I had been studying English and PE at university – but I dropped out of my course, completely grief-stricken, to return home and care for my father. Over the next few years I balanced caring for my Dad and training for a new career as a psychiatric nurse.

I was always trying to help, to fix others – but eventually my inner pain got the better of me, and I was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Like many young people do, I turned to drugs to help my world make sense. The drugs helped, for a while… until they didn’t.

Professionally, I was doing ok! I had qualified as a staff nurse, and was working in the community – but then one day I got a call which stopped me in my tracks.

My dad had attempted suicide.

He’d struggled with mental health issues ever since his accident and had tried to end his life several times while I was training as a nurse, but this time felt… different. In addition, my drug use was making me sick, and I knew something had to shift.

I decided to change my life completely…

I left Derby, stopped taking drugs, and started over again in Cambridge, near where my dad was living at Papworth Hospital. I knew my dad was safe, and being looked after, so I had time to think about my career again – and THIS is when I began my work helping people with addictions. So I found a job working with the local NHS-run community addictions service in Cambridge.

My son Zak was still little, but – like many women have to! – I juggled my home life with my day job.

I worked hard and was eventually asked to set up an addiction counselling service at Addenbrooke’s Hospital — a famous teaching hospital here in the UK.

As well as meeting with all the patients who presented with drug or alcohol issues, I also worked closely with the doctors, nurses and medical staff throughout the hospital to try to erase the stigma of addiction. I’m so proud of this chapter of my life, and what I accomplished at the hospital – but it didn’t come easily….

By the time I hit 31, I was really struggling to cope. My day job had become harder and harder, while at home I was still caring for my young son, and emotionally caring for my severely-disabled father. On top of this, my marriage broke down – and I was now a single parent, with a lot of responsibility resting on my shoulders.

I knew I wanted to change my job, and I’d been thinking deeply about the important role that fitness and nutrition played in wellness.

So – I did it! I took the leap, left the NHS, and embarked on a new career as a fitness and nutrition specialist.

This was also when I started to focus on working with women.

I’d been through so much personally, yes… but I’d also seen friends and family members struggle with the same challenges and issues, and I was driven by a deep desire to help in any way that I could.

My first business, Cambridge Bootcamps, actually started out as a way for me and a few friends to exercise while our small children played in the park nearby – so we could work out without having to worry about childcare.

Cambridge Bootcamps was never just about the outer self, or appearances – it was more about the inner struggles, and the food we choose to fuel and power ourselves with.

I always took time to get to know my clients, and their own, unique challenges – and was so proud of the personal approach I took. I’d always ensure that each client was equipped with the tools she needed to take charge of her own health and wellbeing.

I worked it out once – I’ve worked with and helped over one thousand women in Cambridge!!

Which still completely blows my mind… But it wasn’t just through Cambridge Bootcamps.

I ran Purple Fitness and offered personal training and one-to-one fitness coaching in my home studio.

I also started coaching, to help my clients work on their “inner selves” as well as their outer selves, and I loved (still do!) helping women see just what they’re capable of.

While running Cambridge Bootcamps I worked with women who were just… SO talented, strong, bright and beautiful – but even the most accomplished of these women would struggle with the same inner challenges.

They all lay awake at night, doubting their own worth – and they criticised themselves relentlessly.

They lacked motivation and covered up depression so as not to worry or bother their families. Many of them over-ate or over drank – often secretly, shrouded in shame – and many wrestled with hugely complex and painful relationships with food, and their own bodies.

Slowly, and surely, these amazing women learned how to beat their inner critics, move forward in their careers, or tackle whatever it was that held them back – and the numbers of regular bootcampers grew and grew. We worked IN, as well as working out.

And then, in 2016, everything imploded.

Again.

My wonderful Dad, who I’d cared for and loved so deeply for years, died very suddenly.

All of a sudden, life was a bit too much… again.

I crumbled. Properly.

I got so sick, that I ended up being admitted to hospital.

When my body began to heal, I decided to make changes. My son had already left to go on his travels, so I had nothing left to lose. I sold my business, and met with my clients to break the news in person. I packed up my family home, sold what I didn’t want – and then finally sold the house itself.

It was time. I had plans. I would travel the world, and FINALLY do the inner work that had been bugging me for years.

I said goodbye to my friends. I threw what I needed in a bag, and hit the road. My first stop was India, to see if training as a yoga teacher could help my shattered mind find peace.

I spent two hundred hours at a school on the banks of the Ganges learning, and training, and discovering I was capable of more than I’d ever thought possible.

I flew to Europe, and explored the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. I went wild in Spain, and lived off the land, and learned about the role nature plays in our lives and our happiness.

And gradually, amid all this wandering, and learning – I slowly realised that the answers weren’t on the other side of the world.

The answers had been with me – inside me – all this time.

All those years of challenge, of conflict, of anger and pain, of guiding people through their struggles and helping women find themselves has led me right here, to this point, to… you.

Hi! 🙂

I’ve managed to tap into my courage. I’ve found my own inner guide.

So – now I want to help you do the same.

I’m putting together all my years of training and experience to embark on a new project, where I’ll coach women to gain more clarity in their world.

To guide women to dream bigger than they ever thought possible – and to stand by them while they get there.

Sound good?

It does to me. Let’s do it.