Vivian McKinnon

As well as being a havening practitioner since 2016 I am a clinical hypnotherapist registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register/Standards Council (GHR, GHSC) at Senior practitioner level. I am a TimeLine Therapy Master Practitioner registered with the Time Line Therapy Association (TLTA), Master Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner registered with the American Board Of Neuro Linguistic Programming (ABNLP), Master Practitioner in hypnosis. a SPECTRUM performance and emotional coach, a Health Care Trust approved Mental Health First Aid trainer and Northern Ireland regional coordinator for SMART recovery.

In May 2021 i hosted a webinar with my friend Gabor Mate exploring addiction, then in Sptember 2021 i began studying with him in compassionate inquiry i am still invloved in this approach.

Life wasnt always this way. After many ACE's and subsequent adult trauma resulting in comprimised Mental Health and unhelpful coping strategies I had tried many approaches to healing my pain from the past. A near death expereince was the catalyst for me to create change, and part of that was my discovery of restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST) more commonly known as floatation therapy. a life changing expereince.

In 2015 I founded Hydro-ease, Northern Ireland’s only dedicated Floatation Centre, I have since developed RAFT (Reconnection and Floatation Therapy) where i combines all of the approaches listed above along with restricted environmental stimulation therapy (floatation) to support and sculpt neurological and biological change.

After working in science and being part of the team who cloned Dolly the sheep, then spending 3 years with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service I then entered the charity and voluntary sector in 2003, beginning in youth work services focusing on youth homelessness with young people who were leaving the care system.

After moving to Northern Ireland in 2010 I spent 5 years within addiction services, in both operational and strategic development, providing services to communities desensitised through violence and community fragmentation.and laterally supporting people living with the symptoms of PTSD/PTSI and Addiction before setting up Hydro-ease in 2015.

In 2021 i made a film of my life and i am currently screening this at theatre venues, community and corporate groups to demistify the stigma and beliefs around trauma and addiction.

I have secured various contracts and service level agreements to bring my brand of recovery to the people of Northern Ireland and further afield

My passion and enthusiasm for havening has seen me being sought out by individuals, community groups and organizations committed to healing the wounds of the past, a recent client compared Havening to having laser eye surgery, this is what she had to say;

'When you first get laser eye surgery you keep a hold of you glasses in case the improvements are only temporary then you realize things have changed permanently, I found myself trying to activate the trauma and get a hold of the emotion... after a few weeks I gave up as I knew it was gone for good and no amount of trying would bring it back"