Louise Allen - Therapy

15/04/2026

Did you know I very occasionally remember that I have a Mail Chimp account to send fancier looking emails with images and links to what's going on..... I'm still learning how to use it "properly" but after hours of faffing with the template I decided I'd rather share it imperfectly than not at all.

It's Dying Matters Week from 4th May - the theme is "Let's Talk About Death and Dying" - and so it seemed like a good time to make sure you know where you can find out about the death cafes, events and grief circles I'm running (that don't rely on the algorithm showing you).

The latest includes details of Death Cafes, an Embracing Life & Death evening of poetry, music, workshops and healing, and a day's Grief Tending Circle at the Quiet View in June.

If you'd like to subscribe directly to the mailing list, click here - https://space.us21.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c73ce23ab6c18fa94d124c9d3&id=3b0a213b00

11/04/2026

Grief lives within us all, it's the process of experiencing loss.

Many people associate grief with someone dying. This is, of course, an experience that brings deep grief and loss. When someone we love, or who has meant something to us, dies, we not only feel their physical absence but the loss of experiences, dreams, conversations and aspects of our own identity that were connected to them. The layers and facets of grief are expansive and we continue to face, feel and process those losses for years after someone has died.

Grief also is felt beyond bereavement. It can be for things, relationships, homes, jobs, moments in time and more. Anything we love or that means something to us can also be lost. And so we all have grief, or can anticipate grief, when we open our hearts to love.

Allowing and tending to this grief can help us feel love more deeply, but as a culture we have lost connection to the rituals and openness of grieving that can help this natural human process feel less scary.

Over the next few weeks, we'll share a little about the different types of grief, through Francis Weller's lens of The Gates of Grief.

More info on our upcoming Grief Tending Circle can be found at www.tinyurl.co.uk/grieftendingcircle

02/04/2026

On allowing oneself to be seen...

Stepping forward and imperfectly saying "hi, I'm here. This is what lights me up. This is what I can offer. This is what I'm interested in".

The risks - tumbleweed.... abandonment ... ridicule .... rejection ... being misunderstood ... being "shot down" ...

The potential - being met ... being able to give someone else something they need ... receive a little rush of new connections and nutrients from what others have to give ... community.

This is reciprocity and community in action. It is medicine for our age of loneliness and isolation.

When we feel isolated and alone in our passions, grief, experience; the medicine is community and shared spaces and land re-connection. If we can't find the community spaces we long for .... Well, we must create them. It's partly why I hold death cafés, grief circle and women's circles (outside of my work). In my non-therapy work I prioritise co-production and facilitating peer support.

So very grateful to have come across The Wild Path , the folk who created it, the people in the network paying attention and risking reaching out, and to connect with other like minded folk interested in working with the land and the other-than-human.

I'm featured in this week's Wild Path newsletter (the second pic is a screenshot from their Substack). It's a bit scary and uncomfortable to see my face spotlighted 😬 but having so many lovely people reach out to say "hi" back and ask for what I offer or offer something in return ... very much worth the risks of being seen this time.

02/04/2026

Stepping forward and saying "hi, I'm here. This is what lights me up. This is what I can offer. This is what I'm interested in".

The risks - tumbleweed.... abandonment ... ridicule .... rejection ... being misunderstood.
The potential - being met ... being able to give someone else something they need ... receive a little rush of new connection and nutrients from what others have to give ... community.

This is reciprocity and community in action. It is medicine for our age of loneliness and isolation.

So very grateful to have come across The Wild Path, the folk who created it, the people in the network paying attention and risking reaching out, and to connect with other likeminded folk through the land and the other-than-human.

Stepping forward and saying "hi, I'm here. This is what lights me up. This is what I can offer. This is what I'm interested in". The risks - tumbleweed.... abandonment ... ridicule .... rejection ... being misunderstood. The potential - being met ... being able to give someone else something they ne...

27/03/2026

I'd like to welcome the wren and the crow as symbols of the evolution of my therapy practice - represented in my new logo and explored in more detail in my new blog post (my first published post in 5 years it seems!)

To me, therapy is a living process. It is a craft that I continue to work with and on. I am one of the "tools" (an organic tool 😂) that I have to continue to get to know and nurture so I can practice with wisdom. It felt like time to reflect on who I am and what I offer now as a therapist, and so it was also time to change the symbols that represent my therapy practice and the story behind them.

I’d been “fern counselling” for 7 years and felt that the fern symbolism didn’t sufficiently fit the therapist I have become any more. I have decided to just go by my name n…

20/03/2026

I was talking to a good friend recently about the implicit. How the flow of life, the fabric of it, isn't the words we pin it down with. It is essence. Words are these tender bridges that try to connect us to one another's experience - ways we try to convey what is implicit and make it explicit. And I have learnt to be explicit in therapy, to try and name the thing. To test it out, check it out. Communicate my understanding of the bridge. Are we linked together? Do I get it? And all at the same time knowing that the explicit isn't actually the thing that wants to flow and be met.

Poetry and art and movement and music can often capture the implicit in ways that words alone cannot.

And when we get close enough with naming a thing. When it coagulates into something we can relate to and connect with - because it has taken a form of some kind - then it can be transformed and integrated in a different way.

