Starlings

A community for connection, friendship and belonging with people who "get it."

                                          ( For previous participants of my 6 month Courses)

One of the things I hear most often after the programme finishes is this:

"I'm worried about this ending."

What people often miss afterwards is not the content but the conversations. 

The feeling of being somewhere you don't have to explain yourself.

 The feeling of being around people who understand why relationships can be complicated or why family can be both loved and difficult.

Where someone understands why a conversation with a parent can stay with you for days.

Why going home can stir up emotions that seem far bigger than the moment itself.

 Why old patterns still show up even when you understand them.

That is not something you can easily find elsewhere. Most of the people in your life, however well meaning, do not share this particular lens. 

You still know what you’ve learned but you’re no longer in a space where it is being spoken about, shared or understood by others in the same way and the hardest bit is continuing to make the changes and not fall back into old coping strategies.

The Starlings Community is a place to stay connected to the work, to yourself, and to others who understand this experience from the inside. Not to start again or to go back over everything, but continue with where you are at.

 

 What is Starlings?

Starlings is an ongoing community for people who have completed one of my 6 month programmes and want to continue making the changes that matter to you. 

It's a place to remain connected to yourself, to the work, and to other people who understand what it means to have grown up at boarding school.

A place where you don't have to start your story from the beginning.

Where people already speak the same language.

Where someone else knows what you mean when you talk about the Survival Personality.

A place where you can:

• Stay connected to people who genuinely understand the impact of boarding school.
• Bring real life situations as they arise, rather than sitting with them alone for months.
• Ask questions, share reflections, celebrate a breakthrough, admit you have had a difficult week or simply listen when that is what you need.
• Continue deepening your awareness without committing to another full programme.
• Revisit the course material at different stages of your life and find it landing in new ways.
• Feel the accountability of a space around you, so that slipping back into old patterns becomes harder to do unnoticed.
• Retain a sense of belonging that does not depend on explaining yourself from the beginning every time.
• Stay connected to the work, to others who understand it, and to Amelia.

 When something happens in your life and you think, "I think this links back to boarding school..." you'll have somewhere to discuss this.  

This is not about endlessly revisiting the past. It is about continuing to move forward with greater awareness, connection and choice

Who this is for?

You have been through my programme so you are not at the beginning of this journey. 

This is for those who have done the inner work and know how rare it is to find others who have done the same. 

Who want conversations that go beneath the surface.

Who are still figuring out who they are outside the Survival Personality, and who want to do that alongside others who understand exactly what that means.

If you have been through my programme, you already know what I mean. You have felt it in a group call when someone says something and the whole room recognises it. That feeling of finally being around people who simply get it.

I know from my own experience how essential it is to have somewhere to continue being open, to share honestly what is difficult as well as what is good, with people who see life through that same shared childhood lens. To feel accepted, seen and understood by others who genuinely get it.

This is a community space for those who have been through my programme and do not want to lose the thread of what began there. A place to stay connected, to myself and to each other, as you continue to make the changes that matter to you.

What is included.

 Every month you come together with me live for teaching, reflection and conversation.

The teaching offers new perspectives, while the discussions remind us that insight grows in relationship as much as in solitude.

Once a month, my colleague Veda joins us for a separate dedicated session focused on steadying the nervous system. 

Between calls, our WhatsApp community offers somewhere to stay connected.

Some days you'll ask a question.

Some days you'll support someone else.

Some days you'll simply read and remember that there are people who understand.

You'll continue to have access to the course materials, so that, as life changes, you can return to the lessons and discover something new in them.

There will also be opportunities to meet in person, beginning with our annual Brighton gathering.

Monthly live gatherings.  

A WhatsApp community. A facilitated WhatsApp community open to both current and previous participants of my course with a "Starlings" thread. The WhatsApp group is designed primarily as a space for peer support, reflection and connection. The community is guided by a dedicated Community Manager, with Amelia contributing, while preserving healthy boundaries that keep the programme sustainable.

Access to the full course (updated)
You will continue to have access to all modules, including any updates or refinements, so you can return to the material when it becomes relevant again.

Access to me The opportunity to stay connected to my reflections, teaching and ongoing work, and to bring questions into the space. Optional single session therapy is also available separately, subject to availability, and charged at my current session rate.

Annual in-person gathering in Brighton A chance to come together in person and deepen the connections made online. 

Priority access to workshops and events You hear about anything new first, and you have first access to book.

Dedicated community support The WhatsApp space is gently held by our Community Manager, who helps conversations stay welcoming, connected and supportive. That means the community has someone consistently looking after it, while allowing Amelia to contribute in a way that keeps the space sustainable for everyone.

The Brighton gathering: Saturday 28th November

Your first chance to meet your fellow Starlings in person.

We will gather in Brighton. This year on Saturday 28th November  in Brighton and Hove.  A wintery day by the sea, a few short talks, and plenty of time to simply be together. 

Details and booking information will follow for all members.

For previous participants of Healing Beyond Boarding School and my 6 month courses.

You are invited to join from 1st August, a month before the next programme begins. This offers a more contained space, just for those who have already been through the work.  A chance to reconnect, to settle back in, and to continue from where you are now.

There will be an opening call on Wednesday 5th August at 12pm UK and 7pm UK.

The first monthly gatherings will be on Wednesday 26th August. 

Investment:

£39 per month

Leave whenever you need to.

Half the cost of a Therapy session, this enables you to stay connected to the people, ideas and conversations that help change last.

Founding members: £29 a month.

 The first people to join Starlings will always be our Founding Members.

As a thank you for helping shape the community from the beginning, you'll join at £29/month, and you'll always pay less than the standard membership price for as long as you remain a member. 

You might be wondering why I've called it Starlings...

Something I love about Brighton is standing on the seafront on a winter evening and watching the murmuration.

I love how the birds swoop and dance together collectively, somehow keeping together as their shape shifts and swoops. Each one is distinct and each one finds its place within the whole.

Then, when the light goes, they go home to roost

Brighton and Hove is home for me.  The only place that I have been able to put down my own roots and found a community in which it genuinely feels acceptable to be different.

That is what I wanted this community to feel like. A place you can get a similar sense of belonging, where the people who understand it are, where you do not have to explain yourself.

Those who went to boarding school learned early to be invisible, to cope alone, to need as little as possible and to keep moving. Coming together, staying together, and coming home to roost is not something that was modelled. It does not come naturally.

Having a place where people know your name, understand your story, and quietly remind you that you don't have to do this alone.

A place to come home to.

I think it matters more than most of us were ever taught to believe. 

A final note

If you've completed one of my programmes, I'd love you to join us.

Come for as long as it supports you and leave whenever it no longer does.

There is no pressure.

No expectation.

Only an open invitation to remain part of a community that understands where you've come from, and cares about where you're going.

Join us from August 1st.