About Me...
Hello... I'm Dana :)
I didn’t come to this work because I trained in yoga or bought a fancy pair of leggings.
I came to it because I had to.
Because there was nowhere else to turn.
My Story
I’ve lived with chronic autoimmune disease for most of my life — including one condition that left me with just three months to live when I was 15.
I’ve now lived three times longer than that.
I also carry childhood trauma that I didn’t fully start processing until I was 35 — with flashbacks showing up when I least expected them.
Throughout my life, as a result of chronic conditions and trauma, I’ve struggled with depression, anxiety, panic disorder, dissociation, and agoraphobia — all later explained to me as cumulative traumatic stress.
What I’ve come to understand is that my nervous system was stuck in survival mode because of all this.
What I Didn’t Have
No clear roadmap or checklist
No mentor or guide
No one teaching the stuff I desperately needed
I had to figure out how to navigate it all on my own.
Raw. Messy. Imperfect.
How I Learned
Tiny steps forward, often followed by three steps back
Years of slow, honest self-reflection and self-inquiry
Not in workshops, but on bathroom floors, in waiting rooms, and through the dark nights when no one could hear me cry
That’s what being a Grounding Guide means to me:
Although a trained professional, I don’t see myself as a coach, teacher, or expert.
I’m a fellow human being, walking beside you when things feel too much.
What I’m Trained In
My background covers over twenty years in the helping professions across public, private, and charitable sectors, including:
Healthcare & care
Psychosocial care & trauma support
Community outreach
My training includes:
A nursing degree with a focus on therapeutic communication, facilitating learning, and mentoring (Robert Gordon University) and masters-level credits in long-term conditions and service improvement (Coventry Uni)
Continuing education in mindfulness and MBSR (Margaret Roberts), various non-clinical and paraprofessional trainings (Arizona Trauma Institute), integrative somatic trauma therapy (The Embody Lab), meditation (Kevin Ellerton), and somatic practice (Shana Neril)
Forward-Facing® professional resilience, trauma therapy, and M(y) E(xperience) — Level 1 Alumni (Dr Eric Gentry and Jenny Brackman at the Forward Facing Institute)
Currently training as a nervous system regulation practitioner (Dr Andrea Traldi at the Institute of Applied Somatics)
Why Grounding?
Without grounding, no nervous system regulation sticks.
Without safety, no lasting change is possible.
Without roots, we can’t grow.
Grounding is the foundation — the quiet, steady base that holds everything else together.
Where I Am Now
I’m a perimenopausal married mum in my forties, juggling a full-time job, part-time studies, and building this work bit by bit.
This isn’t just a side hustle — it’s where my passion meets my purpose.
My mission is to support others to ground as long as I breathe.
If you’ve found your way here, thank you for being curious.
Let’s take this gentle journey together.
