About

I help driven professionals feel like themselves again, in their body and their work.

You've been powering through for years, but effort was never the missing piece.

What's missing is a relationship with yourself built on the same respect you give so freely to everyone else, and the courage to outgrow the patterns that no longer serve you.

That's why I specialise in body image and compassion.

I do this work for others because it's what I didn't know I needed for myself.

WORK WITH ME

320+

clients served

2018

practicing since

250+

coaches educated

The patterns we struggle with on the surface: emotional eating, feeling unhappy in our bodies, second-guessing at work... are all symptoms of disconnection with ourselves.

Compassion rebuilds that relationship.

I work with driven professionals who are ready to find the middle ground between working harder and giving up.

Punishing your body, or resigning yourself to acceptance.

Over-functioning at work, or dropping the balls completely.

A middle ground exists.

But you won't find it by doing more of what you've already done. You've read the books, done the therapy, learned the frameworks. They helped, some. They didn't stick.

This is where you come when you know something needs to shift, and you're ready to do the deep, courageous work required to live the life you want for yourself.

How I Can Help:

Food and Body Image Coaching

Coaching for Self Sabotage In Business

Mentorship For Coaches Ready To Scale

Self Paced Programs

GET STARTED

MY STORY

For years, I was the person everyone could rely on - and the person nobody checked in on.

My career started with a degree in law. I wanted a safe and reliable job, but then realised I had absolutely zero interest. So of course, the pendulum swung the other way... hello entrepreneurship!

I studied nutrition because I wanted to help people build a relationship with food that felt energising and free. I soon realised it wasn't nutrition knowledge that was holding my clients back; it was their body image.

Eventually, that work led me to study a diploma in Compassion-Focused Therapy. And that's where I learned how much I needed it too.

I was working all day and night, available whenever anyone needed me, going through the motions in my workouts, and carrying it all alone. I built a business that 'worked' but was costing me a lot to run.

I knew how to be strong and capable. I didn't know how to be supported.

I went through supervision and therapy as part of my training. For the first time, someone showed interest in who I was, not just what I could do.

I did the courageous work of building a more compassionate relationship with myself, and learning to be with my emotions instead of running from them.

It wasn't easy, but letting myself down was harder.

Now I start my mornings with coffee on the terrace. I run half marathons. Lifting no longer feels like a chore, and I'm making progress every training block. I have fun with my personal style, and it feels powerful - not frivolous.

There's room for joy, music, reading.

My relationships are deeper now that I can show up to honestly, instead of only when I'm on top form. I'm rebuilding a business that supports the life I want, not one running on pressure.

And it feels deeply meaningful to be able to support others to do the same.

My Training + Education

Training & Qualifications

LLB in Law (KCL, 2017)
MNU Certified Nutritionist (2018)
Motivational Interviewing Stage 3 (Podium Psychology, 2021)
Primary Certificate in Advanced Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (Centre for Stress Management, 2022)
Certified Compassionate Mind Training Facilitator (Balanced Minds, 2023)
Diploma In Compassion Focused Therapy (Compassionate Mind Foundation, 2025)
Level 01 Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Intensive (Power To Live Foundation, 2025)

Courses:

Binge Eating Essentials For Health Professionals (Break Binge Eating, 2021)
The Mindsight Approach to Well-Being: Comprehensive Interpersonal Neurobiology (Mindsight Institute, 2022)
Six Hour Syllabus (Body Brain Alliance, 2023)

Through the Compassionate Mind Foundation: CFT for Shame (2024); Creating a Compassionate World Lecture Series (2022/2023); Annual Conference (2023, 2024, 2025); Finding Fullness in Emptiness Mediation Series (2024); Advanced Formulation (2024); CFT for EDs (2023); Exploring Clinical Skills (2023); Applying CFT to Physical Health Problems (2025); Innovations in Compassion Focused Group
Psychotherapy (2025)

Through Balanced Minds: Acting Into Compassion Workshop (2025)

Through CBT Reach: Evolution, Attachment and CFT (2024); CFT for a Self Critical Mind (2024)

Through Compassionate Wellbeing: Biography of Self Criticism (2023); CMT for self criticism (2024); Socratic Questioning (2024); Compassion Training for Anxiety (2025); Mindful Compassion (2025); Working with Fears Blocks and Resistances (2025), Inhibited Threat Behaviours (2025); Shame memories (2024); Depression (2025)

