About Simone

Meet Your Chronic Pain Mind-Body Coach

Simone Steyn (Hons.psych, PgDip Pain Mx, Masters Public Health)

Hi, I’m Simone Steyn, a chronic pain mind-body coach who blends personal lived experience and evidence-based mind-body approaches to support people out of fear, cycles of pain, and emotional overwhelm.

After spending much of my life trapped in fear—constantly striving for perfection to feel accepted—I lived with a hyper-reactive nervous system, anxiety, depression, addiction, difficulties with intimacy, poor emotional regulation, and chronic health challenges, including a diagnosis of fibromyalgia along with a few other related conditions.

Thirteen years ago, after receiving a new diagnosis of fibromyalgia, it quickly became another label that defined me. This didn’t start my suffering—it amplified the patterns I had been living in for most of my life. Fear, perfectionism, and self-protection had already shaped how I coped, and this diagnosis gave those patterns new fuel. I let it define me and took refuge in the only ways I knew how—food, alcohol, orthorexia, avoidance, and a sedentary lifestyle. But instead of easing my pain, these coping mechanisms only deepened it.

Eventually, I reached a breaking point and decided to take back my power. I immersed myself in learning everything I could about the nervous system, the impact of emotional suppression, holistic mental health, and the neuropsychosocial roots of chronic pain. Then, I asked myself one life-changing question:

“What do I need to do to stop repeating these patterns and finally start living?”

That question began a long and transformative journey—years of therapy, coaching, tertiary education, workshops, countless books, plant medicine ceremonies, shadow work, and a deep exploration into the core of my being. Through this process, I discovered that true healing is holistic. Unless we integrate the whole body—the emotional, neural, physical, and spiritual layers—lasting healing cannot occur. I wanted to feel better, to enjoy life fully, but I also wanted to help others do the same.

That’s what led me to develop an integrative healing program inspired by the work of many pioneers and modalities, blending science, psychology, and spirituality into a unified path toward recovery and wholeness. My approach draws inspiration from many pioneering modalities and frameworks, including:

• Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
• Pain neuroscience
• Emotion Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Polyvagal Theory
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Narrative Therapy
• Positive Psychology

• Shadow Work (Carl Jung, Paul Levy)
• Psychoneuroimmunology
• The Law of One
• Inner Child Work
• Shamanic Breathwork and Mindfulness
• Attachment Theory
• Family Systems Theory

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PAIN: BOOK A FREE CALL WITH ME HERE

PERSONALLY

I have lived a very full life thus far and have gained so much life experience and both inner and textbook knowledge.

I am a mom to a very special Rottie called Gabriel, a daughter to a wonderful mom, a friend to a few incredible individuals, and a partner to my higher self. I am always aiming to transform my former self. However, as an imperfect, messy human—a spiritual being in a biological body with a protective nervous system—I still have days where I struggle, and my instinct is to repress or avoid feeling. This work is a lifelong journey, and I feel honoured to guide others along it.

My previous career involved teaching and performing ballet and contemporary dance. Dancing is my stress release and one of my greatest joys in life. Living a wholesome, peaceful, and healthy holistic life is something that I most value. The foundational principle of my life is the pursuit of inner growth and continuous transformation.

PROFESSIONALLY

I am a certified mind-body health and wellbeing coach, a pain reprocessing therapy practitioner, a registered ASCHP counsellor, a health researcher, and still learning…

I specialize in chronic pain—a field I am deeply passionate about due to my own lived experience—addressing it through the lenses of pain neuroscience, mind-body syndromes, holistic health, and the healing of emotional suppression.

Additionally, I have enriched my knowledge base through my work as a health researcher, for which I completed my master’s with a focus on chronic pain.

My diverse training across various modalities, coupled with my personal journey, has given me deep insights into working with individuals who are living with daily physical and emotional pain.

My Qualifications include the following Certificates and Degrees
Certificates in: Addiction Coaching, Health & Wellbeing Coaching, Pain Reprocessing Therapy Practitioner, Emotion Awareness Expression Therapy (EAET) Coaching.
Diplomas in Counselling and Communication; Postgraduate Diploma in Interdisciplinary Pain Management (Univ. Cape Town);
Degrees: Bachelor in Applied Social Sciences; Honours in Counselling Psychology; Masters in Public Health, Research in Chronic Pain (Univ. Cape Town)

Currently, I am enrolled in a Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) Postgraduate program.

