Meet Nicola Pott
Counsellor, Somatic Therapist & Breathwork Physiotherapist.
I am privileged to journey with my clients and witness their transformations. I bring together over twenty years of experience as a healthcare professional with a warm, holistic approach. By working with both mind and body, I can support you to find more calm, joy, and freedom in your life.
Training, Qualifications & Experience
My combined counselling, physiotherapy and trauma therapy training means that I won’t just look at your thoughts or your body in isolation. My experience gives me the ability to bridge the two, offering you a whole person approach that can support you to guide your nervous system back to safety.
-
MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy (graduated with Distinction)
BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy
Certified Breathwork & Pranayama Teacher
Certified Yoga Teacher
-
I am a fully qualified healthcare and mental health professional, registered with the following organisations and bound to their ethical frameworks:
-
I am trained in the following approaches and use a combination of them to provide therapy that is tailored to your individual needs:
Person Centred Therapy: The foundation of my work, offering empathic understanding, acceptance and a space where you can feel unconditionally valued.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): An acupressure-based somatic therapy technique that gently reduces the impact of past trauma and increases wellbeing.
Integrated Eye Movement Technique (IEMT): An eye movement therapy (similar in scope to EMDR) that helps to release the emotional weight of past trauma so you can move forwards with your life.
Breathwork therapy: Using breathwork techniques that I tailor to your unique needs and breathing pattern, to help to calm your nervous system and reduce anxiety, panic, anger or stress.
-
My Journey: Where the Body Meets the Mind
I spent over 20 years as a Chartered Physiotherapist in the NHS, eventually serving as the Team Lead Physiotherapist for the Asthma and Airways service at the North West Lung Service.
In that role, I specialised in treating breathing pattern disorders like hyperventilation. I noticed a pattern: when we changed how a person breathed, their anxiety or panic attacks would often reduce.
This deep connection between physiology and emotion changed how I view healing. It became clear to me that we cannot heal the mind without involving the body.
Today, I bring this specialised clinical background into my virtual Somatic Therapy practice. Over the course of 5,000+ client hours, I have developed an integrated approach to emotional wellbeing that combines:
Counselling to process and integrate your experiences.
Clinical Breathwork to regulate your nervous system.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) & Integrated Eye Movement Techniques (IEMT) to release trapped emotional stress and trauma.
When you work with me, I offer you two decades of clinical experience combined with deep somatic healing.
My Approach
A space to feel truly heard, accepted and understood.
Just as a plant begins to thrive when it's provided with good soil, enough water and sunlight, the conditions I offer in therapy provide the foundations for helpful change.
At the heart of my approach is a deep belief in the importance of feeling truly heard, accepted and understood. I offer a space that is warm, gentle and free from judgement, where you can explore even the most difficult feelings with safety and compassion.
My approach is soft and supportive, but it is also powerful.
I bring together a range of powerful, evidence-based tools that work with both mind and body, tailored to you and your unique journey. Working at a pace that is right for you. Always in your control.
I am here to empower you. To help you find relief from suffering, reconnect with yourself, and build a life that truly nourishes you.
Inhale
Exhale
Inhale Exhale
Why my experience can support your recovery:
Over 5,000 Client Hours: As a dedicated counsellor and somatic therapist, I have spent thousands of hours guiding individuals through trauma recovery, helping them to reduce anxiety, panic, anger, stress and/or chronic nervous system shutdown.
20+ Years as an NHS Healthcare Professional: My approach is rooted in the experience that I gained when working for the National Health Service, providing compassionate therapy that is grounded in physiology.
15+ Years as a Specialist Respiratory Physiotherapist: I have spent over a decade and a half helping individuals to improve the way that they breathe. My ability to assess how you are breathing and its potential impact on your nervous system, means that I can empower you to make positive changes which can help to shift the physical stress response at a nervous system level. Clients tell me that this has helped them to reduce anxiety, calm anger, stop (or reduce) panic attacks and increase calm and wellbeing.
Kind words from clients
-
“Nicola’s approach felt natural and right and I always felt safe and encouraged.”
-
“Through having this therapy, my anxiety has significantly lessened. Nicola was incredibly empathetic and intuitive, making me feel completely understood."
-
“It has made a tremendous difference to me, to be able to talk to and have therapy with Nicola. She has the combination of deep awareness, spiritual depth and a wide range of “tools” which makes her a very professional and loving therapist."
If this feels like the right fit, I would love to hear from you.
A free 20 minute consultation is the perfect place to start.