Embrace Your Freedom

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Trauma-informed coach & CPD workshop leader ✨
Narcissistic abuse recovery & emotional wellbeing 🤍
1:1 coaching | Workshops | Mental Wellbeing Clubs
Let’s thrive together 💫

Tonight, as England play, I need to talk about something that doesn’t get said loudly enough 💔 Research shows that domes...
17/06/2026

Tonight, as England play, I need to talk about something that doesn’t get said loudly enough 💔

Research shows that domestic abuse reports rise by 26% when England win or draw and by 38% when England lose. Every single time they play. Other research found a 47% rise in alcohol-related domestic abuse on England victory days. Greater Manchester Police recorded a 30% rise in reports on England game days during the Euros. And data from 31 police forces showed a 13% surge in domestic abuse 999 calls on match days during Euro 2024. Win or lose. The risk rises 💔

Football doesn’t cause abuse. But for people already living in abusive relationships, match days, with alcohol, heightened emotion and a volatile atmosphere, can make a dangerous situation even more dangerous.

So tonight, enjoy the football if you’re watching but also check in on people you’re worried about. Know the signs. And know that support is always available 🤍

📞 National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247 (free, 24/7)
🚨 In an emergency: 999

Share this. It matters more than the score 🙏🏾

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We’ve all heard of gaslighting. But this? This is the part nobody warns you about. Self-gaslighting is when you start do...
16/06/2026

We’ve all heard of gaslighting. But this? This is the part nobody warns you about. Self-gaslighting is when you start doing it to yourself.

“Maybe it wasn’t that bad.”
“I’m probably remembering it wrong.”
“Other people have been through worse.”
“I should be over this by now.”

Sound familiar? 🙃

After being told repeatedly that your perception was wrong, your memory was faulty and your feelings were an overreaction, your brain learns the script. And eventually, you don’t need anyone else to dismiss you anymore. You do it automatically. This is a conditioned response. When someone’s reality has been consistently denied over a prolonged period, the brain internalises that pattern as a way to avoid the discomfort of trusting itself and being “wrong” again. It’s a form of self-protection but it keeps you disconnected from your own truth.

The first step in rebuilding self-trust is recognising when you’re doing this to yourself. And if you’ve just read those phrases above and thought “oh”, that recognition? That’s the beginning. 🫶🏼

This is exactly what we’re exploring this Thursday at The Mental Wellbeing Club, gaslighting and rebuilding self-trust. If you’re local to Westhoughton and you’d like to be in the room, DM me. £10, no pressure, just a really safe space. 🫶🏼💗

End of week reflection 🤍 This week was the first week where both Mental Wellbeing Clubs took place and both groups were ...
14/06/2026

End of week reflection 🤍 This week was the first week where both Mental Wellbeing Clubs took place and both groups were amazing 💗

On Tuesday our general wellbeing group had the most beautiful discussions. Real light bulb moments happening around the table, people genuinely helping each other’s learning and understanding. That kind of organic conversation is everything. You can’t script it. It just happens when the right people are in the right space!! 🫶🏼

On Thursday in our narcissistic abuse recovery group we explored cognitive dissonance… why you can love someone and know they’re hurting you at the same time. We had two new members join us this week, and what struck me most was the way the whole room wrapped around them. The level of understanding, the compassion, the “I felt that too” energy. People left feeling genuinely validated. And that is everything 🤍

Two very different groups. Two very different topics. But the same magic in both rooms. People realising they are not alone and they are not broken 💜

And next week? We’re not slowing down 👀
• Tuesday: we’re exploring wellbeing patterns and what they’re telling us
• Thursday: we’re diving into gaslighting and self trust

If either of those topics is calling your name, there is still space 💗 DM me to book on 🫶🏼

Facebook memories got me this week… it took me back to a moment I hadn’t thought about in a while 💔I remember craving th...
13/06/2026

Facebook memories got me this week… it took me back to a moment I hadn’t thought about in a while 💔

I remember craving the label. Craving the validation of people knowing we were together. I’d ask about becoming Facebook official and it would just get… brushed off. Like I was asking for too much. So I stopped asking. And then one night I was upset… that restless anxiety I now understand was my nervous system responding to the cycle I was in. I fell asleep without replying but then I woke up to a notification… He’d made us Facebook official overnight. That rush. The relief, the happiness, the reassurance I’d been craving. At the time I thought it was romantic. 💔

Looking back, my perception is that this is a textbook example of a cycle I’ve since learned so much about. What I experienced as devaluation followed by what felt like love bombing the moment I withdrew. In my perception, that label felt like it came the moment there was something to be regained.

During that low period, my body was flooded with cortisol and adrenaline. Then that notification came and my brain released dopamine and oxytocin. That chemical shift from distress to relief is exactly what creates a trauma bond. It’s not love. It’s a neurological cycle.

