025: Simone Cohn – Holistic Connections (Part 2)

Simone Cohn

 Simone qualified as a Reflexologist at The British School of Complementary Therapy in Harley Street London, in December 2000.

To further her knowledge and passion in health and wellbeing, that same year she embarked on a Health Science degree, specialising in Therapeutic Bodyworks at The University of Westminster. From her degree, she gained experience in a variety of bodywork practices, that combated conditions such as migraines, muscle tension and stress-related illnesses.

Whilst completing her degree, Simone also built up a successful private practice offering treatments and techniques in a variety of Bodywork therapies, including reflexology.

In 2013 Simone was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia; a chronic pain disorder. To understand more about the illness, she trained with renowned USA Fibromyalgia coach, Tami Stackelhouse. Once qualified, Simone incorporated her knowledge of pain management and nutrition into her roster of Bodywork therapies, to re-establish herself as a Health and Wellbeing Coach.

With her wealth of knowledge and personal experience, Simone was fortunate enough to be part of the, “NHS Healthier You”, National Diabetes Prevention Programme, where she worked with individuals and groups for nine months, to provide educational and nutritional sessions to pre-diabetic patients.

Simone found the programme a wonderful, eye-opening experience which further ignited her passion and interest in the psychology around health and sugar addiction.

As a bodyworker with almost 20 years of experience in the health industry, Simone’s extensive training and practical knowledge, coupled with her own health journey, has given her the unique ability to recognise each clients’ individual needs and goals, making Simone a highly successful, empathetic and intuitive Health and Wellbeing practitioner.

She strongly believes that her role as a Health and Wellbeing Coach is to educate, encourage and support a patient’s journey to living a healthier, vibrant life.

Simone’s health journey anniversary is memorialised on 04/06/15 when her ex-brother-in-law introduced her to the Prof Tim Noakes Banting and Real Meal Revolution.  As a qualified Therapeutic Bodyworker, she has a deep understanding of how the body works and more importantly heals. In 2013, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia where she set about to learn more about the role of chronic pain management, both for herself and her clients.  This led to her next chapter which incorporated nutrition and lifestyle when she was introduced to Tim Noake’s Real Meal Revolution.  Now working as a health and wellbeing coach, Simone seeks to educate, encourage and support clients to a healthier and vibrant life. 

Simone's Top Tip

1. Keep your journey to yourself, role model good choices and behaviours
2. Plan your meals to ensure that you have the right foods available to you
3. Keep a symptom tracker whether that be a paper diary or some electronic record 

Quotes by Simone Cohn

“I just know, deep down in my heart that there isn't anything else really that I want to do. I've only ever really wanted to help people in some form of a health journey. And, so I thought that I could be something that I'd like to help people.”

“It just pains me to think that people could go through life, feeling unwell, or believing that they just need to wait for some disease to happen before you know it, they kickstart the change in their health. And so I just thought I'll keep learning, keep trying and build my practice around that.”

“And I was absolutely so proud to be part of the national diabetic prevention programme, which is a scheme that was rolled out by NHS England, targeting people who were diagnosed with being pre diabetic, a very holistic nutritional and lifestyle programme.”

“I still couldn't quite believe that people really struggled with the changes, the addiction, the stories, they kept telling themselves the excuses for want of a better word.”

“It's about habit changes. And, and that's something that you can't do. You can give people the knowledge, but they have to want to do it, they have to want to do the changes and comes from them. There's only so much I can do.”

“What I was getting was like a backlash of people saying, but you know, but I want to pay you to fix me and I was like, but I don't, I don't want to fix you, you need to fix you. Because if, if I fix you, and it's going to fail, and then you're going to blame me.”

“I had one patient tell me that she had read somewhere once or had been told by somebody, that it was really important that she ate eight slices of bread a day to get enough fibre and carbohydrates. I was fascinated that people cling onto these beliefs that were told through media and unqualified people giving advice around nutrition.”

“People were coming to me for weight loss, and I that's not what I'm aiming for. It will happen for a lot of people naturally. But I think what comes into the forefront of people's minds after that conversation, if I'm not here to help you with your weight loss. I'm here to help you with your health, then people's mind does shift a little bit.”

“When I say the word diet, what do you think? And they'd look back at me, and they'd be like, they'd come back with words like restriction, and things like that. And I'd say when I think of the word diet, I think of the word temporary, because when people want to change their diet, they change it for a short period of time to get the result, and then they go back on a different path. And that's not what we're trying to encourage, we're trying to encourage slow changes and slow progress so that you can have this tool for life and not let it be temporary.”

“If I have that slice of bread, or if I have two slices of bread, that my bloods might go up this much, but maybe if I had one slice of bread, then it will give me a better result. I'm not saying to people cut it all out instantly, boom, cold turkey. Because that's just not where people are at. To make significant changes, it needs to be done slowly.”

“I often say to people, how many years has it taken you to get to this point? So if it's been 15-20 years, if you’ve eaten badly, or been drinking too much, or feeling tired all the time, you know, whatever it is.  If it has taken 15 years, please don't expect to change within five minutes.”

“It is not just a way of a way of life and a change in your nutrition, your mindset shift is going to help heal your emotions, as well.”

“At the end of sessions, I had a lot of people say, you know, you've really changed my life. I never expected anything from anybody, just that they try to make the changes and give themselves a chance to heal.”

“You can make changes and change your diagnosis.”

“Just be on your own journey. Not everybody needs to know what you're doing.”

“There's a lot of fear around this, what some people may consider an extreme way of eating, and those people aren't necessarily ready.”

“It's your journey, and not everybody needs to know about it and know, most likely not ready to hear it. So let them see the results. And be curious, rather than just talking about it to them. Because I think seeing it is believing it.”

“I'm continually on my journey and continue learning how to manage myself.  I haven't had a flare up for a very, very long time. But I do recognise that my body is telling me when I may have been overdoing it. So I have really learned to listen to my body.”

“Planning is key to success when it comes to everything but in this in the sense of changing your nutrition, and your lifestyle.”

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