About

My name is Gillian Barden. I am a multidisciplinary coach and detoxification specialist, originally from Galway on the west coast of Ireland. I have lived in Dublin, Quito, Bangkok, and for over ten years in Hanoi. I have deep connections to the land in Thailand and Australia and love working with clients from around the world. My background bridges psychology, community development, education, and holistic health — rooted in professional training, lived experience, and a commitment to growth, transformation, and authenticity.

Life Long Learner

My first master’s was an MA in Community Development from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Focused on social inclusion, collective empowerment, and understanding the social, political, and economic structures that create poverty and exclusion. With the Galway Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support Group, I worked with individuals navigating the Direct Provision system. I liaised with the Health Service Executive, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, and other statutory bodies. My role was to create a platform and facilitate space for the voices of this deeply marginalised group to be heard in service planning. It shaped the way I understand power, voice, privilege, and what it truly means to listen. I spent a year in South America, where I worked for an NGO running schools to prepare disadvantaged and marginalised children to transition into the formal education system while continuing to receive long-term support. That year was a profound education in perspective and privilege. It helped clarify my responsibility to use the power I hold and the gifts I have been given to make my contribution to the world. My professional path has moved through university administration, grassroots activism, education, and international event production — the consistent thread is transformation.

Sobriety was the biggest trip of all

My sobriety and recovery from addiction triggered a prolonged dark night of the soul. Something I rarely hear discussed is that when you remove alcohol or substances — whatever you are using to numb trauma — what you have been avoiding will come up full force to be felt. More of a tsunami than a tidal wave, a slow powerful built up release. Only now, you don’t have your usual coping mechanisms of avoidance and disassociation. This is where I am a sobriety coach with lived experience. Even though I am not giving advice, I hold space as someone who has come out the other side of that particular darkness. It became the gateway through which I processed trauma — not just from this lifetime, but intergenerational. I learned that ancestral healing is not an abstract concept it is tangible and sacred work. That journey was my initiation into deep spirituality, nervous system repair, and a fuller embodiment of authenticity. Which sounds nice, a total restructuring of the self means the old constructs built on sand must come down. Learning how to navigate social spaces without the usual lubrication to bypass the anxiety and activate different parts of my personality was interesting. Now, left exposed to the full spectrum of human emotion at all times. Riding those waves and meeting all parts of myself with unconditional love. Transformation can be complicated and messy. Like anything you want to master, you need to practice it for it to become second nature.

The Alchemy of Coaching

It became time for me to want to formally study transformation, which is how I found coaching. Like a lot of people, I had the wrong idea of what it was. I thought a coach was a perfect person who had every aspect of their life together and could engineer my life with a blueprint that would fit me. I signed up to study with the Irish life coaching Institute and this was the beginning of a massive shift and awakening. One of the biggest pillars that I love about coaching is understanding that we can never truly help someone by stepping in and thinking we know what they should do. By giving advice we could completely throw someone off their path. Through deep listening and the right questions, the client enters a dialogue with their deepest self. That’s where the magic is. I don’t coach from my story. My story has given me the depth and presence to meet and accept everyone exactly where they are at. It was during this time I had a fundamental awakening regarding judgement and projections. They say every projection is a confession. This epiphany hit me fully somatic - my blood pressure dropped and the walls closed in. Realising how fear based it is to assume we know anything about another's life experience. Now when I experience judgement from others I do the work accepting being misunderstood. I tried to encode the feeling in my bones that this is what I'm doing to other people when I judge them. As a coach I feel like something of a blank canvas when I am in that space. It does not matter the persons demographic, goal or issue. What coaching truly is, is meeting the person where they are at with curiosity a diverse tool kit, and privilege to witness their story unfold.

Purge and Release to Evolve

As a detoxification specialist, I support clients in reducing toxic load—physically, chemically, environmentally, and emotionally. A few years ago, I began making my own cleaning products and cosmetics from raw ingredients. It was more than a wellness shift—it was an act of sovereignty. I stopped outsourcing my health to systems that were never designed to protect me. I later underwent a deep liver flush and colon cleanse, including coffee enemas. What I expelled shocked me. The following year, I did a Zen cleanse from Taiwan, which released mucoid plaque and evidence of parasites. These experiences changed everything. They didn’t just improve my physical health—they shifted my relationship with my body, deepened my rituals, and taught me what self-respect really looks like. I also experienced intense emotional releases — particularly anger when I detox my liver — which gave me my first embodied understanding of how emotions are stored and expressed through the body. Detox is not a quick fix, and I don’t want clients coming to me for a one-time protocol. I want to give you the tools to make detox cyclical, seasonal, and empowering. It's not about purity—it’s about reclaiming your clarity, energy, and agency.

What's next?

I am currently completing my second master’s, an MSc in Psychology, with modules including behavioural neuroscience, research methods, and social psychology. I am excited to explore further study into the psychological, physiological, and ancestral dimensions of long-term detoxification and nervous system repair. I consider myself a lifelong learner and disciple of transformation. If you're standing at a threshold and ready to do the work, I would be honoured to be a witness to your transformation.