Understanding the pattern doesn’t take away the pain. But it does take away the shame. I wasn’t weak. I was human. 🫶🏼

Has facebook memories ever brought up something for you…? You are not alone. 💗

The amount of shame people carry for missing someone who hurt them, for still loving someone they know wasn’t good for t...
11/06/2026

The amount of shame people carry for missing someone who hurt them, for still loving someone they know wasn’t good for them, is something I want to talk about more.

It’s not weakness. It’s not stupidity. It’s not you being crazy. It’s your brain doing something completely understandable given what it was put through.

We’re unpacking cognitive dissonance and confusion tonight at The Mental Wellbeing Club in Westhoughton. If you’ve been thinking about joining us, tonight is a really good night to start. £10, no pressure, just a really safe and understanding room full of women who just get it.

Send me a DM for all the details 💌

Only a couple of places left for tomorrow night’s session in Westhoughton if anyone wants to join us! Who could say no t...
10/06/2026

Only a couple of places left for tomorrow night’s session in Westhoughton if anyone wants to join us! Who could say no to these cakes that we can buy at a discounted price too? 👀

Tomorrow’s Narcissistic Abuse Recovery session is all about cognitive dissonance and how the narcissist makes us feel so confused and how this impacts us then in day to day life 💔

Sitting with this one today. So many of the people I work with, whether in coaching, in workshops or in the clubs, carry...
10/06/2026

Sitting with this one today. So many of the people I work with, whether in coaching, in workshops or in the clubs, carry guilt about changing. About no longer being who they were expected to be. About wanting more, feeling more, needing more. But survival mode shapes us in ways we don’t always choose. And healing… real healing… means getting to decide who you are when you’re no longer just trying to get through the day 🙏🏼

If you’re in that in-between place right now.,, not quite where you were, not yet where you’re going… you’re not lost. You’re growing 💜 Keep going 🫶🏼

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Today’s definition might just be the one that makes everything finally make sense. Cognitive dissonance. It’s that feeli...
09/06/2026

Today’s definition might just be the one that makes everything finally make sense. Cognitive dissonance. It’s that feeling of holding two completely contradictory things as true at the same time and the mental exhaustion that comes with it.

“I know this is wrong. But I love them.”
“I know they hurt me. But they didn’t mean it.”
“I know I should leave. But what if it gets better?”

Sound familiar? 🙃

Psychologist Leon Festinger first identified cognitive dissonance in 1957 and it is RIFE in narcissistic relationships. Because when someone is simultaneously your source of pain AND your source of comfort, your brain is constantly trying to reconcile two completely opposing truths. That mental tug of war is exhausting. Confusing. And it can keep you stuck for a very long time, which is exactly why so many people ask themselves “why didn’t I just leave?”

The answer isn’t weakness. The answer is cognitive dissonance. 💔

This is actually what we’re exploring this Thursday at The Mental Wellbeing Club 💛 If you’re local to Westhoughton and you’d like to be in the room, send me a DM and I’ll get you all the details. It’s £10 a session and you don’t need to have everything figured out to walk through the door. 💗

08/06/2026

Seven things a narcissist says the moment you try to hold them accountable 💔

The thing about these phrases is they all do the same job. They take the focus completely off what they did and put it onto you. Your sensitivity. Your memory. Your “pattern.” Your feelings. By the time the conversation is over, you’re the one apologising and you can’t quite remember what you were even upset about in the first place.

That is not an accident. That is a strategy. Research into narcissistic personality traits consistently shows that accountability poses a fundamental threat to the narcissistic ego, so the nervous system responds by deflecting, minimising and redirecting. Every single time.

Your feelings were valid. Your memory was accurate. And you were never too sensitive. You were just with someone who had zero interest in taking responsibility.

Comment the number that broke you most 👇 I want to know. 💛

I don’t take feedback lightly. Every single word like this means the world to me and reminds me exactly why I do what I ...
08/06/2026

I don’t take feedback lightly. Every single word like this means the world to me and reminds me exactly why I do what I do 🥰

What Helen said really stays with me… ‘not a subject widely available to learn more about as a parent, face to face’ … that’s exactly the gap I set out to fill 🙏🏼

Understanding trauma-informed practice and positive psychology shouldn’t be reserved for professionals in a training room. Parents deserve this knowledge. Communities deserve this knowledge. And workplaces, schools, charities and organisations do too 💜

I deliver over 30 CPD-accredited workshops covering everything from trauma-informed practice and positive psychology to domestic abuse awareness. Whether you’re a school, a workplace, a charity, a parent group or a community organisation, there is something for you.

And exciting news… new dates are coming very soon if you want to book on just for you!!! Watch this space!

In the meantime, DM me to find out more about bringing a workshop to your setting 🫶🏼

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