Katie Connolly
Speaker. Teacher. Healer
Welcome to gloWithin!
I am a Somatic Coach and Parenting Coach, offering Craniosacral and Clinical Therapy. I draw upon my strong knowledge of the body, the nervous system, and trauma sensitive approaches, bridging science and intuition. I love working with my clients of all ages to connect with and honour all aspects of themselves, so they may experience greater peace, love and joy! I believe we are whole beings with innate gifts that we often forget about through our life experiences... and sometimes we just need the guidance of someone else who can see our light to remind us. Seeking support is a courageous way of honouring our growth, to reconnect with these innate gifts so we can share our light - our gloWithin.
As an Expert Registered Yoga Teacher, Craniosacral & Somatic Practitioner, and Masters of Counselling Candidate, I bring a holistic approach to all I do, and honour this within all my clients. With a passion for supporting highly sensitive & neurodiverse families, I founded a Yoga Alliance Registered Children's Yoga School and am the recipient of the Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold for my Children's Yoga Cards.
What do I do as a Somatic Coach?
As a Somatic Coach I help you to release patterns and tune into your body wisdom, to find greater peace and alignment so you can live your life to the fullest! I understand this may not always be easy, trust me.
As a highly sensitive person, I was very attuned as a child was given the gift of breathwork and meditation as a child, but going through significant challenges I started to become disconnected from my body around the age of 10. This presented as anxiety and body dysmorphia. In my early twenties I booked it when it was time for savasana in yoga classes. I share this, because it is a very common experience in our society. I could not be still or present with myself and literally and figuratively ran from my emotional pain until I had a Near Death Experience at 21, at work, when I made a choice to come back into my body. This experience helped me reconnect with my meditation practice and body wisdom, slowly.
This is an extreme way to heal, but we all have our own unique journey and I would be honoured to support you in your growth!
How can I help you as a somatic coach?
Understanding some of the challenges in connecting with our bodies and integration, I offer a unique approach as a somatic coach, drawing upon my Craniosacral, Yoga, and Counselling background. This approach is unique to you, drawing upon arts, sound, movement, and other clinical counselling models.
Who do I work with in my somatic practice?
I support clients of all ages, to create more aligned, joyful living! This includes addressing; overwhelm, burnout, healing intergenerational patterns and much more as you can see below. I do so in a very holistic manner, considering the systems in which we exist and those within ourselves, exploring root concerns and helping you to create more supportive systems for your needs, or your child.
What modalities do I draw upon in my counselling practice?
I draw upon Narrative, Dynamic Narrative Exposure Therapy™, Internal Family Systems, Somatic and Play Therapy and other modalities that we together determine would best support your needs, or your child's. The elements I incorporate are experiential, nourish the nervous system, and bring unconscious patterns to conscious awareness in order to create greater alignment with your vision of happiness. I draw on Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) and other practices to gently nourish the nervous system, increasing your window of tolerance via the craniosacral nerve innervating the ear, which we use in combination with Biofeedback to support you in tuning into your current state to enhance coherence or alignment between physical, emotional, cognitive, and energetic bodies.
How do I support Highly Sensitive & Neurodiverse Individuals & Families?
Many parents struggle with the overwhelm of to-dos, their child's big emotions, feeling helpless not being able to support their child as they hoped to, and seek support from all over, only leading to further overwhelm. I believe our children chose us to be their guides here on Earth, and we are here to learn together... which is not always easy. Regardless if you believe this or not, your child needs you which means you need support for your wellbeing so you can be the calm, confident parent you want to be. I support you and your family in nourishing your family nervous system, exploring patterns, and creating supportive environments, conducive for sustained change and harmonious connection to honour each other's light.
I have been supporting families and educators with Somatic and trauma-informed practices since 2011, and look forward to connecting with you!
Specialties
Developing self awareness & neuroception for intuition & resilience
Highly sensitive & neurodiverse clients - ADHD, Autism, ODD, OCD
Empowering parents in supporting their HS/ ND child(ren)
Anxiety, overwhelm, burnout, depression & sleep patterns
Comprehending near death & out of body experiences
Perfection, procrastination, body image & eating
Body autonomy & creating healthy boundaries
Attachment, parentification & intimacy
Releasing intergenerational patterns
Finding your voice & self-expression
Tapping into your full potential
Chronic pain patterns
Modalities
While I offer a variety of modalities, the choice is completely up to my clients:
Narrative Therapy and Dynamic Narrative Exposure Therapy™
Internal Family Systems
5 Factor Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Solutions Focused Therapy
Craniosacral & Somatic Experiencing
Breathwork
Safe & Sound Protocol
Biofeedback
Meditation & mindfulness
Bilateral art & sound practices
Art Therapy
Play Therapy
Neuroaffective Touch®
Braindance™
My qualifications
Masters of Arts Counselling Psychology (MACP)
Bachelor of Business (UBC)
Certificate in Adult Learning (U Calgary)
Expert Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-500)
Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher (RPYT)
Registered Children's Yoga Teacher (RCYT)
Registered Children's Yoga School (RCYS)
Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP)
Craniosacral Therapy, Infants + Children (Visionary Healing)
Craniosacral Therapy Level 4 (Visionary Healing)
PESI Trauma & Memory Course: Somatic Experiencing® Skills
Certified Safe + Sound Protocol (SSP) Provider
Dynamic Narrative Exposure Therapy™ Provider
NeuroAffective Touch® Provider
Art Therapy Practitioner
Chronic Shame in Clinical Practice: An Embodied Relational Perspective
Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient
Braindance™ Instructor
How can we work together?
