About me

Dr Hannah McNeilly

Hello and welcome! I am Hannah.

I work with people who have spent years functioning, caring, and carrying responsibility and who now feel depleted, disconnected, or no longer quite like themselves. You may still be showing up, or you may be quietly questioning your work, your energy, or what comes next.

My work is especially for healthcare professionals, academics, and other people in high-responsibility and fast-paced work environments.

As a lecturer and trained medical doctor, I understand the long-term pressures of these professions, and how easily connection to yourself can be lost along the way.

Through mindful nature connection and gentle somatic movement, my work supports restoration at a deep level, helping you to reconnect with your body, the environment, and developing embodied presence.

Instead of offering quick fixes or coaching you to push harder, this work is about reigniting your creativity and returning to what matters most to you with compassion and curiosity.

From the Clinic into the Forest

In the beginning, I studied medicine in Berlin and worked clinically and in research. I had chosen this path to understand what life is, what causes suffering, how people heal, and how I could contribute to their health. But after two years of working as a doctor, the rushed interactions with my patients, the long work hours, and the high pressure of the job were grinding me down. I felt far away from what had drawn me to medicine in the first place. I felt stressed and disconnected. And I knew I was on a path towards burnout if I did not make big changes in my life.

I packed my bags and moved to Scotland to become a medical anthropologist. This bold shift led me to conduct research on Afro-Brazilian religious healing (Candomblé) in the Atlantic rainforest for a PhD in Social Anthropology. It was bliss! Finally, I could work on the big questions about healing, ritual performance, and collective practices of care. However, the realities of working as a university lecturer and researcher turned out to be exhausting as well - exacerbated by the pandemic lockdown with my young family.

During the pandemic, I started training in Somatics and Forest Therapy. Tuning into nature and into my body was a different kind of adventure, one that energised me even in difficult times. My practice now brings together what I have learned about health, healing, resting, and care in over 20 years of work in medicine and academia - and in life beyond institutions.