But the real teachings came through my own lived experiences and over 20 years doing the deeper, generational healing work for myself and guiding my children….and in many cases them guiding me!

Since I was a young Child I always had a longing to be a Mom, and work with Children. I was a natural nurturer, always drawn to the unconditional love, curiosity and creative imaginations that would flow from these smaller Humans.

In 2001, I got my wish and became a Mom for the first time. I was young compared to most, yet so excited and ready. I knew this was an opportunity to change my career path and learn all that I could about Child Emotional & Social Development.

My new journey began with my baby in tow working in Early Years Education, which led to further studies to become a Pre School Teacher and later into Childhood trauma.  I opened my own Childcare Program within a few years, caring for Children from 6 Months up to 11 years of age, for over 10 years, which I loved with a passion.  During this time I worked with children with additional needs, Teen Parents, and High Risk Vulnerable Families covering Childhood Trauma work.  This deeper work made a huge impact on me, and the seed was planted to find a way to support Parent’s and Children, Mentally and Emotionally on a bigger level. 

The best Teachers I have ever worked with both personally and professionally, have lived through what they so passionately teach. They have often navigated trauma and deep feeling emotions, and learned to be comfortable with feeling it all. They didn’t just read the knowledge from books and memorize it, they held empathy and understanding that came from deep within. They reminded me I was capable all along. That touches differently. Feeling safe, seen and empowered is vital for healing and growth.

At the start of my career I vowed I would always be a Practitioner that practiced what I preached. To continually be in self responsibility for my own healing and growth so I could show up fully and completely for my own family and clients.

Back to the big life change…..

Aged 34, me, my husband and 3 Young Daughters made the big move from the UK to Canada and landed in Beautiful British Columbia. We always had this urge to make a lifestyle change as we loved the great outdoors, so Canada seemed like the perfect destination.  Yet I felt completely torn leaving our beloved “Village” behind, and taking our Girls away from everything they had known to a new land where we knew nobody. At the same time my intuition screaming ‘live with no regrets’ after recently loosing a young family member. We decided to give it two years and enjoy the adventure.

It looked like the perfect life on photo’s but behind the scenes for myself the emotional turmoil was building.  Within a few months I plunged into darkness. Some familiar unhealthy cycles of Mental Health struggles and addiction patterns returned with intensity, this lasted some time putting a huge strain on all areas of my life. My faith in the healing tools I had relied on in past traumatic times didn’t feel enough.

As I became more socially withdrawn, internally disconnected from my Children and husband, physical sickness began to amp up. The guilt and helplessness were loud and the anxiety like a constant echo in my mind.

Yet I knew there had to be a way to reach the root of this vicious cycle for good. The deeper inner child work I had done years earlier planted the belief and possibility seed, it just had not been tended to in all the chaos. I had given every part of myself to my family in a bid to repair the guilt I felt and avoid my own reflection, which created the very thing I was trying to avoid. - Disconnection!

That’s when I made the final decision that these paralyzing, sabotaging cycles and behaviors would not be getting passed down to my Children…..enough was enough!

In my late teens after I first experienced crippling anxiety, depression and began binge drinking, I tried a few different Counsellors that practiced regular talk therapy. They could not relate to me, in fact I often felt like I was their entertainment as they would ask me a million questions about myself and family history but never gave me any guidance other than “Your like this because Mental Health clearly runs in the family”. That was basically it. Hearing these things at a young age very nearly cost me some of my most precious relationships. I was angry and wanted to blame. I had high awareness of my behaviors and unhealthy patterns but no tools or guidance to help take this ‘charge’ out of my body that was feeding the anxiety, weekend binge drinking and crippling lack of self worth. There was no encouragement for me to be in self responsibility and learn to help or understand myself. Just a lot of blame and putting ‘labels’ on human emotions.