ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ella Kate Reeves grew up in Sussex and lived with her mother until she left for University. As the daughter of a psychotherapist who followed Osho Shri Rajneesh, she had an interesting and creative childhood. Ella trained to a professional level in dance alongside her studies and, after getting her A levels, trained as a dance and movement therapist in London.
She then decided to study Media and Cultural studies at University and, later, a post-graduate advanced diploma in integrative psychotherapy. After attaining her qualifications and gaining european accreditation, she went on to set up a retreat centre in France -'The Alive Centre', where she taught, ran a private psychotherapy practice and dealt with the retreat packaging, marketing and advertising.
After eight years, she decided to return to the UK. Ella's son had been diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia (a rare degenerative and incurable disease) when he was 5 and she wanted to be nearer family and old friends.
On moving back to the UK, Ella established a clinic in Hove for people suffering with various eating disorders and worked with severe cases, in which people had been hospitalised or sectioned due to the severity of their disease.
In 2011, Ella was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumour and needed surgery almost immediately. It was during her recovery in intensive care that she started to put pen to paper:
"I started to write to take my focus away from the pain after brain surgery. It was so, so intense, I had to find another focal point to get me through that time." - Ella
She continued to write during her recovery and was approached by Serenity Press, who expressed interested in publishing her collection of poetry. 'Watering My Soul' was her first publication and she is now working on her second book, whilst also running a private practice and caring for her son, who lives with her in Sussex.