Hi, I'm Jo
My background brings together biological sciences, scientific research and publishing, training as a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, and personal experience of complex chronic illness.
I enjoy making sense of complicated things, asking questions and helping people see situations from a different angle.
These days, I use those skills to help people make the demands of managing illness more manageable, while finding more room for the rest of their lives.
Hi, I'm Jo
My background brings together biological sciences, scientific research and publishing, training as a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, and personal experience of complex chronic illness.
I enjoy making sense of complicated things, asking questions and helping people see situations from a different angle.
These days, I use those skills to help people make the demands of managing illness more manageable, while finding more room for the rest of their lives.
How I came to this work
When someone in your family is unwell and you don’t have clear answers, you start looking for them wherever you can.
We did.
We researched late at night, tried supplements and treatments, changed routines, spoke to different practitioners and paid attention to every possible clue that might help our son.
Some things came through health professionals. Others came through our own research, conversations with people in similar situations and the online groups you find yourself joining when you’re trying to understand an illness nobody seems able to explain properly.
I don’t look back at any of that and think we were foolish. We were trying to help him.
Over time, I became very good at researching. Finding original sources, comparing different explanations, questioning claims and trying to understand the thinking behind different approaches.
Some of what we learnt and applied genuinely helped. Our son eventually became well again, and that experience still gives me hope. But it also taught me that one person’s recovery isn’t a blueprint for somebody else’s.
Looking back, what strikes me is just how much work came with it all.
Not only the appointments and treatments, but the researching, remembering, comparing, deciding and constantly wondering whether there was something else we should be doing.
So much of our family life became organised around trying to get him better.
We weren’t just living with chronic illness. We were living inside the management of chronic illness.
That experience changed how I think about health and the work I do today.
What I bring to the conversation
I studied plant biology and spent many years working in scientific research, communication and publishing.
That taught me how to find reliable information, question claims, examine different explanations and turn complicated subjects into something people can actually understand.
Later, I trained as a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, developing skills in listening, asking useful questions and helping people explore possibilities without simply telling them what to do.
Living alongside complex illness brought a different kind of understanding.
I know how hard it can be when you’re trying to make decisions without clear answers. How easily the next promising approach can become another thing to research, organise or worry about. And how much of ordinary life can get pushed aside along the way.
I’m naturally curious and practical. I like looking at the whole picture, making connections and finding simpler ways to approach things.
But I’ve also learnt that not every problem needs another plan or another thing added to the to-do list.
Sometimes what’s needed is a chance to talk, think things through and see what might make a difference.
How I work
I tend to ask a lot of questions.
What’s going on at the moment? What’s taking up most of your time or energy? What’s becoming difficult to keep on top of? What have you already considered or tried? What matters most to you right now?
And perhaps just as importantly, what’s been missing from your life?
Our conversations might involve making sense of complicated information, thinking through decisions, exploring competing priorities or looking at how circumstances have changed.
Sometimes we discover a practical way to make something easier. Sometimes a different perspective helps. And sometimes the most useful thing is recognising something small that could bring a bit more enjoyment into everyday life.
There’s no standard programme and no expectation that everyone needs the same approach.
I’m not a clinician or therapist, and I don’t diagnose conditions, interpret medical tests or prescribe treatments. I can help you understand general health information and think through questions for your healthcare team, but I don’t replace medical care.
My aim is to help you make sense of what's going on and explore what might help you manage the demands of illness without losing sight of the rest of your life.
A few things I love
Living alongside chronic illness taught me something I never want to forget.
Life has to be bigger than health. And I don’t mean turning every enjoyable thing into another health strategy.
These days you’ll usually find me walking woodland trails with my whippet, bobbing in the sea or growing fruit and vegetables in my garden.
I’m happiest outdoors, and I’m quietly holding onto a dream of spending more time exploring the world in a camper van.
Those moments remind me why this work matters.
There are things worth making room for, even when life doesn’t look quite how we’d hoped.
Would you like to talk?
If managing illness or navigating life alongside it has become complicated, you don’t have to work everything out before getting in touch.
We can have a short introductory conversation about what’s going on and whether I might be able to help.