Meet the Team

Our team brings together experience from many paths — psychology, nursing, nature connection, ritual, and community care. Between us, we hold over twenty years of work in healthcare, wellbeing, and education.

At Zala Wellbeing, we believe healing happens through integration — mind, body, earth, and spirit working together.

Sophie

Many of you may already know me but my name is Sophie. I have worked nearly 13 years in care followed by 3 years as a qualified nurse. I currently work in Rowans Hospice in Hampshire and am pleased to have been able to accept a voluntary role as Director for Zala wellbeing.

I believe that everyone has the ability to make positive changes to their health and well-being in order to better care for their own body, mind and spirit. To have the opportunity to work for a company that can help guide people towards a more holistic and happy way of life is an honour. Zala wellbeing creates an opportunity for each and every one of its members to not only learn how to care for themselves holistically but also gives them the opportunity to share that knowledge with their community and their children and together we can work towards a healthier, happier lifestyle and a better quality of life for everyone. 

Gemma

Hi, my name is Gemma and I’m a psychologist. Firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of photo and personal info here, I work with vulnerable people, and so to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with my role, I have asked to remain anonymous.

I was so excited when I was asked to be a part of this, I feel I have been an observer of this company since its early days, and have seen some of the great things that Zara and Leah have done. I feel that there are so many factors involved with well-being that sometimes we need more holistic approaches.

I know that life is getting harder for most people, there are so many societal issues today, and so many people are living through difficult experiences. That is why it is important to find connection with other people, do things that give us a sense of meaning, allow us the time to focus on ourselves and just enjoy ourselves when we can. I think Zala Wellbeing allows the opportunity for this. I look forward to being more involved and feel so honoured to be joining this team

Caroline

Hello, I’m Caroline and I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the team at Zala Wellbeing. I had a successful career as a nursery and forest school teacher until I suffered from a burnout and started to lose my sight at age 27.

I had to stop working in order to heal myself, physically but also mentally, since they are so closely linked. Western medicine alone failed to fix me, I was told they did not understand why this was happening and that they were unsure of what else to do to help. I knew deep inside that this was linked to how much my soul was hurting and that if I wanted to get better, I would have to look into healing from a more holistic perspective.

I had to build myself back up after battling severe anxiety and depression for many years, and realised that if I wanted to get better, I had to reconnect to nature and live a slower, more grounded life. I became fascinated with holistic healing and was amazed at how everything I learnt seemed to be connected in a way.

Community, mindfulness, nutrition and spirituality were some of the most important factors in my recovery which is why I decided to retrain in health and nutrition and will soon be studying counselling skills.

It has been 3 years now, and I can proudly say that I have made a full recovery, both in my mental and physical health and I know I want to help others who are struggling. I am not sure I could have made such a formidable recovery without reaching out to family, friends and a community such as Zala Wellbeing and I really want to break the taboos around mental health. It is ok to not be ok. People care more than you think and it’s by bringing up these difficult conversations and coming together that we can implement real change and heal the world.

It took almost losing my sight to be able to see things clearly, this is a gift I am lucky enough to carry with me everyday and I would like to help others see the world as it can be too!