About me
I'm Katie Seaman, educator, facilitator and founder of Simply Present. I began this journey with a mission to help us to be more present, with ourselves, with others and with what truly matters. Continuing to learn the knowledge, tools and skills I share with others has been invaluable to my life. Passing them on is a privilege and huge source of joy.
My approach is rooted in mindful awareness and universal human needs and finding creative strategies that meet those needs through practical, engaging, and transformative experiences.
Before becoming self-employed, I worked for an international trade organisation, a Top Five management consultancy, Local Authorities and SMEs, mostly in communications.
I was introduced to mindfulness in 2014 and began a personal practice. When my eldest son (now a Sixth Former) was 8 years old, he was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety. Knowing how helpful mindfulness had been to my own wellbeing, I sought ways to support him through the practice. In 2018 I began training with The Mindfulness In Schools Project to teach mindfulness to primary and secondary school children, eventually expanding my training to include adult mindfulness. Through Mindfulness UK I gained my Level 4 Integrated Mindfulness & Compassion in Professional Practice qualification certified by the CPCAB. I also added foundational training in Non-Violent Communication to my portfolio of skills. Since then, through Simply Present (initially Blackwater Coaching) I have delivered mindfulness-based courses and programmes to hundreds of school pupils, teachers, parents and private individuals.
Through working with Encompass Equality I have delivered support to a number of corporate organisations across a broad range of industries including Wickes, Clifford Chance, Cynergy Bank, Grant Thornton, Nufarm, Dentsu and Stellantis Financial Services to name a few. I create and deliver programmes, workshops, seminars and 1-2-1 coaching on resilience and stress management, inclusive leadership, communication, conflict resolution, people skills and career coaching for teams and individuals.
The knowledge, tools and skills I continue to keep practicing and learning have supported me in countless ways over the years. They have helped me:
- Recognise when I am overwhelmed or disregulated and choose the best tools to return to calm, clarity and ease
- Overcome social anxiety, and be a better friend, neighbour and partner
- Parent from a place of kindness, patience, respect and humility
- Navigate the pain and frustrations of illness and injury, and support my recovery
- Develop the patience and resilience to learn new skills and crafts which bring so much pleasure, reward and satisfaction
- Navigate with curiosity and equanimity, the emotional and physical changes that come with perimenopause
- Notice the lessons that Nature and everyday activities provide in how to live wisely
- Reconsider my concepts of success and failure allowing me to experiment more, learn from each effort and so achieve more
- Respond to change with greater skill and intention
- Become more at ease with uncertainty and more trusting of life
I love to move my body and to create. Outside of Simply Present and my other job of taxiing and feeding my two teenage boys, I can be found running, making art, wandering in the woods, practicing yin yoga, singing in a community choir, working out at the gym, gardening, sewing, knitting, crocheting or getting smashed at padel by the rest of my family.
Credentials
- Enhanced DBS check
- Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance
- Level 4 Certificate in Mindfulness and Compassion in Professional Practice certified by the CPCAB
- Foundation Training Non-Violent Communication
- Certified Trained to Teach Paws B, .b and .breathe with the Mindfulness in Schools in Schools Project
- Regular supervision and ongoing CPD through Mindfulness UK
