My Services & workshops
A wide range of workshops, group work,
as well as 1-1 support
About my Services and Workshops...
My aim is to plant the seeds and nurture well-being tools that children will use independently when they need it in school, out of school and throughout their lives. We all have many emotions and experiences in life and understanding how to work with our own feelings is essential.
I have found that within a group some children need movement and some need stillness as our sensory bodies are all unique. By teaching different techniques each child can experience a technique that helps calm and regulate their own body and mind. An example of one benefit for children is a twelve-year-old girl who has many health issues with frequent hospital visits uses her visualisations for CAT scans.. She told her Mum that during her last CAT scan and operation she used her breathing techniques that I had taught her and visualised she was in her favourite place to stay calm and relaxed.
My background is in Primary schools as a classroom teacher in London, Support teacher with children with social, emotional and behaviour needs in Dublin 8, supporting children on a 1:1 in pre-schools and private sessions in my own Well-being studio in Ratoath. I work with a lot of community groups including Autism social groups and the Louth Meath branch of Down Syndrome Ireland. My eldest daughter is Autistic and we have been involved with joint projects with Little Seeds Arch club, As I Am and the team in the Ombudsman for children.
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I have presented interactive inclusive family wellbeing workshops at outdoor festivals & indoor workshops with different county libraries in Tipperary, Offaly, Kildare & Laois.
Mindful Breathing
Breathing is something that we all do, all of the time – yet we are often not aware of this. By bringing our focus intentionally onto the breath we can ground ourselves in the present moment. Teaching children to understand how important their breathing is gives them a tool to regulate and relax their bodies at any time they need it or feel overwhelmed. Young children like fun breathing exercise like crocodile breath or butterfly breath where older children and teenagers can benefit from square breathing.
“Practising regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energising and can even help with stress- related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders.”
Andrew Weil
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Some of the benefits of learning about mindful breathing are
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It helps children relax and refocus their attention.
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Increases the level of oxygen in the body which has a calming effect on the body and mind.
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It improves our immune system and strengthens the heart.
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It can help to relax the digestive system as the vagus nerve relaxes.
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It sharpens the ability to listen and learn.
Nursery Rhymes
Children have been enjoying nursery rhymes for a very long time as it lays the foundations for language and sound development which supports a child as they learn to read and spell. When a child hears the rhyming words along with the repetition of words it supports brain and language development. When we add in movements it also adds in an element of fun while supporting the right/left co ordination in the brain and body. In my experience it brings connection to a class as every child can join in with the movements or singing if English is their second language or they are preverbal.
Benefits include
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Counting & mathematical language
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Confidence & self esteem
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Knowledge of the world around them
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Physical development
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Connection
Brain Gym
The Brain Gym programme is a set of exercises authored by Paul & Gail Dennison to enhance right and left brain hemisphere integration to support learning, processing, memory, attention and focus. In my experience they can be very effective in regulating the mind and the body with children and adults. It can be a quick way of observing a child who to see areas of support they need in school.
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Our brain is a muscle and like other muscles in the body it needs to be stretched and worked to get the best out of it.
“Your brain is a creativity thinking muscle. Like all muscles it needs regular exercise.”
Duncan Wardle
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Yoga and Movement
I found yoga when I was pregnant with my first child and I could instantly feel the benefits to my body and mind. I am a person who needs to move but I have to work on my relaxing my mind which yoga gives me. Yoga helps children develop strength, flexibility, concentration and awareness of their body. I have observed children who enjoy the balancing poses while others who are great on the sports pitch feel challenged by their flexibility on the yoga mat. A flexible body can lead to a flexible mind and open us up to trying new things.
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"Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional and mental states.”
Carol Welch
Emotional Literacy
“You can find magic wherever you look, sit back and relax all you need is a book.”
Dr Seuss
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Our Emotional language is just as important for life as learning the language of Maths or Science in school. We all have emotions and there is no such thing as a good or bad emotion; they are all an important part of being our own authentic selves. Children want to hear that it is ok to be angry or sad but they also want to know how they can process the feelings in a safe way.
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Reading a story to a child is in itself a mindful activity as you are fully in the moment listening and watching what comes next. In my experience a picture book can bring silence to a class as it expresses thoughts and feelings the child or young person is feeling but don't want to always say. I am a great lover and collector of children's picture books as I have found the right book very beneficial as part of a wellbeing lesson with children and teenagers. Some children will discuss a characters feelings much easier than discussing their own emotions initially.
