On the 2 June 2010 I started working with a sponsor in my first recovery fellowship. Multiple fellowships and steps later, I am so grateful to be here 15 years after taking that first step to share how the promises of recovery continue to create miracles in my life. It’s easy to talk about the […]
Author: June Allen
Your Standing Ovation?
It never feels good to be criticised, but are you able to receive praise after a job well done? In my coaching group this week, one of my peers asked how my keynote at the Black and Asian Therapists Network conference went, and I felt myself shrink into shameful smallness. I played it down and sheepishly said […]
The Power of Kitty Calm.
Ever since I was a little girl, cats have always been a great source of comfort. There’s something so settling about being around the purring and ‘biscuit’ making. When I had no safe people to turn to, my cat with the only consistent love I knew. There’ve been many times when I’ve been upset and […]
What exactly does justice for your inner child mean?
One of the most powerful aspects of my work is holding space for a client’s inner child to emerge. It can take a while before this younger part of ourselves feels safe enough to come out from where they’ve been hiding. Sometimes I’ll need to slow them down from intellectualising and using words to cover […]
How do childhood attachment patterns impact our adult relationships?
In a healthy mother and baby relationship, a secure attachment is formed when they are responsive and can provide nurturing care, protection, and emotional support. Building a secure attachment is important for: Babies’ brain development. Learning to self soothe. Feeling deserving of care. Seeding self esteem. The first experience of love. Building confidence to communicate […]
What does inner child work mean for black women?
If you were raised in an abusive, unsafe environment with neglectful caregivers, you would have had to adapt in some way in order to cope and survive. In this live I explore 6 maladaptive roles that children fall into to cope and also how they may still be playing out in an unhelpful way in your adult life.
‘How can I grieve the loss of someone still alive?’
One of the questions I am being asked a lot in session recently, is how clients can grieve the loss of someone still alive? If you have no contact with parents or other family members. this is a particularly complex and emotionally challenging issue that requires professional support, a support network and lots of self […]
A message for mothers who want to heal the relationship with their wounded daughters.
With UK Mothers Day tomorrow, I wanted to have an honest conversation with mothers who want to repair the relationship with their adult daughters. The discussion aims to nurture understanding and empower healing by temporarily setting aside the external issues around oppression to focus on the core relationship dynamics. If you are a mother who […]
Colourism, mixed heritage and the mother wound.
Today’s video is just a snippet of the themes I have been working with recently in session with clients of mixed heritage around colorism and the mother wound. I touch on the internalisation of racism from parent, identity confusion, racial shame and the power of mirroring as part of reclaiming the exiled melanated part.
5 Types of Toxic Mothers.
I recently posted some content on social media from the black mother wound series about 5 types of toxic mothers which resonated with so many sistas. So today, I want to share a more expansive exploration about the topic to understand the abusive power dynamics that can exist within mother-daughter relationships. The more you understand, […]