About me

I haven't always wanted to be a therapist. I didn't massage my whole family from the moment I was born, I wasn't introduced to Complementary Therapies at an early age, my family didn't naturally support any kind of interests in psychology or alternative medicine. I don't come from a long line of shamans, doctors or bodyworkers. But from very early on I learnt to take care of the emotional needs of my entire family.

It was as if I was chosen and accepted my role with no resistance, it came naturally to me. I expressed emotions for the members of my immediate family when they couldn't face their own feelings. As a child I was the only one who could verbalise unspeakable family dynamics outloud in front of everyone. Of course at the time I had no idea this was happening. I thought I was just a little bit more 'emotional', a bit more 'crazy' and 'expressive'. Having emotions was not a sign of strength. Eventually I learnt that my strong emotions and my intuition only got me in trouble and were not welcome so I tried very hard to suppress my natural emphatic skills. Alas, suppressing yourself always comes at a cost.

In the early adolescence, I developed severe anxiety, panic attacks, OCD and psychosomatic physical symptoms in my body. The body was screaming but I wasn't listening. I still didn't learn the power that lies in my own body, the power of intution, the power of images. Instead I turned to psychoanalysis and medication to quiet the chaos coming from the inside of me. Lying on the couch twice weekly and talking about my problems (for years) took me even more out of my body and into the realm of mental analysis. My anxiety got worse.

As I was getting more and more desperate I started looking into alternative medicine and stumbled upon EFT. It was a real breakthrough for me. Finally someone was paying attention to my body. I learnt, step by step, how to release emotions and let them flow. How insights come spontaneously as a result of the release and don't have to be 'laboured' in mental analysis. When you work with the emotions and the body, amazing realisations come instinctively and naturally, without the mental effort of trying hard to decipher your problems. The opposite is true in fact, the more you are able to get out of your own way, the easier and more flowing the process becomes. It's unlearning at a very profound level.

I started my professional healing journey by working and studying at The Women's Therapy Centre in 2001. On their 'Working with Women - A Psychodynamic Approach' training course I discovered the power of the subconscious and the unconscious and studied Freud, Winnicot and Klein. I went on to learn body psychotherapy, Biodynamic massage, EFT, Emotional Clearing, meditation and body-oriented hypnotherapy.

It took time.. Lot's of time of discovering myself and how I operate. I met amazing people on this journey. I learnt many different techniques and I practise the ones that seem to be at the cutting edge of personal developement. I stay open and welcome new ways of working with clients. I no longer habitually take emotional responsibility for others around me. I see all the problems and issues that people bring as gifts, they are the freeing tools. Without them we would be truly stuck. To take emotional responsibility for others' problems would mean I deprive them of the opportunity to free themselves. Instead I would like to see them empower themselves through connecting with their inner selves via the body.