Low Tide Calm · For Therapists

Information for therapists, counsellors, and referring clinicians

A structured one-to-one programme combining coaching with breathwork and mindfulness that can complement psychotherapy. This page covers scope, methodology, qualifications, client fit, and confidentiality.

Scope

This is non-clinical complementary work. It is not therapy, counselling, or a substitute for psychiatric or psychological care. The coaching element is not psychotherapy: it is forward-looking, goal-oriented work, clearly bounded away from clinical material. The work is skills-based, structured, and time-limited: clients learn nervous system regulation tools through breathwork and mindfulness, with coaching to keep that practice directed and accountable, then apply it between sessions.

For clients with mild to moderate anxiety, low mood, or stress-related dysregulation, the work tends to sit well alongside ongoing therapy. The therapist holds the underlying clinical material; the work I do gives the client a practical between-session toolkit for managing their nervous system and a structured way to act on the goals their therapy surfaces. The two roles are distinct and the boundary is held cleanly. Where coaching conversations approach clinical territory, they are redirected, and the client is encouraged to take that material to their therapist.

Where there is acute crisis, active suicidality, severe trauma presentation, or significant functional impairment, this work is not appropriate as a primary intervention and the client should be supported clinically. Screening conversations are designed to identify when this is the case, and clients in those circumstances are signposted accordingly.

Methodology

The breathwork modality is primarily Buteyko, a structured protocol developed by Dr Konstantin Buteyko that works through restoring nasal breathing, normalising CO2 tolerance, and reducing chronic hyperventilation patterns. More broadly, the evidence for breathing retraining in respiratory and anxiety presentations is encouraging but should be read carefully: the largest randomised trial of physiotherapist-led breathing retraining in asthma (Bruton et al., Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2018) improved asthma-related quality of life but did not change lung function or airway inflammation, which is the honest way to frame what this kind of work does and does not do. It is not catharsis-based, not intensive, and does not surface dissociative or peak states.

The mindfulness work draws from the Mindfulness Now framework (an integration of MBSR and MBCT principles), with adaptations for clients who find standard mindfulness instruction unhelpful or contraindicated. The approach is trauma-informed: practices use external anchors and choice-based engagement rather than open monitoring or extended body scan techniques, both of which can destabilise clients with significant trauma histories or high sensory sensitivity.

Coaching runs alongside both. It is generic, goal-focused life coaching: structured conversation that helps the client clarify what they are working towards and stay accountable to it. It carries no clinical claim and is kept firmly distinct from the therapeutic work the client does elsewhere.

Practices are trauma-aware and choice-based throughout. Clients control the depth of engagement with any given practice and are given explicit permission to opt out of any element at any point.

Methodology pages: coaching, Buteyko breathwork and mindfulness.

Qualifications and training

Background and bio: about Cian.

Client fit

Where there is uncertainty about fit, a 15-minute screening conversation is offered before any commitment. Clients who are not appropriate for this work are signposted to clinical resources rather than enrolled.

Ethics, safeguarding, and confidentiality

Every client is screened before enrolment. Screening covers presenting concerns, current clinical care, medication, contraindications, and whether the client is in a position to engage safely with the work. Where breathwork is contraindicated, a mindfulness-only pathway is offered. Where neither is appropriate, the client is signposted elsewhere.

Practice operates under the ethical framework of the Mindfulness Teachers Association, with ongoing supervision as a condition of accreditation. Personal practice is maintained as a core requirement, not an aspiration.

If a safeguarding concern arises during a session (active suicidality, risk to self or others, disclosure of abuse), the limits of confidentiality apply and the client is supported to access appropriate clinical or statutory support. Clients are informed of this at the screening stage.

Data is held in line with GDPR. Session notes are minimal, stored securely, and retained only for the duration of professional necessity.

Practical details

Sessions are approximately 75 minutes, one-to-one, currently delivered online via Google Meet. Programmes are structured and time-limited, typically three or six sessions, with clear progression and a defined end point. The full pathway and pricing is set out on the sessions and pricing page.

Between sessions, clients receive PDF guides, exercises, and bespoke audio recordings to support independent practice. The work is structured to build a portable skill set, not to create ongoing dependence on the practitioner.

In-person reflexology and Indian head massage in Wicklow Town will be available from late summer 2026 for clients who find somatic regulation through physical therapies more accessible than online practice.

If you would like to point a client to a free, no-signup resource as a starting point, the Low Tide Calm app is available on Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and as a web app. It includes guided breathing exercises, regulation tools, and crisis support content. No data is collected, no account is required, and it works offline. It was built specifically with neurodivergent users in mind but is appropriate for any adult client.