Mamabear McGowan (Rev Em)

Author • Guide • Companion

You may have arrived here through my book Designing a Life That Could Hold Me, or through talks where I speak about living through major change, grief, and what it means to remain rooted when life shifts.

My work centres on a simple question:

How do we live when life no longer fits and pushing through no longer works

I’m Mamabear McGowan, also known as Rev Em.
I’m an author, guide, and companion, supporting people through change.

I rebuilt my life around capacity, limits, and truth following neurological collapse, disability, and profound change.

I live my life dedicated to bridging the space between separation. I speak and write about life and living, honouring grief, change, and endings as part of being human.

This work is about rebuilding quality of life, redesigning how we live, and remembering our shared humanity by meeting people where they are and moving at a pace people can meet with awareness.

A Place to Land

I live on land in Portugal that holds me, in a home I built at my own pace, starting at zero.
This exists because the systems I trusted could no longer support me and I chose to leave rather than disappear inside them.

For a long time, my basic needs for money, food, and shelter were met, but what mattered to me was not taken seriously. I needed space and did not have it. I needed honesty and consistency and lived with neither. I wanted to build a sustainable life and meaningful work. The life I was living could not support that.

Mid lockdown, the truth became unavoidable. Staying in a life that did not align with who I was would kill me, not suddenly, but slowly.

Leaving meant walking away from what I knew, in a country I did not fully understand, speaking a language I did not yet speak. A life where I felt suffocated was not an option either.

So I left.

I remember driving away through tears and rain, the roads almost empty, reminding myself which side of the road to drive on. I was scared to ditch the car, but I knew that if I stopped, I would not go. The fear of staying outweighed the fear of leaving.

My first stop was with someone I had never met, but she understood my story. Her care and consideration, strong warm arms, a gentle voice, a cup of tea. We spoke as though we had always known each other, and sang our songs of grief for the lives we lived, out across the night.

The road kept opening, and I followed. Each stop offered something different, and I stayed long enough to listen.

In 2022, the land called me and I became its keeper. I named it Creative Rootz.
In 2023, the land grew and my house became a home.

Now I sit on my sofa, snuggled with my furry family, in the home I built in relationship with the space which teaches me, nourishes me, and sustains me. We grow together.

Creative Rootz has become my sanctuary, shaped by everything that held me when I had nowhere to land. It is a place to stop, to be heard and seen, and to speak what is true without being fixed or rushed. I created it because I know what it feels like to live without space, without truth being honoured, and without structures that can truly support life. Everything created here is rooted in lived experience and held in my commitment to creating spaces that are sustainable, grounded, and real.

Creative Rootz

I am the founder of Creative Rootz.

Creative Rootz brings together my writing, teaching, ceremonial work, and ways of living that have developed over time.

Creative Rootz contains:

• a library of writing

• reflective talks and shared conversations

• courses rooted in land based ways of being

• an intentional land based ministry

• celebrant work to honour life’s passages

• one to one and group spaces held with care and discernment for those navigating change

Creative Rootz is grounded, spacious, and shaped through lived experience.

My Life's Work

My work is shaped by what I have lived and the spaces I have been asked to hold over time.

I have supported people through grief, illness, death, and major life change in one to one settings, group spaces, and ceremonies. I regularly officiate weddings and funerals, accompanying people at meaningful thresholds in their lives.

I have lived off grid and been land based for many years, designing life around capacity, limits, and care. This ongoing relationship with land, body, and consequence informs how I write, teach, and hold space with others.

My books, courses, and ceremonial work have grown steadily over time, shaped by practice rather than theory, and continue to evolve.

Books

My books are grounded in lived experience and written for people navigating change, loss, and redesigning life within real limits.

Designing a Life That Could Hold Me
A quietly radical memoir of collapse, capacity, and coming home. Written after neurological collapse and disability, this book explores how life can be redesigned around safety, limits, and truth rather than pushing through.

Meeting Your Grief
A compassionate exploration of grief as a natural human response to loss and change, offering language and presence in a culture that avoids grief and death.

Rebirthing a Revolution
Reflections on personal and collective change through permaculture, responsibility, and remembering our relationship with land and each other.

All books are available in eBook and print through major online retailers.

Why People Come Here

People come to this work when:

• life has changed suddenly

• illness or loss has altered direction

• old ways of coping no longer work

• they want to remain rooted

Creative Rootz is not about fixing or forcing.
It is about learning to listen to life as it is, and responding honestly within real limits, with awareness.

Ways to Engage

People engage with my work in different ways, depending on where they are and what they need.

Courses on Udemy
Self paced courses rooted in land based ways of being, nervous system awareness, and living within real limits. These are practical and reflective, designed to be met in your own time.

Celebrant Work
I offer celebrant services to honour life’s passages, including weddings and funerals. This work is grounded, non performative, and shaped by presence, care, and respect for the moment being marked.

One to One and Group Spaces
I offer one to one sessions and group spaces for people navigating change, grief, illness, or major life transitions. These are held with care and discernment, supporting people to engage honestly with their own lives.