I feel in love with, in reverence to, in awe of and intimidated by the complex nature of life that allows all of this to be true at the same time. What a gift to get to risk the dance of living.

Happy Spring Equinox 🌸✨🌱

17/03/2026

Grief doesn’t always look the way we expect.

It isn’t only bereavement.
It can be the end of a relationship.
A diagnosis.
Children leaving home.
A version of yourself that no longer fits.
The state of the world.

So much grief is carried quietly or alone.

On Saturday 27th June, Louise and Lucy are holding a Grief Tending Circle at The Quiet View in Kingston — a gently facilitated, trauma-aware space where grief is not fixed or rushed, but honoured.

If you’ve been feeling alone in what you’re carrying — or like it’s “too much” for others — this space may be for you.

We’ll gather in a yurt and gardens, with time in the fields and trees. You’ll be invited to:

✨ Share (or simply listen — both are welcome)
✨ Connect with others who understand
✨ Experience simple rituals to honour your grief
✨ Feel supported by land and community

No pressure to speak.
No performance.
Just space.

Places are limited to keep the group small and safely held.

Nourishing lunch included.
Sliding scale £120–£200+ (financial support available — just ask).

Facilitated by two qualified therapists trained in Wild Therapy, and held by the land.

🎟️ Link in bio to book
💬 DM with any questions

02/03/2026

Today, I went to the woods. I had a lot to hold. Stressed and scattered in my anger, unable to find a way to direct that passion and fire to support what I value.

I wanted to be of service, to listen to and honour that fire, that fight for what is needed and what's right. I knew I was limited in my ability to be useful while I wasn't grounded.

I was fortunate as I was driving past the woods while I was trying to think myself to a place of clarity. The pull of the woods reminded me that thinking alone tends not to work so well, so I took a detour in.

I stomped. A good old stroppy stomp, huffing and puffing and letting off steam, sharing with the trees, being called into stillness and appreciation by the squirrels in my path, feeling my heart and lungs opening to embrace the light and the beauty of the trees. The mud had other plans, a bit too slippery to stomp. Slooooowed me down to a gentle, tender squelch. Called me into my ears with the satisfying slop under boot. Slow enough to notice the smell of the gorse. Coconut glow.

Felt my heart soften, lungs calmer, knotty body a bit looser. Space to breathe. Back into contact with the ground, the moment, what I can do, what is important.

Talked to the trees on the way back. Stroked their bark, admired their sturdiness. Asked the squirrels what they'd seen. Thought I heard the moss basking in the damp light. The blue t**s were far too busy to pay me any attention.

I hope I can continue to learn to offer the woods presence and support in return. Such a gift to just be with what is.

27/02/2026

Grief Tending Circle - Saturday 27th June - save the date

To be held by the land, by the group, with ritual and intention to honour and allow grief to move and be met.

Lucy at and I will be facilitating a day of grief tending at the .view. Inspired and informed by Francis Weller's work of remembering how to sit with grief - a practice that we, as a culture in the UK, have become disconnected from and made taboo.

Spaces will be limited to ensure a small group. More details to follow . If you'd like to express an interest and be added to the mailing list to be sent the booking details, pop me a direct message with your email address.

19/11/2025

There's something about a Jammy Dodger that inspires me to share it here ... (this is the third biscuit related post I've shared on the grid in 5 years and they're all Jammy Dodgers 😂)

Maybe it's because it so beautifully holds a heart shaped space. Loving boundaries allow a glimpse into that gooey centre.

So many more flavours appearing.... The new mango and passion fruit 🤗 have you tried them? Gonna be honest, I think these double raspberry ones look better than they taste.

Wanna play "what biscuit is most like therapy and why?"

This post is not an ad.

17/11/2025

Welcome to those of you who have started following me recently, and hello to those of you who have been seeing me on your feed for a while.

I'm Louise. An integrative counsellor and Wild Therapist working in and around Faversham, Kent (UK) - indoors at , outdoors with the beach/creek/woods or on the phone from wherever you are

I work with adults to help people understand and accept themselves as part of working through life's pain, tension and transitions. I do this in one to one open ended (long term) therapy. I also love to hold spaces for group development - creative workshops, death cafes, outdoor therapy training with

I weave together different therapeutic approaches to craft a way of working that hopefully works for you. This is often in and alongside nature as a co-therapist - sometimes the other-than-human world we're part of can offer something more helpful than our human kin. I'm passionate about focusing (a way of tracking and exploring our inner landscape of feelings and sensations), of working with stories and metaphor, of experimenting with movement. I take the role of a fellow traveller, following your lead and being curious about what you're communicating.

I believe creativity and storytelling helps us to see and transform our inner world. I also believe that reciprocity; investing in showing up with love in our community and ecosystem is essential for growth and life in and around us. I like talking to the woods and listening to what they might have to share. I like learning and growing in slow time - foraging, figuring things out through experience and experimentation. This is where life and fulfillment seems to live. I don't like capitalism, colonialism and patriarchal systems that disconnect us from love, mutual growth and how we feel. I am committed to coming back to uncertainty.

It's a pleasure to be here (in this world, not necessarily on social media - though I appreciate the value of being able to connect with you through this tech created mycelial network) 🍄 ☘️ 🍂 🕸️