Hi, I'm Ellen (she/her)
nice to meet you 
I’ve been told I am inspiring and shiny with spirit.
I’m a trauma sensitive and holistic coach for artists and creatives, an artist, a yoga teacher & student and a multifaceted human who doesn’t love labels but admits to their usefulness at times.
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The work I do is rooted in a desire to support positive change – for individuals, for society for the planet. I believe it is time to question and challenge the way we’ve always done things, the way we’ve been told our lives, our work, our identities ‘should’ be.
Radical wellbeing is at the heart of everything I do. This means considering wellbeing in a holistic way; as part of a society, a culture. Not an isolated part of our lives, but something that is interconnected to every other aspect. Inherited & learned beliefs, societal conditioning, the systems we live under – these all play a part.
We’re all changing our labels all of the time, so if we become too attached to them limit our ability to change. If we label others too much, we can confine them and prevent ourselves from experiencing the fullness of them. However, labels can also help us to understand the world, others and ourselves. Here are some of the labels I associate with myself.
Multipotentialite/ multipassionate
Neurodivergent
Creative practitioner including theatre maker
Woman
Writer
Holistic and trauma sensitive creative coach
Trauma sensitive yoga teacher
Leo sun, Scorpio Moon, Virgo Rising
Vata-Pitta
INFJ
I am an enthusiasm spreader and I can reawaken passion for an idea in an instant. Give me a creative problem or question and I will generate more ideas than you could use in a year at lightning speed.
I’m an introvert who loves, and is excellent at, public speaking.
My clients often talk about my levels of intuition, perception & holistic way of working.
I am experienced in self-doubt, imposter syndrome, crippling lack of confidence and sense of self-worth.
I have experience of living with chronic illness and the mind-body impacts of developmental trauma.
I am a big tea lover, and have a whole cupboard dedicated to it.
I frequently carry too many things (yes, that could be a metaphor for my life) and am learning to hold less.
I am someone who has historically struggled a lot with rest and am now a HUGE advocate for it.
Some achievements
I really recommend making a list of all of your achievemets, whatever comes to mind. Big, small, medium – whatever. We don’t look back at all the amazing things we’ve done enough.
Founded a theatre company in 2011
With next to no idea what I was doing. I ran that company from 2011 – 2023.
I've written, directed & produced 6 theatre productions
I’ve written 3 plays, all of which I also directed & produced. I’ve directed & produced work in a derelict market, & for Brighton & Edinburgh Fringes. My first ever production sold out all nights of its Brighton Fringe run.
Failed very publicly, very massively
One show I wrote, directed & produced was a huge failure (I mean, the actress in a one woman show hadn’t learnt her lines and one time forgot her costume so went on stage IN HER PANTS kind of failure). I struggled with that. I also survived, and continued making. I gained my long-term collaborative partner from that failure. I learnt a lot about myself, about the importance of failure, about the creative industries.
Moved city, started a new business
Moved from Brighton to Manchester, after 9 years in Brighton. Started a new yoga & holistic health business (Being Change), and also did what I needed to support myself by getting part-time work.
Survived a global pandemic
Covid, honestly, was like a huge Tower Tarot card moment for me (not into Tarot? think wading through the dust of the crumbled foundations of everything you thought you knew). There was a lot of navigating of business & personal upheaval. A lot of trauma to deal with (& still being processed), & multiple burnouts. I survived, though. And I’m still here, still running a business (in very different ways than before) & figuring out this doing life in a way that works for me thing.
Some of the jobs I’ve done that all feed into my current role as a holistic coach for creatives in some way (because every part of our story matters)
- Sales assistant
- Student Union run letting agency property manager
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
- Grant writer, including as an Access Support worker
- Receptionist
- Theatre Duty Manager
- Yoga teacher
- Administrator
- Web designer
- Virtual assistant
- Business support
- Teacher of English as a Foreign Language
Qualifications & training I have
- Ayurveda & Holistic Health (level 2), holistic coach certified by the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine
- Yin Yoga teacher (trained with Norman Blair)
- Trauma Sensitive Yoga Teacher (Trauma Therapy Manchester)
- Yoga with Resistance Bands teacher training (Laurel Beversdorf)
- Mindful Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher (200hr Training – Be-Yoga)
- First Class BAhons, Drama and English Literature, University of Sussex
You could say I have a portfolio career, I prefer to think of it as a collage career. I share all of this here because it’s all part of who I am, of my journey. Society tells us work, careers, life should be a straight line of progression – nice and neat and orderly – that just isn’t true. Whatever your own squiggly line of life and work is, I encourage you to own it all as part of your story and your journey.
I wholeheartedly believe in the power of non-linear living.
Seasonal living as taught in Ayurvedic philosophy, Tradititional Chinese Medicine and the Pagan Wheel of the Year are big parts of my own personal practice & the work I share.
Over the past 5 years I’ve been exploring connecting to the cycles of the seasons; my menstrual cycle; the lunar cycles.
A few last things
I have burned out many times caused by: toxic productivity, work=worth culture; beliefs that once kept me safe and now don’t serve me; socialisation as a woman.
An awareness of, and sensitivity towards, trauma has become increasingly important in my work in recent years. I’m a trauma sensitive yoga teacher, and will be taking an accredited trauma informed yoga teacher course in late 2023.
Yoga and Gretchen Rubin started my journey of self-development, self-knowledge, creating a life I actually want. Still working on it all, probably always will be.
I love young adult fiction and movies.
One day I will write a book, maybe even multiple books
I believe it is possible to be nourished and wildly fulfilled as an artist and creative. I do not buy into the “you don’t get into this for the money” bullshit meaning you can’t make good money doing creative work that lights you up. Because you can. You absolutely can. Yes, you. Really.
I know that creativity and artistic work is absolutely KEY to our collective wellbeing as a human race and a global society. I also know that who feels able to make this kind of work needs to become wildly more diverse. That will not happen unless we radically overhaul the ways we do things. This is work we need to do as individuals, and as larger collectives and organisations.
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