Through Alsana: Compassion Focused Therapy Interventions for Nutrition, Body Image, & Movement (2023); Managing Dysregulation in The Virtual Treatment Space (2024), The Role of Compassion Focused Therapy in Challenging Food Rules and Rigidity (2025); Recipe for Mental Health: How Food Functions in the Brain (2023); Evidence Based CFT Practices for the Treatment of EDs (2023); Seasonal Effects of Diet Culture (2023); Compassion for Perfectionism (2023); Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy (2023); Weight-Inclusive Approaches (2023); Evidenced Based Practices for the Treatment of Eating Disorders and Other Co-Occurring Disorders through the Lens of CFT (2023); Utilizing Compassion and Motivation to Challenge Fears, Blocks, and Resistances in Therapy and Nutrition (2024)

Through Psychwire: Compassion-Focused CBT (2023); DBT Skills (2022); Foundational CBT (2020); ACT (2020)

Other: 10th Appearance Matters Conference (2024); Motivational Interviewing: Rupture and repair (MINT, 2024); Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy International Conference (AREBT, 2023), From Surviving to Thriving: The Art and Power of Replacement Behaviors (NEDA, 2025), Understanding Eating Disorders As Anxiety Disorders: The Role of Fear and the Need for Safety (NEDA, 2025), ACBS World Conference (2025), Appearance Matters Conference (2026), CMT retreat (Mindworks, 2023, 2026).

Research contributions:

O'Loughlin, E. K., Marashi, M., Beer, S., Sabiston, C. M., Nesbitt, A. E., O'Rourke, R. H., Sylvestre, M. P., & O'Loughlin, J. L. (2025). Factors associated with low self-compassion in young adults. Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 116(3), 446–455. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-024-00965-8

Body Image Fundamentals:

Marashi, M., Brown, D. M., O’Loughlin, E. K., & Sabiston, C. M. (2023). An Evaluation of a Body Image Training Course for Health Professionals. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport (SCAPPS Refereed Abstracts Repository), 54(1). https://www.scapps.org/jems/index.php/1/en/article/view/3134
Marashi, M., O'Loughlin, E. K., Brown, D. M., & Sabiston, C. M. (2025). A body image training program for health professionals: A single group pre-post evaluation. Body image, 53, 101863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2025.101863

Things you'd learn about me if we sat down for an Ethiopian filter coffee:

I spent six years living out of a suitcase before deciding to build a base and move to Spain.

I'm a minimalist except when it comes to clothes and books. Tried to fight it; now I embrace it.

My favourite author is Clarice Lispector.

I have 8 tattoos. If I could find an artist who does the arty-water colour style I like, and actually has bookings open, I'd probably have a lot more.

And if you wanted to know what the passport stamps don't show you...

After a cooking class in Osaka, I was invited to an izakaya. I had to stumble back to my airbnb after too much yakiniku and whiskey. Oops.

One morning in Hawaii I was training legs and got invited to hike the Koko Crater Railway Trail that afternoon. I'm not one to say no.

I accidentally ordered Sannakji in Korea and had to finish it all. Google it and send your condolences because I still haven't recovered.

No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.

- James Comer

I also help coaches support client body image and relationship with food through Body Image Fundamentals.

I help coaches navigate the moments that most trainings skip:

When clients struggle to see progress beyond the scale.
When they're scared to increase calories.
When they feel like they’ve failed and want to give up.

Because it’s not enough to give clients the right plan; you want to help them actually stick with it.

When you can hold space for those moments, you become the reason someone finally feels empowered enough to change.

Here's What Coaches Are Saying

WANT TO BOOK ME?

Podcasts, Guest Speaking + Live Events

If you’re looking for a guest who can speak about body image, compassion, and relationship with food- I’d love to join you. I'm known for distilling complex topics into practical applications, without losing any of the nuance.

Whether you're speaking to coaches, health professionals, or people looking to change, I bring clarity, nuance, and direction to conversations that often get oversimplified.

REACH OUT TO ENQUIRE

Research + Intervention Design

If you're building a course, training, or group programme and want support with how to integrate body image or compassion science, I can help.

I’ve contributed to published research on body image and self-compassion, and can help you shape curriculum or interventions that move beyond delivering information, to actually creating transformation.

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