About Me
I help people build skills to enjoy life more by expanding their stress resilience
About Ann-Marie
I’m Ann-Marie, an accredited psychotherapist and health coach with over 15 years experience.
I believe in the power of talking therapy for healing, but also that sometimes you need to start with the body and work your way inward to the mind for real whole-person health.
I have a unique skill set that allows me to provide:
Movement therapy
Holistic psychotherapy
Breathwork coaching
Nutrition coaching
I run a long-standing private practice online & in Reading, UK and am co-founder & co-director of Mind Garden Therapy Ltd, Reading’s largest centre for talk therapy, established in 2010.
My breathwork training is through expert breath / stress resilience coaches in the USA at Shift and I am certified as a breathing instructor by Oxygen Advantage. Additionally I have been trained in movement therapy and am completing further professional courses in yoga psychology.
My professional supervision is with a senior analytical psychologist in the Jungian tradition and I consult professionally with fellow breath coaches to ensure the best possible client care and outcomes.
I currently offer private sessions and classes at Mind Garden in Reading, online, and at the Orchard Life Centre in Midgham, West Berkshire. I coach part time at CrossFit Aldermaston and in between I have a busy family life including lots of animals!
I’ve been a therapist for a long time (since 2002!). Over the last 8 years I’ve had a growing interest in physical fitness and its connection to mental health. It was only once I landed on the most underestimated and overlooked aspect of our health (breath) and its ties to our autonomic nervous system (ANS), that I found a way to take the mind-body link into my private practice. It’s quickly taken over the whole of my work as I can now offer clients a unique approach to physical & emotional health that puts the ANS at the centre of our work together, mirroring its central place in our bodies and our wellbeing.
The ANS is the home of our stress response and our breath function. When the ANS is balanced, your health is elevated and your mind is resilient. This understanding has taken my own self care to a new level and I now work to help my clients experience the same.
Connecting body & mind for deep health
15 years’ clinical experience
Accredited Psychotherapist since 2009
Multiple certifications
To support my work I have completed the following qualifications
What’s my why?
After my own extensive training in autonomic health and breath training with the amazing team at Shift (www.shiftadapt.com) and through Oxygen Advantage, I can easily say that breathwork has and continues to change my life for the better. It has led me to personal insight & self-awareness that has previously been trapped in my physiology. It has supported me in moving through challenging emotions, and given me interventions to stop repeating patterns that no longer served me. I feel more objective and present, and less reactive.
My aim is to teach the skill of breath to others so they can also experience increased quality of life & relationships both now and in the future. Our mind/body system is the most powerful tool we have – we just need to listen to it.