditation daily, and practice yoga as often as I can. I also love to dance, run and write, and am currently studying part-time for a Masters Degree in Death, Religion and Culture at Winchester University.
As you can see, I lead a very busy and fulfilling life. I soak up every delicious moment that I can because I know, from working with end-of-life clients for many years, that it can all be over far too soon. "Live life to the full" is very much my motto.