Hayley Stevens
Accredited Body Psychotherapist (UKCP, EABP, IABP)
Kerry, Ireland | Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK | Online Sessions
I accompany people navigating trauma, disconnection, and the search for aliveness.
People often find their way to me through experiences of trauma. Some arrive with a clear story — a shock, a loss, an experience that changed everything. Others have no clear story at all, only a life that feels narrow or constricted. A restless, unsettled body. A persistent sense that something vital is missing.
That “something” is what I think of as the creative life force — when this energy flows freely, it allows us to feel fully alive. Trauma, in its many forms, can interrupt that flow. This might show up as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, fatigue, difficulties with intimacy, questions of identity and meaning, long-term illness, or the quiet grief of a life not yet fully lived.
My approach
My approach is somatic, which means I work with the body as well as the mind. We follow what's present: breath, sensation, movement, and the impulses that have been waiting to be heard. Rather than trying to manage or override the nervous system, we begin by meeting it.
The body knows things the mind hasn't caught up with yet. At the core of every person is an intrinsically healthy self — not broken or in need of fixing, but sometimes disconnected from aliveness.
When the conditions for listening are in place, something begins to shift. The breath deepens. The body softens. What felt stuck starts, gradually, to move. Change becomes less of an effort and more of a homecoming.
Working together
My practice is grounded in deep listening and collaborative exploration. Sessions might include conversation, breath work, movement, visualisation, bioenergetic exercises, or body-based therapies such as biodynamic massage, craniosacral work, or EMDR. There is no fixed formula — only an ongoing curiosity about what wants to emerge.
Professional training
I came to this practice through my own searching — a process that continues to unfold. Movement, breath, creative self-expression, and the felt sense of being embodied became my teachers. As my understanding deepened, I sought out formal training that could support this learning: including Integrative Psychotherapy with Metanoia, Body Psychotherapy at the Cambridge Body Psychotherapy Centre, and subsequently in Somatic Trauma Therapy with Babette Rothschild, EMDR, and Guided Drawing for Healing Trauma.
Professional accreditations
I've been in independent practice as a psychotherapist since 2006 and am accredited by the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy), EABP (European Association for Body Psychotherapy), and IABP (Irish Association for Body Psychotherapy), maintaining professional accreditation in Ireland, the UK, and Europe. I’m trained in therapeutic touch, including biodynamic massage and biodynamic craniosacral therapy, and have completed a four-year teacher training in Elemental Chi Kung.
Locations
I work in-person in Kerry (Ireland) and Macclesfield (UK), as well as online.
Areas of Practice
