Kirsty always felt like an alien who’d just landed from another planet, with no instruction manual on how to navigate the world. She experienced a constant sense of dread, lived in a state of hypervigilance, and experienced intense anxiety and panic. 

In 2011, whilst working for a mental health charity, she discovered mindfulness, which sparked a curiosity about her inner landscape. She began to practice, and gradually noticed an improvement in her physical and mental wellbeing. She felt less reactive, less anxious, and more in tune with herself. 

Kirsty trained to teach Mindful Resilience in 2013 and began developing and delivering mindfulness courses for people experiencing anxiety, stress, and low mood.

Three years into her personal mindfulness practice, things began to shift. As she sat down to meditate, intense sensations hijacked her practice. She couldn’t make sense of them, but the impact was felt in her nervous system with full force.

She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She’d been practicing mindfulness regularly and had experienced many benefits, but no matter how hard she tried to move her attention away from the intense sensations, it was pulled back into them over and over again.

In 2020, Kirsty had the opportunity to train in Advanced Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness with David Treleaven, a writer, educator, and trauma professional. As she learnt about trauma, and the way traumatic stress impacts the body, she immediately had a very clear picture of her experiences.

She realised she was living with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and began to understand how her mindfulness practice had led her into direct contact with the traumatic stress held within.

She is fascinated by the way traumatic stress impacts the body and how mindfulness can be used as a tool to support nervous system regulation. Her own recovery journey now enables her to work with the nuances of her nervous system on a daily basis and be fully present in the world. 

Qualifications & Training

◊ Advanced Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Certified Practitioner

◊ Mindful Resilience Teacher Training (Levels 1 & 2)

◊ Level 5 Diploma in Health & Social Care Management (Adults & Young People)

◊ Deepen Your Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Training

◊ Expand Your Window of Tolerance Training

◊ Neurodiversity Informed Mindfulness

◊ Trauma Basics for Youth Workers

◊ 4-Foundations for Helping Trauma Impacted Youth

◊ Covid-19 Psychological First Aid

Kirsty is a member of the UK Psychological Trauma Society, a membership organisation for professionals whose work touches upon psychological trauma. She is also a member of the Global Compassion Coalition, an organisation dedicated to creating a global movement for compassion. At a local level, she is a member of the VCSE Health & Wellbeing Leaders Group facilitated by Manchester Community Central (MACC).   

Christoph believes in giving back and frequently publishes free meditations on Insight Timer which have received over 37k plays. He volunteers for The Mindfulness Network where he facilitates free sessions for the LGBTQIA+ community. He also contributes to mindfulness research and recently provided mindfulness meditation recordings that were used in a study by Dr Sparacio and colleagues across 37 sites worldwide with over 2,000 participants, published in Nature Human Behaviour. 

Born in Belgium, Christoph moved to the UK in 2002. He is committed to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and neuro-affirmative Mindfulness practice. You can learn more about him via his website.

Gill didn’t go looking for trauma work, it seemed to find her. Through her private practice, she realised the deep trauma with which some of her clients were living on a daily basis. She quickly recognised that her work needed to be tailored to meet the specific needs of trauma clients. This was new to Gill, so she embarked on training to enable her to work from a more trauma-informed perspective. One where safety and stabilisation were at the heart of her work.

As Gill’s interest in outdoor therapy grew, she completed a trauma informed course aimed at bringing nature into her practice. This combined well with her mindfulness training which she had undertaken in 2009. Gill has been practising mindfulness ever since, weaving it into her life and work. In 2021 she rebranded her private practice as Hazel Tree Counselling to represent a more down to earth, grounded approach to wellbeing. One that was seasonally aligned and inspired by nature.

The opportunity to work with Yellow Beacon came at just the right time for Gill. She’d noticed an increase in clients affected by trauma and her interest in mindfulness was deepening. She felt she’d come full circle and it was time to combine her two interests for greater good. Working ethically is important to Gill and she wants to ensure that people working in mental health, and those delivering mindfulness, work in a trauma-informed way. She is delighted to be on board and excited about where this work goes next.