Katherine Connolly

Speaker. Teacher. Illuminator

I see what often gets missed.

The moment a parent disconnects from themselves while trying to stay connected to their child
The child who has become so skilled at reading everyone else that they no longer know what they feel
How family systems organize around survival patterns, that lead to chronic overwhelm & self-abandonment
The quiet survival patterns that look like anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, people-pleasing, or being "good" ... but are actually something much deeper
Beneath many of these struggles, is the same question:
What happens when sense of safety or connection requires disconnection from yourself?

Sensitive people don't struggle because they feel too much.

They struggle because they learned to feel everyone else, before themselves.

Many sensitive and neurodivergent children grow up believing that belonging depends on overriding their own needs, instincts, and boundaries. They become experts at adapting, at performing, at masking.

Their nervous system, doing what it could to feel safe, learned that self-abandonment protected them. Those Adaptive Masking™ patterns become the invisible blueprint beneath anxiety, burnout, people-pleasing, perfectionism, chronic overwhelm, and the subtle feeling of never fully being yourself.

I help sensitive and neurodivergent children, adults, and families unwind those survival patterns. I do this by helping them to remember who they were, before they learned to disconnect from themselves.

When the nervous system experiences capacity and safety, it naturally expands. Parents stop living in constant vigilance. Children stop carrying burdens that were never theirs. Clients begin coming home to themselves - their gloWithin™.

While many see Somatic work as healing, I feel strongly about proactively empowering sensitive and Neurodivergent children, who are prone to overriding themselves. This is foundational for optimal physical, cognitive, social-emotional development, and their safety.

I help clients create supportive environments to honour their strengths and gifts, while offering holistic and neuro-affirming support to help them navigate challenges and create meaningful change.

Every time a parent reconnects with themselves, they change the environment their child grows inside. This is where intergenerational change begins.

Children should not have to abandon themselves to feel safe and loved. And neither should you.

My work brings together:

• Nervous system practices

• Somatic Therapy

• Attachment

• Developmental neuroscience

• Sensorimotor integration

• Neuro-affirming practice

• Subconscious survival patterns

But techniques are only part of the story.

What people often tell me is different.

"You saw something no one else had ever noticed."

That is the work I care most about:

Helping people see themselves with clarity and compassion.

Join me in my mission to foster a world where children grow confident

in their bodies, voices, and gifts so they can gloWithin™

This also goes for the inner-child within you.

This work is personal for me.

As an AuDHD mother, who was raised in and is raising a ND family, I understand this experience intimately.

My wise mother gave me the gift of breathwork and meditation at a young age, which she learned from my Nana (paternal Grandma). Around 7, I began exploring my Gran's (maternal Grandma) yoga books and discovered I could use movement to help release emotion or sensation - the basis of Somatic work.

Having these tools from a young age, combined with my curiosity for quantum physics and the metaphysical, fostered my resilience. Interestingly, Schrödinger (pioneer in quantum theory) took in my incredible maternal grandfather as a refugee from Austria at the beginning of WWII - and my Pop illustrated many of his texts while pursuing his engineering degree!

Despite the tools and support I had, I experienced what happens when the body no longer feels like a safe place to be. This took the form of 15 years of eating disorders from the age of 10, subsequent burnouts, and other challenges. After a NDE at 22 and a fling with the business world, my personal and professional path reconnected me to my childhood vision of helping others live lives of greater peace, love, and joy.

Since 2011, I have supported individuals and families through body-based, relational, and nervous system-centered work. When I'm not working, you will find me deep in creative pursuits, at the beach, in the forest, or on the mountains with my family.

I look forward to connecting with you on this journey!

🌺 Katherine (Katie)

What is Somatic Work?

Somatic work is body-based healing that helps people reconnect with their physiological sensations, emotions, and patterns living beneath their thoughts and behaviours. This is especially important for sensitive and neurodivergent individuals who have spent years overriding their needs, emotions, boundaries, or internal signals in order to adapt, cope, or stay connected.

Over time, this disconnection can become so automatic that people no longer recognize what their body has been communicating underneath the surface. My work helps restore that connection safely, by helping the nervous system develop enough safety and capacity to remain connected to self under stress.

My approach as a Somatic Counsellor

I integrate somatic, nervous system work into everything I do, including counselling, craniosacral therapy, courses and more. We also often weave in creative aspects and others listed under modalities. This combination helps clients to understand:

What their body is communicating

How survival patterns shape reactions and relationships

Where these patterns originate in order to offer the opportunity for change

How to reconnect with and honour themselves, resulting in greater ease & alignment in their lives

How I practice differs depending on the client, their age, their learning and sensing type, and what modalities feel supportive for them. Ultimately my purpose is to guide you back into connection with your body, so you can experience greater health, peace, love, joy, and gloWithin™!

Why I become a Somatic Coach & Counsellor

As a highly sensitive AuDHD child, somatic practices like breath, movement, meditation, and creativity became part of how I learned to reconnect with myself early in life. Later, after experiencing burnout, trauma, a NDE, and postpartum depression, this work became the foundation of my own healing. It also shapes how I support others with depth, compassion, deep nervous system understanding, and respect for each person’s unique experience and development.

Who I support

I work with sensitive and neurodivergent individuals, parents, children, educators, and families seeking deeper nervous system safety, emotional coherence, developmental support, and authentic connection.

Specialties

Highly sensitive & neurodiverse souls - ADHD, Autism, PDA & SPD assessment (not diagnosis)

Supporting individuals & couples through the prenatal & postnatal experience

Empowering parents in supporting their sensitive & neurodiverse children

Developing self awareness, interoception & internal biofeedback

Anxiety, overwhelm, burnout, depression & sleep concerns

Comprehending near death & out of body experiences

Perfection, procrastination, body image & eating

Body autonomy & creating healthy boundaries

Attachment, parentification & intimacy

Intergenerational patterns

Chronic pain patterns

Modalities

While I offer a variety of holistic modalities, the choice is completely up to my clients. By holistic I mean exploring our internal & external environments, including physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and energetic or spiritual. To put this into scientific terms we call it neurodevelopmental, sensorimotor (somatic), trauma-informed, systems & strength-based.

Narrative Therapy and Dynamic Narrative Exposure Therapy™

Somatic Therapy & nervous system understanding

Holistic Developmental Integration Therapy©

Internal Family Systems & Parts Therapy

Bilateral art & sound practices

Yoga and somatic movement

Solutions Focused Therapy

Art & Expressive therapies

Meditation & mindfulness

Safe & Sound Protocol

Neuroaffective Touch®

Play Therapy