Professional Memberships & Registrations
Association for Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms (ATNS)
Pain South Africa (PainSA)
International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) Association for Supportive Counsellors & Holistic Practitioners
(ASCHP: Registration no: SWC22/1428)

“My purpose is to support you in making the same shifts I’ve made—from suffering and hopelessness to resilience, inner peace, and a renewed sense of meaning on this ever-evolving path of healing.”

Discover my Holistic Coaching Approach

My approach to healing chronic pain is grounded in a core belief: true resolution occurs when we realign the mind-body-soul system, allowing the whole person—not just the physical body—to return to its natural state of balance. As your guide, I bridge evidence-based neuroscience with compassionate, person-centred coaching to help you restore harmony to your mind-body-soul system and access its profound healing potential.

Through my unique programs tailored to your specific experience, we’ll work together to uncover the true drivers of your pain—using mind-body coaching that bridges the gap between the nervous system and the soul. We will utilize a range of potent tools: from neurological approaches like PRT and EAET to soul-centred practices like Internal Family Systems (IFS)—inner parts work and narrative therapy. To support your whole system, we’ll also focus on lifestyle coaching for movement, rest, and nutrition—tools I know first-hand to be transformative. Our work together is about more than just reducing pain; it’s about supporting your entire being. Whether your path involves retraining the brain or releasing emotional weight, the goal is the same: restoring your mind-body connection and helping you return to the ‘you’ that’s been waiting beneath the pain.

If you’d like to understand the neuroscience behind chronic pain and how pain becomes persistent, you can explore more about pain, your emotions, personality, and the brain HERE.

Core Therapeutic Approaches That Anchor My Work

The methods I use at PainEase Coaching are grounded in modern pain science and trauma-informed, mind-body healing. Rather than treating pain as purely physical or purely psychological, these approaches recognise pain as a protective response shaped by the nervous system, emotional experience, and life context.

While my approach draws inspiration from many pioneering modalities and frameworks, two core therapeutic approaches anchor my work at PainEase Coaching. These are not stand-alone techniques but foundational lenses that weave through the healing process.

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a neuroscience-based approach that helps the brain unlearn chronic neuroplastic pain and other non-pain symptoms. It does this by helping you to re-interpret sensations from the body as being caused by faulty signalling from the brain and not as structural damage in the body. It teaches you how to view your pain through a lens of safety and not fear.

Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) supports the safe recognition and expression of emotions—such as fear, anger, rage, shame, despair, grief, or unmet needs—that, when unprocessed over long periods of time, can remain held in the body and continue to drive pain and other physical symptoms.

Through my 5-Pillar Holistic Healing Framework, we address the body, brain, emotions, social world, and soul—integrating these layers to create a foundation for lasting relief and deep internal alignment.

If you’d like to understand the neuroscience behind chronic pain and how pain becomes persistent, you can explore more about pain, your emotions, personality, and the brain HERE.

“Our goal is more than recovery—it is a journey of rediscovering your wholeness and stepping into a life no longer defined by the ‘chronic pain’ label.”

5-Pillar Holistic Healing Framework

At PainEase Coaching, I utilize a 5-Pillar Framework that honours pain as complex, multi-layered, and deeply personal. Whether your pain is structural, neuroplastic, or a blend of both, true healing happens when we care for the whole person: body, brain, emotions, social world, and soul.

Pillar 1: Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE)—Understanding the ‘why’ behind your pain is a powerful intervention in itself. We explore how your brain interprets threat and how a sensitized nervous system maintains pain. PNE provides the clarity needed to reduce fear and view your symptoms through a lens of safety. By doing so, you lower the brain’s alarm response and build a secure foundation for healing.

Pillar 2: Neuro-Biological Practices—Here, we work with the body and brain as a single unit. Depending on your needs, we utilize tools like PRT, pacing strategies, and anti-inflammatory nutrition, alongside vagus nerve work, breathwork, and targeted movement. Together, these practices support the brain and body as a unified system.” Our goal is to stabilize the ‘Big Dysregulated Four’ moving them out of a state of chronic alarm and back into a state of ease.

