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About Us

From the Sunny Coast of Western Australia to North Down, Active Health brings an International approach to helping people reach their goals and live the Active Healthy Life they deserve. Find out more about the multidisciplinary team here at Active Health.

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Founded by David & Rachel Saligari in 2007 after returning from David’s native Perth, Western Australia, Active Health’s goal has always been to provide a Multidisciplinary approach help people live free from pain and stiffness and to continue doing the things they love. Active Health has grown into a company of Passionate Healthcare Professionals who pride themselves in providing the most up-to-date evidence based treatments to get people back to living life to the fullest. We provide a range of services that will allow you to Activate your Health and Live Life to the Fullest.

Therapists

Rachel Saligari
Physio, Pilates Instructors

Rachel is a native of North Down, having been educated at Sullivan Upper School. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 2000 and has spent her time specialising in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy. After completing her rotations at a large teaching hospital in Dublin, Rachel moved to New Zealand in 2002 where she took up the post of Principal Physiotherapist.

David Saligari
Physio

David hails from sunny Perth in Western Australia where he completed his Physiotherapy degree at Curtin University in 2001 before working in a busy private practice. In 2004 he met Rachel when they studied for their Masters of Manual Therapy degrees at the University of Western Australia. 

Claire Bannerman
Physio, Pilates Instructors

Claire is an experienced member of the Active Health+ team with over 12 years of experience in the musculoskeletal and sporting field. She qualified from Glasgow Caledonian University with an honours degree in Physiotherapy in 2010. Her combined desire to work and travel took her to Germany and then New Zealand where she worked in private musculoskeletal clinics gaining a wide range of experience working with the public as well as elite athletes within various sports, including rugby, football and the NZ Pro beach volleyball tour in 2012.

Hannah Younge
Physio, Pilates Instructors

Hannah graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2015 with a first class honours degree in Physiotherapy. She then stayed in Glasgow, working in the NHS setting where she gained experience in multiple areas before specialising in musculoskeletal physio. Her love of travel, and Spanish language and culture then took her to Spain where she worked in a hospital clinic in Gibraltar and taught Pilates in Spain.

Lucy Armstrong
Sports Therapist, Pilates Instructors, Massage Therapist

Lucy graduated from Edge Hill University in 2021, with a first-class honours in BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy. During her time in England, she worked within elite adolescent sport, providing sports therapy and strength and conditioning provision for Wigan Athletic Football Academy.

Lucy returned to Northern Ireland in the summer of 2021, continuing to build on her experience through working within a private practice, treating, and managing MSK injuries and diagnoses. Due to her interest in strength and conditioning, Lucy also works within a Belfast based Gaelic football club, utilising her skills in S+C principles, pitch-side first aid and injury management.

In her free time, Lucy enjoys staying active through swimming, and participation in Gaelic football and hockey, in which she plays for local teams.

Tom Kanwischer
Physio

Tom has lived in London, Dublin, and Vancouver, Canada. He completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Vancouver before moving to Belfast. He played and coached rugby for many years in Dublin and Vancouver and has trained in various other sports, including football, freestyle skiing, swimming, cycling, running, trampolining and gymnastics, and tennis. Tom enjoys exploring new hiking trails with his wife, playing music, and cycling.

Qualifications:

  • Master of Physiotherapy (University of British Columbia)
  • Bachelor of Kinesiology with Minor in Psychology (University of British Columbia)

    Pilates Instructors

    Rachel Saligari
    Physio, Pilates Instructors

    Rachel is a native of North Down, having been educated at Sullivan Upper School. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 2000 and has spent her time specialising in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy. After completing her rotations at a large teaching hospital in Dublin, Rachel moved to New Zealand in 2002 where she took up the post of Principal Physiotherapist.

    Claire Bannerman
    Physio, Pilates Instructors

    Claire is an experienced member of the Active Health+ team with over 12 years of experience in the musculoskeletal and sporting field. She qualified from Glasgow Caledonian University with an honours degree in Physiotherapy in 2010. Her combined desire to work and travel took her to Germany and then New Zealand where she worked in private musculoskeletal clinics gaining a wide range of experience working with the public as well as elite athletes within various sports, including rugby, football and the NZ Pro beach volleyball tour in 2012.

    Hannah Younge
    Physio, Pilates Instructors

    Hannah graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2015 with a first class honours degree in Physiotherapy. She then stayed in Glasgow, working in the NHS setting where she gained experience in multiple areas before specialising in musculoskeletal physio. Her love of travel, and Spanish language and culture then took her to Spain where she worked in a hospital clinic in Gibraltar and taught Pilates in Spain.

    Vanessa Newell
    Pilates Instructors

    Vanessa Newell is originally from Crawfordsburn, Co.Down and is now living in Donaghadee.
    Approximately 20 years ago, Vanessa first started her fitness instruction journey with a Personal Training (PT) qualification and Diploma in Body Massage.
    Vanessa grew up taking part in gymnastics competitively and has been doing Pilates since around 2010.
    She started her instructor journey in 2020 and is now fully trained in essential, intermediate and advanced mat and reformer pilates.
    2022 will see Vanessa complete Cadillac, barrel and chair training and thus becoming an extremely well-rounded pilates instructor!

