My Story

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I qualified as an Osteopath in 1996, after first working as a Nurse specialising in burns, wound care and plastic surgery. Those early years taught me that successful healthcare is about far more than treating injuries—it begins with listening to the person in front of you. It can be a fault in healthcare practitioners in that the pressures of professional life in acute and chronic clinal setting and perhaps running a small business.

 

This may lead to lack of self care, or even ignorance of the humanity and associated mortality that you share with your clients as a clinician . The truth sometimes comes home through and illness or the outcomes of burnout . Ones own story then becomes unravelled, and the only way to understand that is to seek expert help in understanding that and moving forwards . Our deepst truth may be that : 

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"Every person has a story."

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As life unfolded, I experienced my own challenges. Caring for my disabled son, navigating family grief and years of placing everyone else's needs before my own eventually taught me something that changed both my life and my practice.

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"Healing is about more than treating the body."

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That journey led me to the Reach Approach a Birmingham based Psychotherpapy practice . Reach has an integrated  and holistic practice and methodology , which was developed after research highlighted the return unmanagable conditions even after a successful initial theraputic  outcome. This was termed the "Revolving Door".  I discovered through work with Reach , a way of understanding health that was holistic, compassionate and deeply personal. It became such an important part of my own life that I went on to train as a Reach Coach, along with the NCFE certificate in Life Coaching , allowing me to combine coaching with over three decades of osteopathic experience.

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Reach Coaching is a whole-person/person specific approach  recognising that  every individual is unique. Whether you are living with persistent pain, chronic illness, stress, anxiety or simply want to become the healthiest version of yourself, you still are managing that inner self . My aim as a personal and pyschotheraputic coach is : 

 

"To help you , understand yourself more deeply and live with greater confidence."

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As a Reach Coach I am actively engaged in personal growth and I help to create that for my current and prospective  clients, as it is specifically relevant to them .  The structure that has helped me ,and continues to do so. It is this structure I use around learning and understanding what is specific to you as a client . 

 

Coaching at Reach approach is based on bringing physical health - pyschological perspective - how we live - personal goals and direction, to a focus point we call "synergy " , At this "synergetic " point we develop personal power . This enables us to carry our  past comfortably, manage the present and face the future with confidence .

 

Taking this journey is not about expecting an immediate revelation or change , every step though brings you closer . There is work that must be done by you and there is guidance that must be given by your coach . However the magic is there in our own nature and experience , as it exists in the world around us .  Buds on plants appear through spring and emerge as beautiful fragrant flowers completely changed from the barren stalks or sleeping bulbs of winter .

My friend once wrote about hope and  change :

 

" It is like dew, we fall asleep despairing

just to wake up covered in fresh hope

upon which no yesterday can cling " (JMH-Mind and Body )