Meet

NATALIE

Health coach, personal trainer, functional breathing instructor, movement facilitator, educator

HEALTH COACH, PERSONAL TRAINER + MOVEMENT, FUNCTIONAL BREATHING, EDUCATOR

I’m fascinated by the human body; its ability to heal, feel, move, sense, and let us fully experience life.

It’s this awe and curiosity that drives me in everything I do.

I love life in my body. But it’s not always been easy.

I was born with a ‘life limiting’ chronic condition and - despite being pretty well - have spent my entire life being hypervigilant and often fearful of ‘symptoms’. Symptoms felt like something ‘bad’ that I needed to make ‘go away’. And I’ve often felt exhausted from constantly ‘managing’ life with respiratory issues, gut issues, diabetes, anxiety and more.

But I’ve also always been curious. I’ve always had this insatiable need to know ‘WHY?’. And that was a question I often wasn’t offered the answer to at points in my journey. So I took it upon myself to find the answers.

I’ve spent over a decade in the health and fitness industry as a marketing professional.

During this time, I qualified as a personal trainer, taught dance, became obsessed with researching nutrition, studying functional breathing, and qualified as a health coach.

I learnt that addressing the root cause of health issues—not just treating symptoms—is the key to true wellbeing. I also learnt that it’s essential to view the body as a whole, incorporating physical, emotional, and mental health. We also need to look at lifestyle factors, like social connections, relationships, and our environment.

I’m passionate about supporting people to manage their chronic conditions, explore ‘mystery symptoms’, prevent future illnesses, get a fresh perspective and improve their general sense of wellbeing to live life to the fullest.

Every body is different, and so is every journey. That’s why my approach is highly personalised, focusing on what’s coming up for you right now—whether that’s stress, physical symptoms, or emotional challenges.

I’m based in Guildford, Surrey, where I can work with clients in person, and I offer virtual sessions for those across the UK, Europe, the USA, and beyond.

I believe everyone can feel VIBRANT in their bodies and I’m committed to helping you rediscover that.

Your health is a resource that allows you to experience all that life has to offer in the richest way possible; to enjoy the adventure of being ALIVE in this human body, feel all the feelings and do all the things you want to do.

My ethos on health

Our bodies are self-healing

You can see proof that your body has an INCREDIBLE capacity for self-healing any time you get a cut or a graze.

Our bodies are always striving to maintain balance and are capable of healing themselves, if we give them the right conditions to do so. Creating healthier conditions for ourselves can involve removing things that hinder our natural balance, or adding things we’re missing in order to restore it.

You are the authority on your body

In my journey, my unwavering commitment to listening to what my body is saying, regardless of what health professionals told me, has saved me over and over, in many different ways.

I want everyone to feel this same sense of deep knowing and trust in themselves.

You know your body better than anyone. Sometimes we forget how to listen, but I’m committed to helping you reconnect.

Get to the root

I believe in taking a root cause approach to all things. Where health is concerned, I believe in uncovering and addressing the underlying causes of issues, rather than merely suppressing or managing individual symptoms.

If a tree’s leaves are showing signs of stress, we don’t assume the tree is unfixable or that the leaf needs to be painted, or glued back on; we look to the roots and the conditions of the soil.

You are whole

Our being is not a collection of separate systems: mental, physical, emotional; or cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine…

These aren’t just ‘connected’ pieces; they are ‘one’.

I see you as a whole person, with a whole life, when it comes to exploring your wellbeing. You are so much more than individual symptoms, test results, or diagnoses.