See below! I offer support through 1:1 sessions virtually and in-person, group. I also offer many resources for you to explore at your own pace, to include; courses on the gloWithin App, Children's Yoga Cards, and my 5 Minutes to Mindful Parenting Book. I also lead yoga trainings, and speak for various organizations. To get to the most supportive resources for you, see below.
Your Journey to gloWithin Begins Here!
Whether you are looking for 1 to 1 somatic therapy or are seeking online parenting courses, Katie offers a variety of ways to support you in your wellness and growth. Explore virtual and somatic therapy in Vancouver, a range of holistic online courses to support individuals in their personal growth, and resources to empower parents in raising sensitive and neurodiverse children. Katie is an Expert Registered Yoga Teacher, Counselling, Craniosacral & Somatic Therapist, and empowers her clients with a holistic approach.
What Katie shared with me after was all absolutely true, and a helpful take away I can work with. I am still feeling shifting happening in my body the day after. I would highly recommend Katie to be part of your healing journey.
VIRGINIA
Katie creates an atmosphere allowing for anything that comes up to be felt.
CAROLIN
Katie delivers an amazing amount of care and healing energy into her practice. I truly feel that my session with Katie helped put me on the path to healing and feeling more like myself. I highly recommend and value Katie’s practice.
ALINA
About Katie, Somatic Parenting Coach
I was given the gift of breathwork and meditation as a child by my Mother, and discovered somatic tools to move through emotions. As a highly sensitive person prone to ADHD tendencies, having these tools from a young age helped me to be resilient and stay aligned with my intuition. I have always a strong spiritual practice and understand this through quantum physics or energy. Coincidentally my incredible maternal grandfather was taken in by Schrödinger (developed fundamental of quantum theory) as a refugee from Austria, and illustrated many of his books while pursuing his engineering degree.
Children are predominantly in a Theta brainwave state, here and deeply connected to the energetic world. As a child I went out of body often (experimenting) and at 21 I had a life-changing near death experience, opening the door to healing from 11 years of body dysmorphia and other experiences. Perhaps now you can see why I am so passionate about supporting highly sensitive and neurodiverse families with simple tools to nourish their nervous system, to help them continue to shine their light.
As a teen I recognized our lifestyles were not conducive to thriving families, which inspired me to create Studio 202, a healing community space in North Vancouver. In 2020 I closed this space due to world events and as it was the source of my postpartum anxiety with my eldest. After completing a challenging contract as an Executive Director (which led to a third burnout), I realized I needed to focus on my passions again and brought my offerings online.
Miraculously we had our youngest during this time but do to lack of sleep for a year, I struggled with a very humbling postpartum depression. For a few months all I could do was meditate. This is what prompted me to pursue my Masters in Counselling, 12 years after first considering it.
I am telling you this because while our situations are unique, with connection and the right support we can heal and create greater alignment in our lives for peace within, and lead our children by example. As a society, we have largely been taught to over-ride our intuition, experienced trauma disconnecting us from this innate gift, or we simply struggle to connect with our body wisdom due to the many daily demands. I believe this is in part why we are seeing such high rates of anxiety, depression, and burn out.
Children are naturally connected to their intuition, and as conscious parents we strive to honour this as we guide them on their journey… but are we honouring this in ourselves?
I believe as parents that we know what is right for our child and try our best each and every day. I also understand the challenges and gifts of being a Highly Sensitive parent (and introvert), and specialize in working with highly sensitive and neurodiverse families through a very holistic model. My role is to support you in understanding the environments in which you exist and to create supportive ones to sustainably nourish you, allowing you to tap into your intuitive wisdom and lead your family by example.
I offer this support virtually and in-person through my group and training sessions, through 1:1 work, in my speaking engagements, and through the gloWithin App courses. You are welcome to learn more about my offerings here.
While I am passionate about my work, I nourish myself through my nearly lifelong meditation practice, being active in nature, expressing myself creatively, going on adventures, and spending time with those I love.
I look forward to connecting with you on this journey!
🌺 Katie
ps. You can read more about my qualifications below
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner-voice”
~ Peggy O'Mara