    Vanessa enjoys working with Active Health as she really feels part of the team and loves working with clients that are working on rehabilitation: she finds it very rewarding to see their improvement.
    In her spare time she loves doing Pilates and yoga, keeping active in many different sporting areas and walking with her family and dogs 🐶 ❤️

    Lucy Armstrong
    Sports Therapist, Pilates Instructors, Massage Therapist

    Lucy graduated from Edge Hill University in 2021, with a first-class honours in BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy. During her time in England, she worked within elite adolescent sport, providing sports therapy and strength and conditioning provision for Wigan Athletic Football Academy.

    Lucy returned to Northern Ireland in the summer of 2021, continuing to build on her experience through working within a private practice, treating, and managing MSK injuries and diagnoses. Due to her interest in strength and conditioning, Lucy also works within a Belfast based Gaelic football club, utilising her skills in S+C principles, pitch-side first aid and injury management.

    In her free time, Lucy enjoys staying active through swimming, and participation in Gaelic football and hockey, in which she plays for local teams.

    Personal Trainers

    David Graham
    Personal Trainer

    David Graham BSc (Hons) is a fully qualified personal trainer, specialising in coaching triathletes, swimmers and individuals with a passion for fitness.

    David’s areas of speciality include:

    – Triathlon and Ironman Coaching
    – Triathlon Swimming Coaching
    – Swimming Technique Analysis
    – Strength and Conditioning Coaching

    Massage Therapists

    Mark Blackburne
    Massage Therapist

    Born and raised locally Mark was educated at Methodist College Belfast and Queen’s University where he studied, and later taught, political science before forging a career in the financial sector. Having always maintained a keen interest in the medical sciences (on two occasions bemusing his school teachers and university tutors by studying biology and politics together) Mark decided to return to education to study Anatomy & Physiology and Sports Massage Therapy at The Portobello Institute in Dublin.

    Coming from what he describes as a ‘sports mad’ family, Mark is a keen walker, hiker and kayaker, his experience of which have promoted a keen interest in the treatment and prevention of sports injuries. With a keen interest in history, art, and architecture Mark also regularly volunteers with the National Trust and can often be found guiding visitors round his favourite property Mount Stewart House on the shores of Strangford Lough.

    Lucy Armstrong
    Sports Therapist, Pilates Instructors, Massage Therapist

    Lucy graduated from Edge Hill University in 2021, with a first-class honours in BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy. During her time in England, she worked within elite adolescent sport, providing sports therapy and strength and conditioning provision for Wigan Athletic Football Academy.

    Lucy returned to Northern Ireland in the summer of 2021, continuing to build on her experience through working within a private practice, treating, and managing MSK injuries and diagnoses. Due to her interest in strength and conditioning, Lucy also works within a Belfast based Gaelic football club, utilising her skills in S+C principles, pitch-side first aid and injury management.

    In her free time, Lucy enjoys staying active through swimming, and participation in Gaelic football and hockey, in which she plays for local teams.

    Podiatrist

    Caroline Graham
    Podiatrist

    Caroline graduated from UUJ in 2003 and worked in private practice in Belfast city centre for 6 years where she gained experience and developed her podiatric skills. Caroline loves to travel and in 2009 set off back packing around the world for a year. 

    Matthew Blaine
    Podiatrist

    Matthew grew up in Northern Ireland and studied at Ulster University for both his Foundation degree in Sport Exercise and Fitness and his BSc Podiatry

    He loves the fantastic team atmosphere at Active Health and the fact that he really feels supported in his work and being part of a team that wants you to succeed! – he also loves the “Cool uniform colour scheme”!

    Megan McCalmont
    Podiatrist

    Megan grew up in South Belfast but now lives in Ballycarry. She studied her undergraduate degree in Podiatry and postgraduate masters degree in Sport and Exercise Medicine at Ulster University.

    Megan has a particular interest in biomechanics and lower limb sports injuries and also loves routine podiatry and building relationships with clients.

    Admin Team

    Charlotte Mason
    Practice Manager

    Charlotte is most likely the first person you will meet at our Holywood Clinic. She has been part of the team since January 2019.

    Charlotte has a wealth of experience in customer service having worked in ‘customer facing’ roles since she was 15 when she worked on the front desk of a Children’s Soft Play area. Since then, she has worked in Banking, Hospitality, Child Care, and Retail.

    Charlotte was born in Holywood and has lived in various parts of England over the years. She studied Contemporary Art at University in Leeds, Specialising in Sculpture before moving back to NI in 2011.
    Charlottes current interests are Reading and Jigsaw puzzles and in work she loves a good Spreadsheet!

    Sarah McMillan
    Business Development

    Sarah is our Business Development Manager here at Active Health. She has a background in project management and art and design and is thrilled to bring her positive, creative input to the Active Health team.

    Susan Morrissey
    Receptionist

    Susan comes from Newtownards, Northern Ireland and came to Active Health after 17 Years of Disney Magic! Susan has a BA(hons) in Business Administration and just loves working as part of a positive and supportive team here at Active Health

    Lorraine MacDonald
    Admin Team

    Lorraine is a Holywood local and came to Active health with 30 years’ experience working in reception.

    She loves the friendly staff at Active Health, meeting new members of the public and to see patients getting benefit from the treatment they receive.

    Maddie Heawood
    Admin Team

    Maddie is currently studying an HNC in Health and Social Care and plans to go on to study Occupational Therapy.

    She loves meeting and talking to new people and being able to talk to the patients coming in on arrival and being a friendly face.