Looking back, I first became interested in healing at an early age. In Ireland, where I grew up, it was common to be taken to the priest for ailments deemed unnecessary for the GP’s office. As a young, frightened seven-year-old, I suffered from night terrors. I can still remember the profound feeling when the local priest laid his hand on my head and spoke in prayer. It was therefore no surprise that, twenty years later, I completed a five-year course of study in Visionary Craniosacral Work® with Hugh Milne. A significant part of this diploma focuses on the head and on prayer.

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For the past 18 years, I have worked in physical care throughout a range of medical settings, including emergency relief in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake; intensive care units in teaching hospitals across Europe and Canada; and rehabilitation medicine in both public and private care settings. Concurrently, I have spent 18 years studying the nature of disease and the interrelationship it shares with the motility and movement of the craniosacral system. A natural progression of this work has been the emergence of an approach to care that embodies a mind–body–spirit perspective.

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Those who seem most drawn to—and who benefit most from—my work are individuals who, in the physiotherapy world, are considered to be “centrally sensitised” to persistent or chronic pain.

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In my clinical experience, I feel called to reframe this perspective by observing that such patients possess a highly intelligent and fully functioning nervous system that is demonstrating its capacity for self-regulation. The process, however, has not yet completed its full circle of integrated healing—that is all.

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This challenge is often categorised as a trauma, the symptoms of which may present as:

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• Emotional dysregulation

• Anxiety and depression

• Long-standing pain issues, including temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain

• Gastrointestinal issues

• Challenges related to birth trauma

• Energy and cognitive difficulties

• Decreased clarity

• Lack of purpose

• Relationship and attachment challenges

• Disconnection from meaning

• Ancestral lineage disconnection 

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Ethically, I feel a responsibility to understand what is occurring within a person’s system that is giving rise to these symptoms, regardless of diagnosis. Having treated thousands of patients at this point—some successfully, some not—it has become clear to me that each patient’s own circuitry communicates a clear and buoyant message about what is needed to complete their cycle of healing.

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The approach I employ does not follow the typical pattern of what might be considered “regular” physiotherapy. I spend less time focusing on symptoms and more time listening to the patient’s anatomy, structure, and rhythms, seeking to understand how best I can assist through subtle manipulations of the fascial and craniosacral systems and through presence.

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The method I have developed is informed by 18 years of extensively studying subtle movement modalities within the meditation, somatoemotional, craniosacral, visceral, trauma informed and ancestral healing fields through the Upledger Institute, Milne Institute, Barral Institute, Kathy Kain's Somatic practice, and Indigenous healing field trips to Central Mexico, Costa Rica, Ireland, and, most recently, on Quw’utsun territory in the Pacific Northwest.

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The model I use is a holistic one, in which all of the patient’s practitioners play a significant role in the healing process. Pharmaceuticals and accurate diagnosis from a GP are essential in the acute stages of disease, just as unwinding deeply ingrained neurophysiological patterns is vital during the transformative stages of healing.

 

My aim of working with you:​

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• To listen to your story—both what you share and what I perceive through hands-on work—and connect it to your symptoms, understanding that this may take more than one session.

• To support you in restoring vibrant health and reconnecting to your joy

• To provide you with lifelong tools that can withstand the test of time, so that this period of your life may one day be only a distant memory.

• Please view this work as a complement to your medical care, not a replacement. A balanced routine, along with supportive nutrition and exercise, can greatly enhance your results.

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The following patient experiences represent how things can unfold when the deeper pathological patterns are identified and are brought to light for healing;

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"Working with David feels like a true collaboration.

 I came to him when I realized that my own skills could only take me so far in stabilizing my nervous system after a long period of repetitive trauma. He created a safe container for my nervous system to let go. I have been seeing him monthly for over six months. This time frame gave me all the space I needed to digest and integrate what came up at the exact pace of my body. It also made space for my own healing process between sessions. 

David is a skilled practitioner and sensitively intuitive guide. He easily bridges the space between intuitive healing and practical physical techniques, while always letting the body lead. He has been a key part of my journey back home to the integrated experience of what it is to me in the world in this moment. I have an increased sense of trust in myself and safety in the world around me. I have also regained and strengthened my own capacity to hold a safe grounded container for others in my own practice. 

