Who I am and what I do
Conventional qualifications and work:
Initially I read Social Psychology at Berlin University and then worked as a lecturer and researcher at the university. I subsequently trained as a Family Counseller and Clinical Hypnotherapist.
I worked internationally as a therapist and trainer for over 20 years, specialising in complex trauma, child abuse and related mental/emotional issues. I have provided training and consultancy on these issues for many different organisations and professionals in Europe as well as in Asia and Africa. In parallel with my work as a trauma specialist, I functioned for 12 years as the SW course director and lecturer for an international training institute, which trained Hypnotherapists to MSc level in partnership with a London University, and I was a honorary fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School, a part-time post which I still hold.
On the road to Becoming
My lifelong fascination with the human psyche, the functioning of the human mind and altered states of consciousness, and my own spiritual journey, have led me to explore spiritual and shamanic approaches in different parts of the world from an early age. My early journey led me to Asia, where I lived and studied in Ashrams, whilst living in communes, leading a kind of ‘sex, drugs and rock-and-roll’ lifestyle.
Much later, after starting a serious career and being a mother and wife, I apprenticed to shamans in Mexico and Yachak Shamans in Ecuador, and trained with many contemporary shamanic practitioners from the USA, Mexico, Brazil and the UK.
My world-view, which is energetic in nature, and my view about life and the human psyche, my calling and the path I now walk, emerged during those times. All are based on very strong altered state and out of body experiences, the connection to unseen forces and an expansion of my consciousness beyond the material.
Although I have been a spiritual person all my life, had intense experiences from a young age and trained extensively in shamanic practices, it took a serious illness over a decade ago, which brought me to the brink of death, to finally push me into shifting my focus and follow my calling. I stepped back from my therapeutic, training and consultancy work and begun to follow my heart’s desire – and my passion – by incorporating shamanic approaches into my work as a psychologist and trainer, offering courses for therapeutic professionals on the subject. The publication of my fist book ‘Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice’, which followed from this work, proved to be ground breaking within the fields of psychology and therapy.
