A psychologist by training. A joy seeker at heart.
I am Dr Jo Phillips, an HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist, EMDR Europe Accredited Consultant and EMDR-informed coach. For over fifteen years I have helped adults and children move beyond anxiety and fear. Nurture Now is where I bring psychology out of the therapy room and into everyday life, through my guided journal, The Intentional Growth Book, and my one-to-one personal growth coaching, The Intentional Growth Path.
My work is informed by my own experience of anxiety. I know what it is to be held back by fear, and I know what becomes possible when you move beyond it.
The story behind Nurture Now
Six years ago, my world changed in ways I could never have planned for. My mother died suddenly. I had two young boys and a psychology practice to run, and within months the pandemic had cut us off from our support system. Grief was messy and at times lonely. And also, unexpectedly, one of the most profound experiences of my life.
In time, grief showed me something. I had been surviving rather than thriving. Running on never-ending lists I couldn’t get to the bottom of, on autopilot, with my own needs always at the bottom of the pile. Delaying joy until the list was done. Which it never was. Grief taught me that life is short. And joy had been here all along, hidden in plain sight: in the present, in the small moments, asking to be noticed.
There was something else too, something I had always known as a psychologist and now knew from the inside: deep sadness and great joy can live side by side. Both can be true.
Nature is one of our greatest teachers
My mother had a deep connection with gardening and nature that is forever rooted in my life. She adored her garden, later turning that love into a gardening business of her own and volunteering in the local flower fields. She taught me that nature is one of our greatest teachers.
After she died, nature called to me. It filled me with awe and brought me back to the present. It invited joy back in. Zeta arrived in our family home in that first year, my grief dog, and our walks in the forest, often at sunrise, are one of the ways I keep my connection with my mother growing now she has gone.
At its heart, Nurture Now carries a belief her garden taught me: that when you choose where your attention and energy flow, what you seed can take root, grow and bloom.
Why now
I came to understand that I needed to get intentional about where my energy went, what I nurtured and what I let go of. In grief, I found journalling when I needed it most, and it has been a saving grace. It became, in time, The Intentional Growth Book, my way of offering what grounded me to others.
Nurture Now grew from all of this, from my work as a psychologist, from my own growth and from that understanding of joy, intention and the present. In the name is a simple truth: you matter, life is short and nurturing yourself doesn’t have to wait for another time.
What began as a self-care mission has evolved into a psychology-informed home for personal growth. Because self-care, as I see it, is the care of the self. The tending of who you are underneath everything you hold.
And if I could leave you with one thing, it would be this: you don’t have to wait for a crisis, a loss or a life event to begin living with intention. If something in you is stirring, you can choose to meet it now.
The approaches that guide me
Two ways of working have come to mean the most to me.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing works with our innate drive towards healing and thriving, helping people process what feels stuck so it no longer holds them back. As an EMDR Europe Accredited Consultant, I also supervise other therapists in this approach.
Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems understands that our essence, who we truly are at our core, is always within us. When we lose our connection to it, we can find our way back to ourselves.
I hold certification in EMDR-informed coaching and have completed additional training in integrating EMDR and IFS approaches. The Intentional Growth Path, my one-to-one coaching, is grounded in this work, drawing on EMDR-informed principles and IFS-informed parts work.
Held by me, led by you.
Dr Jo Phillips, BSc MSc PsychD CPsychol
HCPC REGISTERED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
CHARTERED BY THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
EMDR EUROPE ACCREDITED CONSULTANT
EMDR-INFORMED COACH
AUTHOR OF THE INTENTIONAL GROWTH BOOK (2025)
My clinical and supervision work continues at Bluebird Psychology, my specialist anxiety clinic. Nurture Now coaching is personal growth work, not therapy, and if therapy is the better fit for you, including the EMDR intensives I offer, Bluebird is where you will find that side of my work.
Beyond the work
People sometimes ask what I would have done if I hadn’t become a psychologist. My answer is always the same: a photographer. I love capturing beauty in the moments. I chase sunrises and sunsets. I grow dahlias. I watch basketball with my boys, because shared family moments mean everything. I love music that moves me and conversations that go somewhere real.
I feel things deeply. I used to think that sensitivity was something to overcome. I know now it is one of my greatest strengths.
If you would like to take a next step
The Intentional Growth Path is my one-to-one coaching, four months with a psychologist alongside, moving towards what matters most to you. It begins with a discovery call.
There are other ways in too. The Intentional Growth Book, my guided journal, is a self-care companion to go at your own pace. My free seasonal series run through my email list, where you will also be first to hear about workshops, events and self-paced courses as they come. And on Instagram, I share reminders to pause, notice and let joy in.
© 2026 Nurture Now. All rights reserved. Nurture Now is a registered trademark.
Brand photography by AKP Branding Stories. Illustrations by Clare Mallison.