About Claire

It's fair to say we are not just one being, one name nor just one person wondering around the planet. We are made up of lots of pieces, like a puzzle and we fit together over time to create and leave a unique impression on the world. After running a workshop I included a picture of me as a child and asked what came to mind, where did I live, what was my favourite subject at school, was I rich, poor or somewhere in between, was I healthy or unhealthy, and what did I dream of becoming just from that picture, what was the unconscious bias? I then put up a picture of me, a professional one and I asked the same questions. Let's just say the answers were varying but none of them my truth. This is my truth and behind what image(s) you see it proves you cannot judge, form an opinion nor mark my cards before having a conversation with me or anyone else you think you know or don't know at all.

​

Born Claire Robilliard, no middle name on the birth certificate. No one could ever place my accent and resorted to calling me 'posh', I'd actually travelled so much as a kid within the forces from, Germany to the UK that no accent ever stuck. I later thought I had a middle name 'Louise' but after practicing a signature I was asked what the L stood for? I was then told with a smile that because I had Asthma they called me 'Clairey Wheeze'. Asthma was diagnosed at 4 but the triggers of my attacks were never really discovered other than exercise-induced so, I gained the broad term Brittle Asthma. My parents were told that I'd have 40 good years on steroids or not many without, many a moment turning blue and gasping for breath. But, by 2005 I completed the London Triathlon and was on no medication this gap in medicine lasted for around 7 years, the return of it inspired more writing from me. Throughout primary school I was verbally bullied for being off school so much and on reflection I'm sure if they knew my reality they would have been a bit kinder. Verbal bullying lingered for being supposedly 'posh'. I continued to stand out for thinking differently throughout school and on reflection it was my creativity bursting to get out of the system. At around 9 I witnessed something that I could no longer allow, poverty in Africa - a child looked deep into my eyes from the TV screen and it felt like she needed my help. For a few years I did the 24 hour famine and raised money. I genuinely thought I was saving her! As the years went by and I learned so little of the money I raised actually went to the cause I stopped and it paralysed me on the 'how to help' for years after, more about that to come in my blogs. Coming out of school I felt like I was set free a little, to explore more of the topics that interested me. I so desperately wanted to be a nurse but I had a deep fear of dying and I knew I'd become too close to people as I had done as a kid, as when I recovered from my Asthma attacks I'd wander around the wards, visiting other children - Sara, Claire and Mohammed will be prominent in my story telling going forward.

As I read the prospectus for college I saw Beauty Therapy, it eluded this caring side to it that mimicked being a nurse without the immediate threat of death though, in my years as a Therapist I would go to the funerals of clients, and support them through ill health. There are some special memories in those moments as the power of touch and aroma became so clear and strengthened within my career. After ticking module boxes at college I broke free again into the world of aromatherapy and massaging people upside down (more on that in my writing). In my family relationships, there have been affairs and I'm told, not bad advice for those going through the experience of relationship breakdowns and my words will flow in my poetry for this topic out of respect and anonymity for those involved. In the career that followed I worked as a therapist in city salons, health clubs. I've set up Medi-clinics and had my own business. When I began working for skincare companies I deeply learned to be very intuitive with skin and it led me to develop a bespoke range so I could tailor what the individual needed. In the skincare industry I helped recruit and train therapists for spas and retreats. I worked all over the UK & Ireland, and would often be in Huddersfield then London in the same week, while also supporting spas abroad in Europe. I remember training a team in Greece when I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, I thrived in my career but I was about to take on another journey into parenthood.

My parental journey is at times too intense for words but will be expressed in blogs and I have self-published a book but to succinctly pop the journey into one sentence (ish) it started with a healthy pregnancy, water birth and a child that was travelling in Spain wrapped in a sling at six months old. Baby two, a healthy pregnancy yet the scans showed a very different story - potential of Trisomy-21 and a heart condition, a natural birth followed and Downs Syndrome and Tetralogy of Fallots was confirmed in the beautiful presence of our daughter who six months later had a heart operation at the famous Great Ormond Street Hospital and later diagnosed with Autism. Baby three passed away at 20 weeks, a beautiful boy that continues to shine a light on our lives. Pregnancy four, twins! One passed at 10 weeks and one lives on in a very awesome way. In more recent years baby number one experiences anxiety, an eating issue and the potential of Aspergers. Whoops six sentences later! I navigated bankruptcy and a career around parenthood.

Throughout my career I and others have experienced the quiet qualities of my being but with time, a retreat or two and through discovering, practicing and teaching meditation I find my voice. It shows up vocally in podcasts as well as in writing. 

My hope within my therapy (writing) is that it will impart hope, to you, a way forward and a positive approach to life. I'm the friend and family member who 'goes there', who opens up dialogue about the tricky stuff. My quiet voice has opened up to tell the truth but it still remains quiet at times as I listen and learn.