Meet Bean
Perimenopause Doula, DipION, mBANT, CNHC, IFMCP-UK
Hello, I’m Bean
I’m 44, and a mother of two, living in Bruton, Somerset with my children, my fabulous architect husband (I am 5’2” and he is 6’5”!), dog and cat.
I love chocolate - I almost trained to be a chocolatier - and I love walking and being by the sea in Cornwall, and lying like a lizard under the sun then slipping into some water to cool off, preferably in the Mediterranean. I love listening to hip hop, the Stones, Bowie, Bob Marley, funk, cheesy 80’s and 90’s. I love collecting (and reading) books, crystals, and I could spend a ton of money on skincare and clothes. I have a soft spot for sustainable fashion; fast fashion isn't for me, so I seek out second-hand or sustainably-made pieces from small brands.
As a trained chef, cooking was a true passion of mine. While lockdown and catering to fussy children may have dimmed that joy, it’s a part of me I’ll always cherish. My love for food and travel has taken me to incredible places like Morocco, Egypt, Southeast Asia, and India (which is where I caught Giardia which messed with my digestion for years!).
What I Do
I combine the grounded, evidence-based practice of nutritional therapy with the metaphysical and spiritual, helping women find stability, a clear plan, and practical tools to support them through perimenopause. My approach ensures that you can feel energized, thriving, and positive about the changes happening in your body. Perimenopause is a significant transition, but it doesn’t have to be a negative one. I want you to know that it can bring about positive transformation and new opportunities for growth.
I’m passionate about helping women understand their bodies—enabling them to navigate the shifts in mood, energy, and desires as they relate to diet, lifestyle, and overall well-being. My goal is to empower you to feel in control of your body and perimenopause, guiding you to a deeper level of authenticity, alignment, and a profound sense of freedom and potential.
Having experienced perimenopause alongside my clients, I’ve undergone my own metamorphosis over the last two years, which has deeply influenced how I work.
A Shift in My Work
In my practice, I often hear clients talk about past stressful or traumatic experiences, whether from childhood or later in life. These experiences leave imprints on the nervous system, influencing overall health. I observed how patterns like people-pleasing—which I’ve struggled with myself—drain the already-exhausted women who seek my help.
Without self-confidence and a sense of worth, many clients found it hard to prioritize themselves enough to make the necessary positive changes. I realized that I wasn’t fully reaching the deeper aspects of my clients’ needs, and my work began to feel hollow as a result.
My Personal Transformation
At the same time, I was dealing with my own struggles with low self-esteem and social anxiety. Despite receiving great feedback from clients and colleagues, I often felt small and unworthy. It wasn’t until I tried hypnotherapy and other healing modalities that I started to see tangible improvements in my mental health.
The connection between my mental and physical health was undeniable. As my mental health improved, so did my physical health—a link that is well-documented in studies and traditional practices like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Ignoring the mind-body connection can have serious consequences, and I began to see this reflected in my clients as well.
Embracing the Mystical
As I addressed my personal challenges, I also felt a pull toward exploring more mystical practices like astrology, Human Design, spirituality, energy healing, and oracle cards. These practices offered a welcome balance to the structured, masculine energy of Functional Medicine. Delving into the mystical has not only been fun but has also deepened my understanding of the changes we experience during perimenopause, especially how they relate to emotional and spiritual health.
Expanding My Toolkit
I knew I needed new tools to help my clients achieve the best possible results—tools that address the psychological, emotional, and spiritual patterns affecting their health. Since early 2023, I’ve been training in Human Design, completed a 12-month certification in Archetypal Alchemy (a system that integrates behavioral archetypes, the chakra system, and the metaphysics of health), and qualified in Integrative Hypnotherapy under the guidance of the incredible Melissa Tiers.
Nutritional Therapy
I am a qualified and registered Nutritional Therapist with a diploma from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION) in London. My practice is informed by the Functional Medicine approach (see below), an evidence-based, personalised, and holistic methodology that acknowledges the interconnectedness of all bodily systems and seeks to find the root cause(s).
While nutritional therapy has been an important part of my journey, it's now one piece of a much broader offering. I still keep up with the latest science through regular continued professional development (CPD)—I’m always learning and refining—but nutrition plays a more supportive role in my work now.
Nutritional therapy goes beyond assessing your diet. It involves understanding your case history, physical symptoms, family health history, lifestyle, and lab testing (such as blood, stool, urine, or DNA tests) to uncover imbalances in the body. This can be incredibly effective, particularly for addressing chronic health concerns, but I’ve come to realize that the potential for transformation is even greater when nutrition is combined with other healing modalities.
That’s why I’ve expanded my practice to include Integrative Hypnotherapy, Archetypal Alchemy, Human Design, and my growing intuition. Together, these tools offer a more comprehensive and transformative approach than nutrition alone ever could. While nutrition still plays an important role, now it's a smaller part of a much bigger picture that can lead to deeper healing.
I’m excited to see how this holistic approach can benefit you on your journey.
What is functional medicine?
Functional Medicine emphasises a definable and teachable process of integrating multiple knowledge bases within a pragmatic intellectual matrix that focuses on functionality at many levels; rather than a single treatment for a single diagnosis. Functional medicine uses the patient’s story as a key tool for integrating diagnosis, signs and symptoms, and evidence of clinical imbalances into a comprehensive approach to improve both the patient’s environmental inputs and his or her physiological function.
The Institute for Functional Medicine teaches health care professionals how to apply these principles in practice through an intensive 5-day training course called Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice.
I attended and completed the AFMCP-UK training in London in 2018.
