Nina Davies

Nina spent her teenage years in Singapore. This began an enduring fascination with how health, including psychology, are viewed cross-culturally. She went on to study Social Anthropology with particular interests in the roles played by religion and gender in international development. Nina later did Voluntary Service Overseas in Malawi which focused her interest on traditional mental health treatments in the African context. In the UK Nina spent many years working at the intersection of mental health, homelessness and special needs housing.

Nina learnt to meditate in a Western Buddhist context in 1996. Having initially learnt about Buddhism in South East Asia, she regarded Western Buddhism with a somewhat cynical eye! However, she found meditation a beneficial practice and became interested in studies of mindfulness and neuroscience. Nina came across ‘direct pointing’ in 2016 and almost simultaneously started to study Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She noticed that direct pointing (used in the Odoki Method) was similar to some CBT techniques and became fascinated with how anxious thoughts can be challenged effectively with a combination of gentle understanding and actively noticing how body sensations reinforce unhelpful beliefs. Nina is a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy practitioner and is currently interested in the history of CBT and its influences, including Stoicism.