I don’t yet have the words to describe my gratitude for how this work together has rippled out to affect all areas of my life, both personal and professional"

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-V.F. , 40 year old woman​

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"After working as a photographer for over 20 years, having a few falls, a semi dislocated shoulder, I was
left with a lot of pain in my neck, shoulders and upper back.
Suffering from migraines, tinnitus in my right ear, and TMJ, things were feeling a bit bleak and aging felt like it was exasperating all of my pain.
After a fall in 2019, I hit my head pretty hard and I have not felt like myself in 5 years. Until I was treated by David.
David provided Cranial Sacral therapy and dry needling. These therapies released a lot of deep traumas locked in my body, and realigned my being.
He also suggested that I start Pilates, breathe work and meditation and also encouraged me to seek out a therapist that works with CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) All these things helped relax my mind and body, releasing tension and helping me manage my stress, anxiety and occasional depression.
Working with David has been a game changer. The catalyst to helping me feel like myself again. My pain in my neck shoulders and back has subsided, I feel so much calmer, happier and relaxed. My tinnitus is gone and my migraines, even though they still occur, they are less frequent and do NOT last days.
I am so grateful to have worked with David and highly recommend him to anyone "

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- J.S , 53 year old female ​

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"David is an intuitive healer and has helped both my 5 year old son and myself.  I went to see David for chronic pain in my neck and lower back. With a combination of IMS needling and cranial sacral work, he was able to pin point where my pain was originating from and within a few sessions, the pain and stiffness is not an issue any more. 

 

I brought my 5 year old son to see David for Cranial Sacral work as a recommendation from his kindergarten teacher. He was able to settle my son (who was feeling apprehensive about meeting him) into his healing space with a story and a song, bringing him into David’s world. 

 

After one session with David, our son was noticeably brighter, happier and more at ease within his body. After a few session with David, our son’s ability to navigate emotional upsets throughout his day is so much more in balance after seeing David and his light is shining bright. 

 

My son now asks to go see David because he intuitively knows the healing he receives while in David’s care. We are very grateful for David’s help". 

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-T.S , 41 year old mother and 5 year old boy​​

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 "I have found so much more in my work with David. I have never been one to prioritize therapy of any kind but thanks to David my understanding has shifted and I have come to appreciate the importance of dedicating time to heal. I have nothing but profound appreciation for what David has done for my body and mind. "

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​-J. B, 40 year old woman with lower back pain

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"Through synchronicity, I was referred to David to have my chronic back pain treated with needling (IMS). I knew at the time that my pain was a physical symptom of emotional stress and was seeking someone who understood not only the workings of the physical body but also how environmental stress and ancestral trauma contribute to pain. While the needling was helpful for immediate pain relief, I was drawn to David's offering of craniosacral therapy based in physiotherapy. I found David's intuitive listening skills to be very beneficial in helping me to discover the nuances of the pain I had been experiencing for over two decades. During my first sessions with David, I developed the skill to listen to the wisdom of my own body to uncover the root cause of the pain. Each session built on the previous one, deepening my ability to understand the trauma I was holding in my cells and the patterns I was repeating in my current experience, causing my body to "hang on" to the pain. Over time, with David's gentle encouragement, I began to trust my body and listen to her guidance bringing more presence and awareness to how I talk to myself, hold my posture, create healthy boundaries, and support my inner child. Many modern modalities are known for treating the symptoms of pain, which kept me stuck in a loop of temporary relief followed by more pain. I am grateful for David's gift of helping others discover the root cause of pain so that it can be healed at deeper energetic levels and ultimately physically as well. I will continue my work with David because the benefits have rippled to many areas of my life, including long-term pain relief, an increased sense of self-worth, addressing ancestral trauma, and much healthier boundaries with those around me."

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​​-J. L, 38 year old lady challenged with chronic lower back pain 

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"Your help was invaluable to my recovery and craniosacral therapy helped me to release emotions that were trapped in my heart but, more importantly, it facilitated long blocked physical energy long locked away along meridians to be unlocked and energy to move through long dormant areas in my body. At first, as my body was not accustomed to this due to "freezing" the energy from a past traumatic event (sexual assault) my emotions became stuck as well and locked in to the physical aspect of blocked energy. Craniosacral modalities opened up the energy force in a completely SAFE, healing space that allowed the physical sensations long frozen into the body to finally be freed and released. The emotional release manifested as tears, images, and finally the most important gift to get my access back to my own intuition again which had been lost due to blocked energy in the body. Craniosacral therapy delivery by you as a healing practitioner felt like you could locate areas where the universe was guiding you to focus on then using your gift of healing warmth you directed the sacred part in the universe and in me to heal myself. Without sounding too out there, it did feel both physical and psychological and I literally felt energy renewed in my body as pain (emotional) and physical was released to heal the physical injuries that brought me to the physiotherapy clinic but the universe guided me there for spiritual reasons. I can honestly say I have a very close connection with my own intuition again and I feel a closer connection to nature, the ocean, the trees, the sound of birds and I feel freedom and love in my heart. I believe craniosacral therapy helped me on a healing journey as I already had some degree of intuitive / psychic abilities but it helped me to learn to accept these abilities and not to be afraid of them."

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​​-M.M, 40 year old lady suffering from chronic neck and back pain 

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Beannachtaí - 

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David McCauley, Cowichan Valley, 2025

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