About me

Hello, I’m Donna! I’m an accredited therapist, published author, and musician who discovered something magical in midlife – the power of creative flow to transform how we create and live.

My Mission

Helping midlife creatives rediscover their creative flow

After years of helping others through therapy and exploring my own creative journey through songwriting and writing, I became fascinated by flow science, the research behind those moments when creativity feels effortless and deeply fulfilling There are four main strands to my work:

  • Creator of music for flow states.
  • Founder of the Creative Flow Community of mid-later life creatives.
  • Therapist & Coach for creatives who are stuck or struggling with their creativity or wellbeing.
  • Author and course creator
My Expertise

Psychotherapy, Psychology, Music & Writing

My degrees are in psychology, psychotherapy, arts for health, music and occupational therapy. I have also had training in coaching, songwriting, poetry, group facilitation and sound therapies.

Therapeutic Background

Accredited therapist with BABCP & NCPS
Specialised training in trauma therapy, emotion regulation, and sound healing
Deep understanding of the psychology behind creativity and wellbeing

Creative Practice

Published songwriter with professional music training
Author exploring the intersection of creativity, emotional wellbeing and psychology
Personal experience navigating difficulties and currently on a journey of midlife creative discovery

Flow Science

Combining therapeutic techniques with flow research
Focus on practical application of flow triggers and conditions
Specialised understanding of how flow states support creative work.

Why I Focus On Midlife

Midlife Creativity is Different

In many ways it is and can be more powerful than we previously thought. Flow science is teaching us just how powerful we can be as creatives in mid-to-later life. At this stage of life you have:

– Rich life experience to draw from
– Emotional maturity that deepens creative expression
– Often more clarity about what truly matters

But midlife also brings unique challenges: shifting priorities, energy changes, and sometimes years away from creative practice. That’s where flow science becomes invaluable – offering a proven path back to your creative self.

Get back to flow

My Approach

I combine evidence-based therapeutic approaches with flow science research to create practical, accessible ways for midlife creatives to:

  • Understand and identify their personal flow triggers
  • Create conditions that support consistent creative flow
  • Work through creative blocks and limiting beliefs
  • Build sustainable creative practices that honor their life stage

Whether you’re rediscovering a dormant creative passion or deepening an existing practice, my work is about helping you access your natural capacity for creative flow.

My Journey To Flow

In 2021 I started to question why I had not written or played music for many years. I had thoughts about whether or not it was too late to get back into it, whether there was any point. All I knew was that something was missing. The only thing that I knew was that I still had that urge inside me to try to figure out a feeling that I used to get when listening to music and driving. One of Guy Michelmore’s YouTube videos directed me to a songwriting degree and I knew that writing music was heading in the right direction. I just didn’t know how in that moment.

I ended up doing three short courses in music production and music theory and then enrolling for a masters in music production and songwriting at the Academy of Music (University of Westminster). All the time feeling like this was logically crazy but it made sense to my heart somehow. In February 2024 I completed that masters still not knowing what direction I was heading in but knowing I was getting close to understanding the feeling I was trying to pinpoint. On the masters I studied musical awe and how we feel when certain music gives us the chills.

I knew that what I was looking for was something to do with movement and visuals, as well as the sound itself. What is this mysterious feeling that I experience when driving and listening to music?

My next move was to join a songwriting mentorship with DWB Music and this gave me such a wonderful experience collaborating with other songwriters, producers and artists. During this course I discovered the work of Steven Kotler when I came across the book ‘The Art of Impossible’. This book spoke about flow which was a concept I was already familiar with from my psychology degree as we had looked at the work of Mihaly Csizentmihalyi. However, Kotler’s book pulled together the remarkable recent findings about the science of flow and in his book I found the answers to my questions. The feeling I had been trying to explain for decades was FLOW!

As I explored more about this it became apparent that flow is a state within which we can do remarkable things. Not only that but we can learn to harness this state and access it at will. Not only this but flow can be a major aspect of peak performance and not only this but mid to later life has the potential for us to be better than we think we can be because of our years of experience.

I feel an incredible sense of optimism around midlife creative possibility and want to share how we can access and enhance our flow experiences as midlife creatives.

My journey now is to create music for these flow states and take my own creativity seriously because it really is not too late, quite the contrary!