I am Cate Mackenzie, a COSRT Accredited Sex and Relationship Therapist, workshop leader and artist. I work with individuals, couples and groups to support them to open to the flow of life and experience more joy.

In 2001, I went through acute grief after losing several close friends and family members. The pain was overwhelming, and I needed a way to stay open rather than shut down. That was when I began painting hearts. It became a way to keep my heart open to life. People were deeply touched by the paintings, and soon requests started coming in for heart paintings for others. I was also offered exhibitions, and I realised that these paintings were not just art, they were a way of supporting people through life.

My work is about love, how love is expressed, and the process of opening to love and to the flow of life itself. When I paint hearts, it feels like saying a prayer. I open myself to the energy of life and allow the painting to be created through me. I create a space with music and candles, place the canvas on the floor, and dance around the room, throwing the paint. It is a kind of moving meditation, capturing openness, energy and flow in art.

When you look at one of these paintings, I want you to feel that movement and aliveness, so it can touch you and support you. They are there to remind you of the beauty and strength in being soft and vulnerable.

I once read a piece that asked whether you would be willing to be a fool for love. That question stayed with me. It showed me how much courage it takes to be truly vulnerable, to let go of the mask and let love in. I know this is my path.

Alongside my art, I work as a Sex and Relationship Therapist and am regularly featured in the press, including The Guardian, The Telegraph and Cosmopolitan. I have appeared on television as a Dating Coach on Channel 4’s The Undateables, as a Sex Therapist on Channel 4’s Kinky Britain, and as a Flirting Coach on Channel Five’s The Jeremy Vine Show. I have also been featured on Radio Five Live and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and in film, including Strange Journey, the documentary about Richard O’Brien and The Rocky Horror Show.

I host two podcasts, Cate Mackenzie’s Meditations and Love, Pleasure and Joy, where I also interview guests such as Ruby Wax, Ben Miller and Richard O’Brien.