A FORMER mental health charity CEO and her daughter have launched a new wellbeing studio in Irvine - after creating the kind of space they both wished had existed when they needed it most.
Tracy Gilmour, who spent more than 20 years working in social care and mental health, including six years leading South Ayrshire-based mental health charity Three Sixty, has joined forces with her daughter, Niamh Burns, to launch Noa, a wellbeing studio offering breathwork, sound baths, facials, massage, and relaxation experiences.
The idea originally came from Niamh, who wanted to create a welcoming space where people could slow down, switch off and take time for themselves.
As the idea developed, Tracy found herself increasingly drawn to the vision and recognised how closely it aligned with both her professional experience and their own personal experiences of stress, pressure and the need for places that support wellbeing.
The mother-and-daughter team say Noa was created not just from a business idea, but from a genuine desire to build the kind of place they had both searched for themselves.
Tracy said: "Throughout my career, I saw first-hand the impact that stress, burnout and pressure can have on people's lives. But this wasn't just about my professional experience.
"This was actually Niamh's idea first. She started talking about creating a space where people could come and genuinely relax, switch off and feel cared for. The more we talked about it, the more I realised how much it connected with everything I'd spent my career seeing and everything we had both experienced personally.
"Both Niamh and I have gone through times when we needed a space like this ourselves, somewhere calm, welcoming and supportive where we could simply breathe for a while. We searched for it but couldn't find it. Eventually, we realised that if we were searching for a space like this, other people probably were too."
Niamh said: "I wanted to create somewhere that felt different from everyday life. Somewhere people could walk into and immediately feel more relaxed.
"I never imagined I'd be building it with my mum, but once we started talking about it, the idea just grew. Creating Noa has allowed us to build the kind of place we wish we'd had access to ourselves, somewhere warm, welcoming and free from judgement."
At a time when stress, burnout and social isolation continue to affect people across Ayrshire, Tracy and Niamh believe many people are looking for alternatives to busy, noisy environments and are searching for places that offer genuine connection, calm and community.
Noa offers trauma-informed breathwork, sound baths, facials, massage and small-group wellbeing experiences, all designed to help people create space for themselves in an increasingly busy world.
Tracy added: "People often think wellbeing has to be complicated, but sometimes what we need most is a quiet room, a warm welcome and permission to stop for an hour.
"That's what Noa is really about. Creating a space where people can come exactly as they are and leave feeling a little lighter than when they arrived."
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