Who is Angela, anyway?!

Hello, and welcome to my website, and first blog post. My name is Angela and I’m a holistic therapist, but this wasn’t always the case. For many years my official job title was “beauty therapist”, or even “UK Electrotherapy Trainer”! But holistics were always part of my life, and I knew it was the path I was always meant to take…So who am I, how did I get here, and why should you trust me with your body?

So a little about me…I’m 43, and I first started training in massage in 2003, which means I currently have 23 years massage treatment experience under my belt (And a full 25 years experience in Reflexology & Reiki!); a fact I am truly proud of. I’ve lived in Worthing all my life, I‘m definitely a home-bird at heart, and I’m happiest surrounded by my family. My personality type is INFJ, which means I‘m an introvert who follows her heart & gut feelings, rather than thinking things through!! I love coffee, yoga, cats, and an early night!! I‘m a mum to 8 year old twins who were conceived via IVF after a 4 year infertility struggle, and my lovely husband departed this world almost 7 years ago now.

I’ve definitely had more than my share of dark times and struggles, and I chose to come out the other side and live my life the best way I know how; by helping other people! But where did it all begin?

I trained in Reflexology first, at the age of 18, after divine inspiration…by which I mean I stumbled upon a local reflexology school in the Yellow Pages (It was the year 2000 and the Yellow Pages was very much still a thing back then!), and I just “knew” it was what I needed to do with my life. I was just finishing up my A-Levels, and my parents thought I was nuts. I’d never even experienced a treatment!! My gran tried to convince me not to waste my money, but I was determined and I didn’t really know why! And that year long reflexology qualification changed my life. It opened me up to a world of energy work, working with intention, with people, and helping to change the way people felt…and it was wonderful!

As I’ve learned over the years, when we are on the right path things will happen for us without us needing to try, and Reiki came into my life around this time, purely by coincidence. A friend of mine was working at Boots, with another girl whose mum was a reiki master. She organised a taster evening, where we learned a little about it, and received a mini treatment. I was amazed at the power of Reiki, and saw my third eye chakra during the session…needless to say I was completely hooked!

I was only 19 at the time and had none of the people skills or business skills I needed to build up a clientele, and work for myself…plus, the internet was in its infancy (God that makes me sound so old!!). Every enquiry I did get asked about massage, or pedicures, or nail painting…so following the signs I was being given, I enrolled on a beauty therapy & massage course. The more I learned, the more I enjoyed it, and I found a job in a brand new beauty salon in Worthing town centre In 2004. I offered reflexology and massage alongside other beauty treatments, and progressed to salon manager in my first year. Remember that bit about things coming our way easily when we are on the right path?! Its true!

I had a great career as a beauty therapist; I worked in a couple of local salons, in a spa, and ran my own mobile beauty business too, all the while offering massage and holistic treatments to my clients. I also worked as the UK trainer for a company who made electrical facial machines…I travelled all around the UK training therapists, and beauty lecturers in advanced electrical facial and body treatments. Sounds more glamorous than it was, and I suffered a mental breakdown towards the end…the constant travelling, and the stress of being the only person in the company (and the country!) doing my job meant that I had nobody to take over should I need time off…and I was about to undergo my first round of IVF, which was stressful enough in itself!

I went back to salon work around this time as it was far less stressful but the pull of holistic work was getting stronger again. During this time I fell pregnant with my twins on our 3rd IVF attempt, and my husband suffered a cardiac arrest 4 days later. He was left with a severe brain injury, and spent my entire pregnancy and the twins first few months in hospital and various neuro rehabilitation centres.

I took over the salon as a co-owner with a colleague of mine, coming off maternity leave early to do so…I’ve never been scared of a challenge, or hard work!! Kala Beauty was my third baby, and I loved being captain of my own ship, but I realised quite quickly that I was falling out of love with beauty and the superficial nature of it all...I craved deep conversations with people about their lives, their bodies, their struggles and trauma…and I wanted to help. 15 or 30 minute beauty appointments just weren’t enough for me, and the epic struggle to find qualified staff and running a close contact business after the COVID19 pandemic (plus the death of my husband), made me re-evaluate my life…and ultimately meant I made the decision to close the salon in 2022, and train in Hypnotherapy, which I’d wanted to do for about 10 years.

It’s amazing how it takes huge life events to shake us up and make us change our lives. I‘m now salon-free, and there’s much less stress in my life!! Meaning I’m in a much better place to offer a stress-free environment to my clients.

Having the life experiences I’ve had means I come from a place of understanding and non-judgement; I’m also empathetic in nature, and will always strive to do my best to help in whatever way I can. Sometimes that’s tailoring your session to suit your needs on the day, and sometimes thats signposting you to someone else who can help you better than I can.

Holistic therapy has always been a part of my life, ever since that fateful day flicking through the Yellow Pages…! And that will never change.