Misty Hannah, MA, RSME/T is the founding director of Compassionate Accompaniment CIC. She is a Sensory Awareness practitioner with a focus on living with compassion and an End of Life Companion with a focus on grief support. Misty is a fully qualified, registered and insured Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist and Qi Gong/Taiji practitioner. She holds an MA in Dance and Somatic Well Being from UCLan and is a registered professional member of ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association).
Qualifications:
- MA with Distinction: Dance and Somatic Well Being (University of Central Lancashire, UK)
- Professional Member of the International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association ISMETA - for ISMETA Code of Ethics click here
- Sensory Awareness Leader and member of Sensory Awareness Leaders' Guild
- Taiji and Qi Gong Instructor certificates, registered with Tai Chi Healthways
- Certificate, End of Life Doula, from Red Tent End of Life Doulas
Past & Current projects:
- 2002 - 2019: Founded Envoy: explorations in movement. A movement, dance and research company with a focus on an inquiry into tracing migratory patterns of dance around the world. From 2010 Butoh dance influenced much of her artistic approach.
- 2016 - present: Leaders Groups for Sensory Awareness Foundation. Explorations in bringing awareness to bodily sensing to bring support to daily life.
- 2016 - 2019: Misty volunteered with the British Red Cross as a caseworker for the Mum's Project. Helping to bring support to women who are refugees/asylum seekers who are pregnant when they arrive in Scotland.
- 2019 - present: supplier to British Red Cross for women's and youth group mental health support.
- 2017- present: She continues to offer well being workshops to women and children refugees who need ongoing mental/emotional health support.
Awards:
- 2019 - present: Founded Compassionate Accompaniment CIC, not for profit social enterprise and was awarded funding from Firstport
- 2022 - Awarded Build It fund from Firstport to assist with expanding and continuing Compassionate Accompaniment CIC's services.
- 2022 - present: NHS funding for bereavement group, 1:1 support as well as staff self care sessions at Forth Valley and Falkirk Community hospital
- 2023 and 2024: Awarded Glasgow Wellbeing Fund for Kurdish Women's Community mental health support.
- 2024 and 2025: Awarded Glasgow Wellbeing Fund for Kurdish Women's Community mental health support.
- 2025 and 2026: Awarded Glasgow Wellbeing Fund for Kurdish Women's Community mental health support.
- 2025 and 2026: Partnered with Kurdish Community Group for Lottery funding. Awarded funding to provide emotional and mental health support for Young Minds youth group.
Staff: Jess Greig works as our part-time Social Media Marketing Assistant. Jess brings her creativity and heart wisdom to all that she does. She is intrumental in helping us to connect with more people who need our services. She's also helping us to connect with like minded organisations across Scotland which contributes to our potential to collaborate with others on various projects.
We love her ability to communicate, organise and think outside the box whether she's writing a blog post or juggling scheduling on multiple media platforms. Jess is an amazing addition to CA and we're so grateful to have her on board.
Board member, Liz Pearson (seen here with her dear Lizzie) brings to Compassionate Accompaniment her 40 years of nursing experience and several years as an NHS Cancer Manager. She helps us to network with key individuals and organisations that would like to collaborate with our grief, caregiver and end of life services. She is connecting us with staff in hospitals that will work with us to receive referrals to reach as many people as possible in need of our compassionate care services.
A message from Liz..."Wee Lizzie my miniature Schnauzer. She’s been a life saver for me after losing my husband in March 2020. I can certainly testify to the healing that Wee Lizzie has brought. Animals are so special and love unconditionally."
Board member, Kirstie Cook is a support worker with 'Streetwork', a charity providing care and accommodation to people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness across Edinburgh. Through her work with Streetwork, she brings her skills of accompanying people in extreme circumstances. Kirstie's experience working with people from all walks of life and her passion to help when others might have turned away fits well with the ethos of Compassionate Accompaniment CIC. We are thrilled that she is part of CA.
Board member, Michael Greig has been in the field of social work for nearly 30 years. He has been a registered, qualified social worker since 2006 in Edinburgh. Michael brings his many years of experience working with children and young people to Compassionate Accompaniment CIC. We are grateful for his skills and support.
Volunteer, Paul O'Sullivan, is invaluable to CA. He helps with all our IT tech and software. Whenever there's an IT issue he can always find a way to bring support. Paul is also known as 'the wizard' when it comes to computers and many things tech wise. He's brilliant at thinking outside the box and helps us understand how things work in the IT world. We are so happy to have his support.
Volunteer, Georgia Ellis, helps us with our social media research. She's great at finding inspiring articles that relate to CA's work through bridging both the scientific and spiritual worlds. She also helps us with building our photo and article library. She brings a her creative energy and new perspectives to CA. We're so happy that she's available to help us.
Georgia loves reading, dancing and playing volleyball. She also has a great passion for film and writing. A few words from Georgia: "My job is to give a little insight into all things social media and today's trends as CA's Gen Z expert."
Volunteer, Helen Ellis (seen here with handsome Micky) brings to Compassionate Accompaniment her years of experience as a carer for people with learning disabilities. She currently volunteers with Guide Dogs Scotland and in cancer care settings including hospice and oncology unit in FVH. Her role with CA involves introducing new people to our work via welcome and hospitality for events and workshops.
She also offers her emotional support to people grieving and Micky brings joy wherever he goes. They are a fantastic duo and we are so grateful for the time and compassion they bring to all they do with us.