The Central Nervous System (the command centre)
The Limbic System (the emotional centre)
The Stress-Response System (the alarm)
The Enteric System (the gut-brain connection)

I focus on these four systems because they are where our unconscious emotional patterns become physical reality. When emotions are repressed, they create a ‘noise’ that keeps these systems in a state of chronic alarm, leading to the physical symptoms you feel today.

Pillar 3: Emotional Healing & the Biology of Repression—Pain is deeply shaped by our emotional landscape. Using EAET and trauma-informed practices, we address how repressed emotions manifest across your biological systems:

The Limbic System (The Vault): This is the “emotional center” where the brain decides if a feeling is safe to feel. When an emotion is deemed “dangerous” or “unacceptable,” the limbic system suppresses it. It’s the gatekeeper that keeps the unconscious, unconscious.
The Stress-Response System (The Body Armor): When emotions are repressed, the stress system stays in a state of “high alert.” This creates the physical tension, the bracing, and the autonomic arousal that eventually manifests as chronic pain.
The Enteric System (The Gut Reaction): We often feel our repressed emotions here first—the “pit in the stomach” or “butterflies.” Because the gut is so densely wired with neurotransmitters, it often becomes a primary stage where unconscious emotional conflict plays out.

Pillar 4: Psycho-Social Integration—Chronic pain doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it affects our relationships, and our relationships profoundly affect our pain. In this pillar, we look at typical chronic pain personality’ traits like perfectionism, dependency, worrying, and ‘goodist’ tendencies, but we go a step further into practical relational healing. We work on transforming your external world by improving communication, setting clear boundaries, and navigating the complex dynamics that chronic pain creates within relationships. By reclaiming your voice and healing your relational patterns, you build a social environment that actively supports your recovery—strengthening your relationship with yourself and others to provide the resilient foundation your soul needs to thrive.

Pillar 5: Self-Compassion & Purpose—True healing is sustained through loving tenderness toward yourself and a reconnection to meaning. By deepening the relationship with your ‘inner self,’ you connect with the spiritual essence of your being. Self-compassion allows you to stay present with your experience without retreating. This pillar is about learning to truly be with yourself—to feel safe in your own presence and to reparent the scared inner child who didn’t have the tools to cope back then. Now, you do. It is vital to understand that you aren’t offering yourself loving-kindness as a tactic to “get out of pain”; you are giving yourself and your inner child love, acceptance, and safety simply because you are in pain. As you soften this inner pressure and connect with your spiritual essence, you rediscover a sense of purpose that brings vitality and direction to your life beyond the label of pain.

This 5-Pillar Holistic Healing Framework is a living map that adapts to your unique life context and honors the complexity of your experience. We bridge the gap between medical neuroscience and soulful reparenting to move you toward lasting recovery. It’s more than just symptom management—it’s about building a foundation of safety that allows the ‘Remarkable You’ to finally emerge.

How I Work With You in Coaching Sessions

My mission is to give you back the reins of your own health. As a certified mind-body practitioner and counsellor, I provide the evidence-based tools and emotional support necessary to navigate the path to relief. Our sessions focus on transforming your relationship with pain, mastering nervous system regulation and building the deep emotional resilience required for lasting healing.

What You’ll Experience in Our Sessions:

Deep Clarity & Insight About Your Pain: We move beyond the mystery of your symptoms to explore the “why.” You will gain a clear, compassionate understanding of how your brain’s protective alarm system has been trying to keep you safe—and how we can gently signal that the danger has passed.
A Toolkit for Inner Calm: Healing is an embodied practice. You’ll learn science-backed techniques to soothe your nervous system and step out of the fight-or-flight response. These tools help you down-regulate pain in the moment while nurturing a lifestyle that honours your body’s need for peace and rhythm.
Personalized, Soul-Centered Support: Your story is unique, and your healing should be too. I provide guidance tailored to your history, your nervous system’s capacity, and your personal pace—supporting you as you build the confidence to trust your body again.
A Sanctuary of Safety & Presence: This is your dedicated space to be seen, heard, and held in total confidentiality. Within this non-judgmental environment, you are invited to explore the roots of your experience and feel the steady support of a witness who truly understands the path you are walking.
Compassionate Connection, Anywhere: Healing knows no boundaries. All sessions are held privately online (in English) for individuals aged 16+, allowing you to engage in this work from the comfort and sanctuary of your own home.

About Pain