The FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework is a flexible, gentle and powerful framework for working with trauma, AuDHD and ADHD See how it works in practice through several podcast episodes and my monthly Platinum column

This unique, fully embodied (somatic, energetic and neuro-affirming) and transpersonal approach to Self* and self-care, self love and collective care comprises decades of my professional and lived experience of trauma recovery and navigating my only recently (in 2024) diagnosed ADHD and (2025 AuDHD) in hopes that you’re able to help yourself and accept support from others much sooner than I managed.

The FEEL. (take better care of yourself and your Self) LOVE. (create a life you don’t need to retreat from) HEAL. (alchemise hurt and help build a world where everyone – including you – feels safe, welcome and loved) framework evolved to meet you wherever you are in any given moment.

You can read more about my FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework and Polyvagal Purrs approach in this article about my late ADHD diagnosis in the Irish Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy (IJCP) Winter 2025 edition on ADHD and therapy (which I edited as my last issue as Editor-in-Chief).

Whatever your background or gender, befriend your ADHD or AuDHD brain and heal from trauma. This includes what some describe as Big T and little t traumas (but which your nervous system doesn’t differentiate around), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex (or developmental) PTSD (CPTSD), sexual assault (SA) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) with Self and self-care practices, self love and collective care.

The FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework evolved over 21 years of professional practice and underpins all of my work. I’d not intended to create my own model or framework. But when I was reapplying for BACP Senior Accreditation (I had earned it in 2019, but the ScopEd changes meant reapplying in order to remain Senior Accredited v just Supervisor and Counsellor Accredited), describing the unusual ways in which I work made me want to share the integration of several modalities, approaches and ways of working in a way that can help people take better care of themselves.

To stop using self-care (as I implored people to stop doing in the introduction to the book when I was writing it back in 2016) a stick to beat themselves up with. It accounts for different moods, energy levels, needs and so much more.

FEEL. LOVE. HEAL.

FEEL. (self-care) Take better care of yourself. When you have the bandwidth, motivation and energy, learn to track, follow and honour and life force (prana, charge, chi etc) and body’s wisdom, regulate your nervous system. Do the things that help you feel better. Experiment with self-care practices and rituals to support your whole Self.

LOVE. (Self care) Create a life you don’t need to retreat from. Overwhelmed? Struggling? Let yourself be when life feels tough. There’s no need to constantly improve yourself. Remember you DO know how rest and relax when you let yourself do it your way. Give yourself the time and space to connect with your Self. To accept, be kinder to and even love yourself. Warts and all. Peace is within you already and you don’t need to do a thing to deserve it.

HEAL. (collective care) Help build a world where everyone (including you) feels safe, welcome, loved and able to thrive. Collective care, co-regulation, is how we heal (when you feel empowered and ready. Let yourself be for as long as you need. There’s no need to rush to potential post traumatic growth). Transform what hurts your heart into action. Help heal yourself, your communities, and the world. Alchemise that pain, trauma and all you’ve survived and harvest it to not only help heal yourself but to support your communities and the world and to receive help and support yourself.

Read some of my advice columns for Platinum where, each month, I answer readers’ questions using the FEEL. LOVE. HEAL. framework