About me
My name is Annie and I live in an intentional community in the Totnes area with my partner and three children. Here is a little about what inspires me and how I ended up doing what I do:
As a child I had a lot of freedom to wander in the countryside around where we lived. I learned to identify the herbs and flowers around me and nature was my refuge and teacher.
I grew up surrounded by women who gave birth at home, who breastfed throughout the toddler years and with a mother who turned to homeopathy, herbs and anthroposophical medicine when we were ill. They modelled to me an approach to parenting that felt natural and intuitive. This experience of holistic approaches has given me the confidence in the innate wisdom of the body and in alternative approaches to treating illness and inspired me to go on to
My love of plants led me to study herbal medicine as well as other workshops and courses such as shamanism, Soulcraft (Anima's Valley Institute), Plant Spirit Medicine and Intuitive herbalism. I have always loved spending time alone in nature through wild camping, vision quests and a four month immersion in a wild and incredibly beautiful women’s retreat centre in New Mexico.
I remember as a teenager being interested in parenting and began reading books on the topic. As a mother, I immersed myself in non-violent communication as well as reading about attachment parenting and doing workshops in hand in hand parenting. Most recently my interest in supporting mothers and parents in general has inspired me to become a postnatal educator and doula. As well as to do further training in pregnancy massage, holistic sleep coaching and the closing the bones ceremony.
In my work, my aim is to supporting parents to navigate pregnancy, birth and parenthood, in a way that allows them to stay resourced and have a greater capacity to love and care for their children. I believe that it really does take a village to raise a child. I bring this awareness of our need for interdependence and community support to my work with parents. I feel that parenting can be an act of radical activism - through supporting the next generation to be resilient, conscious and compassionate adults who care about themselves, others and the Earth.
I love celebrating and supporting women during the life transitions and thresholds such as menarche and birth. I do this through my involvement with a mother and daughter group, through offering massage to women, the closing the bones ceremony, plant connection sessions and group workshops. I offer Plant Allies for Women workshops. I bring to this my own experience of being part of a Women's Journey Group (with Fiona Shaw), my womens circle, ancestral healing, ceremony, Healing the Maiden and Deepening Woman work (with Eartha Love) and menstrual cycle awareness and tracking (Nikki Chambers).
If you are interested, I have included a list of my qualifications and further training I have completed:
Training and Qualifications
Herbal Medicine
BSc Hons in Herbal Medicine with the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine (2001-2006, includes a year out) a 4 year degree a which included 500 clinical hours.
Body Diagnosis (from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective) with Margi Flint (2007
Herbs for First Aid and Acute Illness with Dedj Leibrant (and worked with her at festivals) (2021-2005)
Plant Spirit Medicine workshops with Pip Waller (2002)
Soul Retrievel with Pip Waller (2003)
Goethean Observation with Margaret Colquhoun (2001) and later with Liz Turner (2019)
Ayurveda with Anne McIntyre and Sebastian Pole (2006)
The tissue States with Mathew Wood (2019)
Cherokee Medicine with David Winston (2022)
Herbal medicine for fertility, prenatal preparation, pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal support’ Caroline Guyett and Jackie Davis (2024)
Intuitive Herbalism Introduction and Foundation with Nathan Hughes (2021)
Massage
ITEC Diploma in Anatomy, Physiology and Therapeutic Massage (2002)
ITEC Diploma in Aromatherapy (2003)
Diploma in Pregnancy Massage with Holistic Therapies Trainings Acadamy
Postnatal Support
Birthing Wisdom Holistic Trainings: Postnatal Educator and Doula (2020)
Babyem Holistic Sleep Coaching with Lindsey Hookway (2021)
Closing the Bones Ceremony workshop with Sophie Messenger (2021)
Other
Non-violent Communication camps, family retreats and workshops (2011-2013
Parent Peer Leadership 9 month Programme, BayNVC (2012)
Hand in Hand Starter Course (2021) and workshops (2013), Hand in Hand Parenting
8 Week Mindfulness Course, The Sharpham Trust (2014)
Women's Journey Group (2019) and ongoing with Fiona Shaw, Birthing the Soul.
Mother Daughter Lodge, Eartha Love from Woman Becoming.
Soul Quest (2005), Soulcraft Intensive (2022) & Wild Mind Intensive (2023) with Animas Valley Institute
