About Olive.

I’m a Somatic Experiencing® (SE) Practitioner and NeuroAffective Touch® (NAT) trainee, passionate about supporting people to heal from trauma, stress, and overwhelm. My work is rooted in listening to the story the body has to tell, supporting mind–body integration, and being with what gently emerges.

After having my first child in 2015, I shifted from community arts to retrain as a birth and postpartum doula, and later as a breastfeeding counsellor. Moved by the power of continuous, informed support during pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood, I spent over eight years working independently and alongside midwives. This time gave me a deep understanding of how to create the right conditions for physiological processes to unfold—an insight that now informs the way I support healing in my somatic work.

Somatic Experiencing has been transformational in my own life. During the 2020 lockdown, with two young children and a chronically overwhelmed nervous system, I developed fatigue and migraines that left me depleted and unwell. Through SE sessions, I gradually regained energy, reduced anxiety, and began to build a more connected, embodied relationship with myself. This experience set me on the path to becoming a practitioner, knowing how life-changing this work could be for others too.

Since qualifying in 2021, I’ve worked increasingly with parents and carers who feel constantly "on," stretched thin, and close to burnout—many navigating guilt, shame, and a loss of connection to their own needs. My personal experience parenting a neurodivergent child adds depth and compassion to how I meet the complex realities of caregiving.

Over time, I’ve come to see how many of the challenges clients face in adulthood are rooted in early relational experiences. My work is increasingly informed by a deepening interest in developmental trauma and emotional neglect, which led me to train in NeuroAffective Touch®. This gentle, somatic approach supports clients in gradually restoring a sense of safety, self-contact, and connection with others—especially when those capacities were interrupted early in life.

I’m a registered member of the Complementary Therapists Association and the Somatic Experiencing Association, and I receive regular supervision to support the quality and integrity of my work.