From Ultra Running to the Therapy Room: Why I Help People Navigate Life’s Extremes

I’ve always been drawn to the edges of things and at the moment in my life that looks like long distances and often big questions. The places where things get uncomfortable and uncertain, but also honest.

Ultra running gave me one way into that space. The therapy room gave me another. On the surface, they might look worlds apart, but for me, they’ve always felt deeply connected. Both ask something similar: How do you stay with yourself when things get hard? And what happens when you do?

My work today sits at the intersection of endurance sport, coaching and counselling. I support people as an ultra runner, an online fitness coach and a counsellor - not because I believe in doing everything at once, but because I believe the body and mind are never separate. We carry our stories everywhere we go.

Becoming an Ultra Runner and Coach

I didn’t come to ultra running because it was trendy or glamorous. I was drawn to the quiet challenge of it, the long hours, the uncertainty, the requirement to listen closely to your body and mind. Training for ultras teaches you patience. It teaches you how to sit with discomfort without panicking (well, maybe still a little panicking), how to adapt when things don’t go to plan, and how to keep moving forward without forcing. Over time, those lessons naturally shaped how I coached others. Working as a group exercise instructor in the UK, and later as an online personal trainer, marathon running coach, and trail running coach, I saw the same themes appear again and again. People weren’t just struggling with pacing or training plans. They were struggling with doubt, pressure, comparison and the fear of not being “enough”. Coaching taught me that resilience isn’t about toughness. It’s about awareness, flexibility and trust.

Strength, Movement and Coaching Online

Alongside running, strength training became a core part of my work. Supporting runners through online fitness coaching, as an online personal trainer and online fitness coach, showed me how powerful movement can be when it’s approached with curiosity rather than punishment.

Strength training isn’t just about performance. It’s about confidence, connection to the body, and learning to take up space. For many people, moving their body differently becomes the first step in rebuilding self-trust.

As an online fitness coach, I’ve worked with people navigating injury, burnout, body image struggles and major life transitions. Again and again, I saw that physical change was closely tied to emotional safety.

Why I Chose the Therapy Room

Alongside coaching, I’ve always been deeply curious about people’s inner worlds, their stories, the patterns they carry, the quiet questions they don’t always feel able to ask out loud.

Training in integrative counselling and psychodynamic counselling felt like a natural next step. I wanted to create spaces where people could slow down, feel seen, and make sense of what they’ve lived through, not just cope with it and dare I say it, try and run away from it (yes, pun intended). Today, I work in teenager counselling and adult counselling, offering online counselling. Therapy, for me, isn’t about fixing anyone. It’s about understanding how past experiences shape present reactions, and how compassion can create real change.

Trauma-Informed Work and Healing

Trauma shows up in many forms. In athletes. In everyday life. In moments that overwhelm the nervous system or quietly accumulate over time. My work is trauma-informed because safety matters. Healing isn’t about pushing harder or revisiting pain before someone is ready. It’s about pacing, choice and presence. In many ways, trauma recovery mirrors endurance sport. Progress is rarely linear; what matters is learning to stay with yourself gently, rather than abandoning yourself when things feel difficult. Supporting people through trauma counselling has reinforced my belief that patience and compassion are not weaknesses, they’re skills.

Neurodiversity and Seeing Difference as Strength

I also bring lived experience as an AuDHD woman to this work. For a long time, I tried to fit myself into systems that weren’t designed for how my brain works. It was exhausting. Now, I support clients through ADHD counselling and neurodivergent counselling, working with adults who are navigating identity, work, relationships and self-understanding later in life. Many have spent years masking or feeling “out of step”. Creating inclusive spaces; in sport, in therapy, and in everyday life matters deeply to me. Neurodivergence isn’t something to fix, no one is ‘broken’, It’s something to understand, support and work with.

Working with Athletes Under Pressure

A large part of my work now sits with athletes and high performers. People who are capable, driven and outwardly successful, but carrying a lot internally. Through sports counselling and as one of the therapists for athletes, I support people navigating performance pressure, injury, identity loss, RED-S, eating difficulties and burnout. The same mindset that drives success can sometimes make it harder to ask for help. Blending coaching and counselling allows me to support both the human and the athlete, without separating the two. Whilst working as part of multidisciplinary teams to ensure the athlete as a whole is considered.

Speaking and Opening Conversations

Alongside one-to-one work, I also speak publicly as a mental health speaker and resilience speaker. I deliver talks on neurodiversity, RED-S, eating disorders in sport, identity and performance.

Speaking allows me to bring lived experience into spaces where these conversations are often avoided. My goal isn’t to inspire through extremes, but to normalise struggle and open up more honest dialogue.

Why I Blend Coaching and Counselling

I don’t believe the body and mind can be separated. Coaching builds strength, confidence and agency. Counselling builds insight, emotional safety and self-understanding. Together, they support whole-person change, especially for people navigating ambition, pressure and big transitions. My work isn’t about choosing between performance and wellbeing. It’s about helping people hold both.

Who I Love Working With

I love working with people at turning points. Athletes and high achievers. Neurodivergent teenagers and adults. People who feel stuck, overwhelmed or quietly questioning their path. Often, we don’t always need ‘more’, we need space. Space to reflect, to reconnect, and to decide how they want to move forward.

Life will always have its extremes. Long climbs. Uncertain paths. Moments when you question everything. Whether through running, coaching or counselling, my work is about walking alongside people as they find strength, clarity and compassion in their own story.

If you’re navigating your own edge, I’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch to explore coaching, counselling or speaking with Mind & Miles.