My Story

Thank you for taking an interest in my story. To capture ‘me’ I can confidently say that I am a uniquely professionally qualified mind and body expert. I am a business psychologist and a member of the Association for Business Psychology and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a nutritional therapist registered with the Nutritional Therapy Council.

I have a huge amount of corporate and coaching experience added to which, I’m a scientist, so my thinking is evidence-based. Along the way I’ve experienced health issues that have challenged my energy and I’ve experienced burnout. I’m the whole package and I have the T-shirt!

Here’s my story.

I had always been a high-energy girl. Driven, hard-working and creative. Over the years I’ve had business success including a very successful consulting career as a business psychologist which had me travelling the world. I ran a busy clinic for stressed-out executives and I’ve had the privilege of being Chair of the stress industry’s professional association, The International Stress Management Association.

Health has always been my passion. I would put my interest in health as one of my top three core values. As a teenager I trotted off to a weekly yoga class (I’ve still no idea where this came from as no one in my family did anything like this) and I even wanted to be a dietitian, but life got in the way.

The problem is, I started life with bundles of energy and felt everything was in my grasp with a bit of hard work but, fifteen years ago, life changed all that. I felt utterly exhausted. Whereas I could work hard and play hard and a couple of early nights would recharge me, suddenly I didn’t even have the energy to play if I was going to work. My doctor said there was nothing wrong with me – repeatedly over an eighteen-month period. I knew there was. Not only did I have no energy, but I ached all over and the brain fog I was experiencing meant my memory was shot and I struggled to think straight. At the time I was studying for my psychology masters degree. Things got so bad, I really began to think that I’d have to pull out.

On a return trip to my doctor I happened to see his computer screen and saw that my test results showed I had an under-functioning thyroid. A fluke he said. I was anaemic (I had that too). I persuaded him to refer me to an endocrinology consultant who told me I was very ill and my life would never be the same again – not the best thing to hear when you’ve been a high energy person. He was right. Having an autoimmune thyroid condition (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) is like walking an energy tightrope and so many factors can trigger a low energy state. There’s so much more to it than taking a small pill every day.

I recovered well enough to function but not to how I was before.

Two years later I began to live the dream I had as a teenager and studied nutrition at the renowned Institute for Optimum Nutrition. This was a professional must because my coaching experience was telling me that you couldn’t improve behaviour and wellbeing without considering both the mind and body.

I studied ION’s three-year diploma and foundation science degree course. I loved it. Despite all the difficulties of studying and working full-time, as well as traveling with my work, I coped (just), and my energy improved. I even graduated with distinction.

Then a blip came another couple of years down the line. I was exhausted again and tests showed my liver enzymes were elevated – a virus from my travels said the consultant. I recovered.

Then a few years ago the symptoms started again, despite taking my medication, watching my diet and taking some supplements. This time the aches in my soft tissue were back and I got to the stage where I feared for my future mobility.

A friend from my ION days who was studying for a PhD referred me onto a biochemistry research programme and very quickly it was discovered that I had toxic metal poisoning – nickel from my stainless-steel saucepans, can you believe? The programme to clear it was ghastly but one day I woke up and thought ‘welcome back’, my real well self had returned.

When I reflect on these years I notice that every time I’ve had an ‘episode’ I’ve been very stressed, in fact struggling with adrenal fatigue and on the verge of burnout.

My experiences and my mind/body studies as a business psychologist and nutritionist have helped me enormously.

I want to share this knowledge and reassure others that you can recover your energy. You can change your mind-set and add practices to your life to make you the person you truly are.

2017 was a big year for me… and rather stressful for several reasons. I wrote and published two books around the theme of career performance, stress and burnout. Both books went to #1 on Amazon!

One book is tough to do and two was probably madness, but my energy and enthusiasm to share my message pushed me to do it. I ended the year with an amazing trip to Asia. The diet and spiritual learning was incredible but the pollution in the cities triggered my autoimmune thyroid condition. I came home chronically fatigued and coughing.

And… in April 2019 my new book – Life Force: The Revolutionary 7-Step Plan for Optimum Energy is published.

In continued health,

Susan