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In some private 1:1 or group workshops we look at creative writing opportunities through poetry, group stories or drama scripts. Labelling where we feel emotions in the body can be very useful to understand the physical aspects of our feelings. Children and adults also benefit from writing and saying Positive affirmations to boost wellbeing and confidence.
Story Massage
“When you massage someone, the levels of oxytocin goes up in the brain, and oxytocin is one of the chemicals that drives attachment.”
Helen Fisher
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I trained in the Story massage programme in 2017 and I have been using it since with all ages as so many children and adults enjoy it. The programme was developed by Mary Atkinson and Sandra Hooper through their shared vision as teachers and therapists of sharing positive and respectful touch with children and adults of all abilities. Story massage increases the level of Oxytocin in our bodies which helps to counteract stress and reduces anxiety in the body. Oxytocin is the calming hormone our body can produce naturally which helps to dampen the stress pouring from our overwhelmed amygdalas in our brains. Calmer children in the classroom supports each child's ability to regulate, learn and concentrate.
My younger groups really enjoy sharing nursery rhymes with story massage as they know the words and can fully emerge in the experience. Older children and teenagers enjoy sharing Story massage with their peers as they prepare for an event or looking at our many emotions like finding your brave feelings coming up to exams.
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The great thing about Story massage is that all ages can enjoy it and the theme of the story can cover many different areas as I write most of them myself to go with the topic or theme. Parents have all said how they enjoy sharing story massage in workshops, private sessions with me or learning how to use it for home. Some parents have said the last time they enjoyed a massage together their child was very small.
Relax Mediation
“The body benefits from movement and the mind benefits from stillness.”
Sakyong Mipham Most
At the end of all my sessions in groups or 1:1 I always share a visualisation/meditation that is appropriate for the age group I am supporting. If we have the yoga mats we lie back with a blanket and allow the body to be warm and relaxed. If children are at their desks in school they lie their head down into their arms and close their eyes. There are not many teachers in school who get praised for putting their pupils to sleep ! I am finding in recent year children and teenagers are enjoying this quiet time more than ever as their worlds are so busy and interactive, especially with phones and digital stimulation.
When we give our bodies and mind a quiet space to just be we allow our bodies to heal and repair after being in the fight & flight state of survival. Our immune systems cannot work properly when our amygdala in our brains is telling the body to stay alert danger is waiting. When we give our brains and bodies a safe place to relax and come out of the stress response our amygdala begins to shrink and send signals to the body to breathe more slowly to regulate our nervous system.
In my experience children and adults all say I wish we could do this everyday as I feel so calm now. By regulating and slowing our heartbeat down we allow our bodies to heal allowing ourselves to greater focus and concentration.
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Holistic Creative Arts Therapies Practitioner
Through my own health experiences over the years I have learnt that you cannot separate physical health from emotional and mental health. Every part of our body and mind works together and each major organ in our bodies is connected to an emotion like anger is connected to your liver and grief is connected to our lungs.
I am always looking to learn in new areas to support the people I work with. In 2022 I decided to train as a Holistic Creative Arts therapies Practitioner as I wanted to be able to support more people in a variety of ways. This year-long course with Soul School gave me an opportunity to work on my own emotional health while also learning the science behind many aspects I was intuitively doing for years. The course gave me the confidence to work with different age groups in a variety of settings.
The course and qualification covered these areas and much more
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Art Therapy (paint, watercolours, pencils, charcoal & oil pastels)
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Tactile Therapy (sculpture, clay, construction, sandplay & environmental art making)
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Music & Sound Therapy
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Dance & Movement Therapy
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Role play, Storytelling, Creative writing & Drama Therapy
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Meditation with music & movement
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Holistic counselling skills for creative arts therapists
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Gratitude & art journaling
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Colour & emotions
These additional therapies and qualifications have enabled me to offer individuals, families and group a wide range of modalities that I design to the needs of the group. The Louth Meath Down Syndrome group asked me if I could offer a group grief support for young adults that had lost parents and grandparents in recent years. It was wonderful to hear them speak about their many feelings and also support each other.
I have delivered a variety of group therapy block sessions for Little Seeds Arch club for Autistic young people. It offered a chance to express their feelings and process them through art therapy while also offering an opportunity to develop social skills with their peers.