Health qualifications and experience

- Health Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) - in training
- Functional Breathing Instructor (Oxygen Advantage) - in training
- Personal Trainer (No1 Fitness)
- Fitness Instructor (Lifetime)
- Studio Cycling Instructor (The Training Room)
- Over 10 years working in the health and wellness industry
  - As a marketing strategist I’ve worked alongside experts in herbalism, nutrition, therapy, life coaching, somatic work, breathwork, reflexology, yoga, meditation, sound healing and change management, as well as medical consultants and researchers.
  - As a writer I’ve worked with multiple brands in the health and fitness space, including Nike, Sweaty Betty, Technogym, Holland and Barrett and more, so I have a good understanding of what products are available on the market to support wellbeing, as well as being mindful of how brands can influence our behaviours and decisions.
  - As an instructor, I’ve taught workshops, taught dance and pole fitness and written/led people through workout programmes.
- Clinical Advisory Group member at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, bridging the gap between medical experts and the patient community
- Sharing decisions on reproductive goals: A mixed-methods study of the views of women who have cystic fibrosis. D Williams, O B Esan, D K Schlüter, D Taylor-Robinson, S Paranjothy, J Duckers, N Goodchild, R Phillips. 2022. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36863947/
- A grumbling concern: an international survey of gastrointestinal symptoms in cystic fibrosis in the modulator era - R Calthorpe, N Goodchild, V Gleetus, V Premakumar, B Hayee, Z Elliott, B Evans, N Rowbotham, S Carr, H Barr, A Horsley, D Peckham, A Smyth. 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37881465/
(In progress)
Antimicrobial Treatment Guideline for Cystic Fibrosis
- ‘What Do Patients Think?’ - Research Priority Setting Partnerships - Adult Cystic Fibrosis Conference - Milan, Italy - Speaker
- Gut Health - Cystic Fibrosis Trust - Chair
- Breaking the Bias: Active Women Win - Active-living with chronic conditions - Beam - Panel
- Digital Exclusion - CF Clinical Trials Conference - University of Nottingham, UK - Speaker
- Staying Physically Active - Cystic Fibrosis Trust - Host
- An Introduction to Mindfulness - Cystic Fibrosis Trust - Speaker
- Exercise for chronic conditions in the HealthTech space - One HealthTech - London, UK - Speaker
- Lessons learnt from COVID-19 - APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Groups) on Vulnerable Groups - Speaker
- The impact of CF on lifestyle - Fit Factory Gym - Speaker
- Health Industry Showcase - Blooming Founders - London, UK - Panel
- Exercise for physical and mental wellbeing in CF - Moving Mountains Conference - Churchill College, Cambridge, UK - Speaker
- Invisible Conditions and Compassion in the Workplace - M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment, London, UK - Speaker

Health challenges I’ve experienced

Respiratory/ENT issues
Cystic fibrosis
Diabetes (I have CF-related diabetes)
Gut issues and IBS
Stress, anxiety, perfectionism, overthinking and overwhelm
Stress-related physical health symptoms
Hair and skin issues
Re-learning my cycle after hormonal contraceptives
Advocating for myself with medical practitioners; compiling information and communicating my case

I have also experienced loved ones dealing with:

Anxiety and panic disorders
‘Mystery’ symptoms like gut issues, headaches, brain fog, mood issues
Chronic pain
Sleep issues
Weight management
Cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure
Pre-diabetes
Women’s health issues
Migraines

Specialist interests

My specialist interests as a health coach are:

Chronic conditions
Stress, anxiety and nervous system regulation
Mind-body medicine - how thoughts and emotions affect physical body
Gut health issues
Glucose regulation
Natural therapies + connection with nature
Mindful movement

FROM A PHYSICAL PARADIGM OF HEALTH, TO A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO HEALING

Natalie Goodchild smiling in nature with hair down

Natalie’s Story

I grew up living in a paradigm of health that focused on the physical and relied upon the medical and pharmaceutical: sleep well, eat nutritious foods, give my lungs a workout, do my medical treatments, take the tablets. This was emphasised and exacerbated by the fact I was born with a chronic, multi-system, genetic condition.

But here’s the thing I’ve come to realise: once I had the foundations of physical health established (the sleep, food, movement, etc), there were still variables in my health that I couldn’t account for.

Sometimes my health would take a dip despite doing ‘all the right things’. This made it really hard to figure out the trigger or cause. It also made me feel powerless because I didn’t see any way to improve what I was doing; I was already doing ‘ALL THE THINGS’.

On the flip side, there were times that my health improved (like lung function upticks or short-term diabetes remission) despite letting some of these physical treatments slide…

Over time - and with my own coaches and a lot of hindsight - I realised there were other dimensions of health I wasn’t taking into consideration. (At least, my mind wasn’t taking it into consideration; my body DEFINITELY was):

My thoughts and beliefs.
My emotional wellbeing, including my feelings and my relationship with stress.

And with more time and experience, I recognised that these dimensions are all one. Your thoughts create emotions, which elicit physical changes in your body, and vice versa. Changes in your physical body alter your biochemistry which alters your emotions and thoughts. It’s all inextricably linked.

While continuing to eat nourishing foods, move my body and uncompromisingly protect my sleep, I’ve also been on a deeper internal journey. I’m trying to ‘unlearn’ damaging patterns of perfectionism, high-achievement, hypervigilance, control and never ‘good enough’ that have led to long-term stress, anxiety, overthinking and overwhelm. And ultimately put my body into a healing state by leaning towards openness, trust, compassion, joy and letting go.

Some brands I’ve worked with as a health + wellbeing writer and ambassador

Work with me

If you’d like to explore what working with me as a health coach could look like, check out my health coaching package or schedule an initial health discovery consultation.

You can also send a message via the contact form if you want to discuss anything else.

Contact natalie via contact form