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Welcome! I’m Hannah –
Her Compassion Coach
This is the story of how cancer, perimenopause and ADHD were the formative roadblocks that ultimately helped me find myself.
Not only in the general sense, but also in terms of my vocation. This unlikely trio were the stepping stones in my path to finding my purpose and passion: to becoming a women’s somatic needs-based IFS practitioner.
I know from my own experiences as a client that I'm always curious to hear about my practitioner’s background - I find people's journeys fascinating and it helps me build a picture of the 'why' and 'how' of their work.
So if like me, you're curious and wish to hear about what led me to this role, feel free to read a little of my story below.
Qualifications and Training
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Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English and Education – University of Stirling
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Postgraduate Certificate of Education (Qualified Teacher Status) – University of Stirling
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Masters of Science (with distinction) in Practical Skills Therapeutic Education – University West of England
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Mindfulness Association Level 1: Mindfulness Training – Being Present
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Movement and Breathwork Therapy for Trauma Healing Certificate
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Needs-Based Coaching Qualification (Non-Violent Communication)
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IFS-Informed Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate
Hannah's Story
This is the story of how cancer, perimenopause and ADHD have been the often brutal landing-lights which ultimately helped me peel back a lifetime of shame, anxiety and masking. They taught me about embodied healing and helped me realise that I was not the only one to experience the very real struggles that come with being a high functioning neurodivergent woman in the throes of perimenopause.
Cancer, ADHD and perimenopause can be cruel bedfellows, but they’ve also been the guides that taught me my true value, enabled me to connect with parts of me that feel genuine and authentic, and showed me how to feel compassion for the parts of me that had always felt the hardest to accept.
When I received my cancer diagnosis, as the mum to two small boys, my whole world shattered. Despite knowing that treatment was likely to cure me, when you’re diagnosed with the big C, you become a member of a strange club. A club where membership requires that you know what it feels like to believe your life may come to an untimely end.
This changes a lot of things! It teaches you about how to befriend fear and it teaches you about resilience and ultimately it teaches you about self-compassion.
The fears that haunt most parents of “am I doing enough”, “am I a good enough parent” suddenly become terrifyingly real when you face your own mortality. The prospect of not being around to provide a mother’s love and guidance as my children navigated the trials of life; not being able to grow old with my husband…this was huge, real-life trauma and I felt utterly unprepared to face it.
But face it I had to. Full on. With every molecule of my being.
I threw myself into healing and learning, and found myself captivated by emerging research that identified relationships between how cancer cells behave in relation to fuel (nutrition); how cells respond to mindset and thoughts, and how the emotional and spiritual health of cancer patients could in some cases be seen to correlate to better outcomes. I was discovering that there was far more to the mind-body connection than I’d ever realised.
I realised that if I was to give my body the best chance of health, then I needed to be healthy in all areas of my life. Nutrition was the first step, which was relatively straight forward as not dying was an excellent motivator. But next came a harder topic – the mental pain, shame and anxiety of being Hannah (with at this stage, undiagnosed ADHD). This needed to be faced and understood.
I threw myself into learning mode and I became my own action research subject. I embraced every holistic healing modality and toolkit there is. I worked with some exceptional humans who guided and supported my unfurling. Therapy and mindfulness played their role too as did nature and a growing sense of a spiritual path. But I noticed that insight alone didn’t always lead to lasting change.
Somatic work eventually brought a deeper level of integration. I got diagnosed with ADHD and I realised it was the embodied, movement-based, somatic approaches that were helping the most. Something about becoming aware of my body, its needs and its trapped emotional pain, made me feel I was finally getting somewhere. Through somatics, I learned to listen more carefully to my needs, regulate my nervous system and release long-held patterns of stress and emotional holding — not by trying to fix all my flaws, but through gentle, compassionate awareness and embodied processing.
This became a defining moment in my journey. I realised that listening to my needs without judgement was foundational to living in a way that felt truthful and fulfilling. I discovered that learning to stay present with discomfort, and to find compassion for, rather than exile the parts I found challenging about myself, opened the door to greater peace, purpose and joy.
I soon realised that returning to my roots of teaching and qualification development wasn’t my path any longer. I pondered my next career move and as I already had letters behind my name (an MSc in Therapeutic Education, a Post-Grad Cert in education as well as my BA Hons), I actively resisted the urge to take the well-trodden path of doing a psychotherapy training. My own experiences of effective healing had taught me that talk therapy wasn’t where my future lay. So instead, I decided to carefully curate a set of four in-depth trainings.
I started with a Mindfulness training. Then came a Needs-Based transformational Coaching training rooted in NVC (non-violent communication). Next was a training in Breathwork and Movement Therapy for Trauma Healing. And finally I did an IFS Informed Somatic Trauma Therapy training. My studies were as much about my own healing and development as they were about learning how to support others and I chose them because I knew they really worked.
As I began weaving these approaches together in my coaching work, I noticed meaningful shifts not only in the lives of my clients, but in my own life — increased self-compassion, steadier emotional regulation, and a stronger sense of purpose and self-trust. My somatic training also heightened my awareness of how stress and overwhelm show up in the body, and how to respond to them with care.
Whilst I can proudly say that cancer belongs firmly in my past, perimenopause and ADHD are very much part of my present and foreseeable future.
But this path hasn’t been about fixing my neurodivergence or eradicating perimenopause. Instead it’s been about finding ways to support and heal my nervous system; learn to feel good about the woman I am; let go any shame; and tend to myself and my needs with compassion and care when life feels overwhelming.
This is the heart of my work today.
I feel deep empathy and compassion for the women I work with. I understand their suffering. And I understand the added pain that comes when we turn on ourselves in shame, frustration and judgement.
This is where the somatic work helps. Working at a pace that feels comfortable for each individual nervous system, I facilitate a space where every part of you can feel safe. Where every part feels welcomed and validated and respected.
From this deep foundation of self-compassion, and through the somatic and IFS frameworks, I guide women to reconnect with self-trust, inner wisdom and a renewed sense of meaning — not just as ideas, but as lived experience.
So, if you’ve read this far, thank you!
Hopefully something here resonates with you and gives you hope. Because whilst I know how hard life can feel, I have learned first-hand that by tending to our struggling parts in a compassionate way, we can bring about deep change that helps us have a happier, more caring relationship with ourselves. It brings us into alignment with who we really are. It helps us embody our potential. It brings us meaning. It brings us purpose. And it brings us joy.
