Aisling Cowan

I specialise in helping clients with anxiety and other emotional issues who want to create change in their lives.  I use practical techniques, listening and understanding to teach my clients how to let go of emotions and reactions that are holding them back.
I have a background in Nutrition and now combine techniques such as coaching, CranioSacral, HeartMath, NLP & Mindfulness to help my clients.  Talking can be really helpful, but modern understanding means that endlessly talking about the past or past traumas does not always help people move forward. I help people understand how to better listen to the messages that their body is sending them now- and help them regulate their emotions and feel safe in the moment. 

My job is to really listen to you, understand where you are and see all the pieces of the puzzle.  We choose one piece at a time to work on to help you move forward in your life.

Background

During my initial degree in Human Nutrition I began to develop a strong interest in health & food psychology and how emotions and stress can create, affect or maintain very real physical conditions.

Upon graduating I worked in weight loss research but I became more interested in understanding the psychology of weight loss and what causes issues like eating disorders or IBS to develop in certain people and not others.  I began expanding my knowledge and skillset over these past 13 years to understand more about the body, nervous system, brain and mind.

At the clinic have been mentored by Anne Matthews and have extended my knowledge deeply into polyvagal theory and understanding the subtle early life issues and birth trauma in young children that can develop into emotional/mental health problems later in life.
I am always adding to my knowledge and training in an effort to understand my clients better and help them create the changes they are looking for.

The most common reason that clients come to me for coaching is anxiety, stress and relationship issues, the second would be digestive issues (like IBS) or other stress related health issues like unexplained pain and tiredness.  I also love working with teenagers to help them understand their emotions and how to keep themselves balanced in this busy world.

Corporate work
I deliver Mindcoaching workshops for corporate events, on understanding stress, emotions and our nervous system.  These are one-off talks or short courses for staff, which can be tailored and designed for a particular team.  My clients have included the PSNI, Aquinas Grammar and PWC.

I feel very strongly that many of the emotional and mental health issues that people experience are because of structures within our society; with the high pressure on individual achievement, being overworked, gender, social & wealth inequalities that create disconnection from each other and from the world around us.  For many of us living in today's society, the constant pressure to be ‘switched on’ to succeed and the busyness of our lives is causing a continual background feeling of stress. 

I believe we need systemic change if we really want to help people live happier more fulfilled lives.  I want to bring back our connection to nature and to each other, and I am a passionate activist with Friends of the Earth as well as the driving force in a project to open up an eco-campsite and retreat area at my home outside Larne.