Allow me to introduce myself
I have been working as a massage therapist for 18 years now. It’s work I love, helping make someone’s life that little bit better, and I cannot imagine doing anything else. The satisfaction I get when a client tells me they’ve had less pain or been able to do something they thought they’d never do again is absolutely huge. It makes my day.
My passion about the power of touch and massage has led me into two areas where access to massage has historically been restricted - pregnancy and cancer. I feel very strongly that people who are pregnant or living with cancer deserve the same access to and quality of treatment as anybody else - we as massage therapists should be trained to provide this.
I live rurally, surrounded by nature, but enjoy working in such a vibrant city as Exeter - it's the best of both worlds. I like to relax with good food, good wine and either good company or a good book, depending on how the mood takes me. To keep fit and healthy I enjoy running and swimming, although having only started running in my forties I understand the need to find a balance between your sporting aims and the realities of your body and lifestyle.
If you’d like to know more about me, just read on…
The story so far
Well, where should I start? I was brought up in Surbiton, the suburb of South West London that was the inspiration for The Good Life. After a variety of jobs, including working in the chemistry lab of a gold refinery and translating maths and music into braille in a vain attempt to not follow in my father’s footsteps, I did exactly that and became a solicitor.
I worked in-house for a well known insurance company (the one with the cheeky red phone on wheels) and, while I enjoyed some of the work (particularly making law practical and understandable to normal people), on the whole I found it unrewarding and the stressors of a commercial environment draining.
My husband Rich and I also yearned to live in the country and so in 2004 we left the South East and made our home in Devon. We’ve never looked back - we live very rurally surrounded by woodland, with two grey cats Diablo and Luca and an elderly hen called Olive. It’s a peaceful sanctuary that we both cherish.
I did my initial massage qualification while I was still working in the South East but it wasn’t until we moved that my massage career took off. It’s work I love and I cannot imagine doing anything else, working closely with people to make their lives that little bit better.
Over the years I have added many more skills and qualifications, some of which I no longer regularly use but all of them have helped shape the way I work.
In 2010 I trained in both craniosacral techniques with Jonathan Lawrence of Turning Point Training and in anti ageing face massage. While neither of those were directions I chose to pursue they gave me tools I regularly use to help people with headaches, migraines, jaw pain (TMJD) and sinus issues.
I qualified in myofascial release (MFR) 10 years ago which introduced me to a gentler way to treat people with musculoskeletal issues and tied in well with my craniosacral training.
Wanting to improve my technical knowledge I studied for a Level 5 Diploma in Sports and Remedial Massage (now referred to as Soft Tissue Therapy) with Anna Maria Mazzieri of the Soft Tissue School in Exmouth. I then joined the school as an Assistant Tutor.
The more I worked with people who have been struggling with pain for some while I became more interested in the psychological influences on our experience of pain or pain science as it is often referred to. Following the work of Lorimer Moseley, David Butler and Greg Lehman has been fascinating and challenged many often quoted perceptions regarding pain. I also used lockdown to complete a course developed by the University of Exeter in using exercise, relaxation and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques to manage ongoing low back pain. The combination of physical treatment and pain education has produced some profound results for my clients.
I’m always looking to better serve my clients so I have been recently studying scars, how they can have a long term effect on movement and pain and how they can be treated. Having combined my scar and oncology massage training with MFR techniques to help a client post mastectomy I am also expanding my knowledge of breast cancer.
I am passionate about the power of touch and massage and what an incredible therapeutic effect it can have without the need for specialist techniques. This has led me to teach massage to primary school children through the Massage in Schools Programme (MISP), hand massage to family, nursing and care staff of people with life limiting illnesses and general massage techniques to members of the public via my workshops.