Differently-wired, Deeply-heard Story Circles

You are invited to take a seat in the circle:

🌷 Friday June 13th 2025 10.30 am
🌷 Friday July 11th 2025 10.30 am

Pay as you feel:

A seat in the circle: £15
A seat in the circle: £10

Your presence matters 🌷

This is a monthly circle for women, scheduled for the second Friday of each month at 10.30 am to 12.00 noon.

 

I am aware of the unravelling of special needs provision in the UK and of the fears that many of us hold in our hearts for our children and grandchildren, both now and into the future.

I am deeply troubled, both by the immediate losses for children and young people, when they are overlooked and excluded, and by the echoes and ripples into the future, diminishing the contributions they could have made to our communities and harming their future well-being.

Many of us feel isolated or unheard in our efforts to get our differently-wired children's needs met or in the aftermath of not having our own needs met in education and beyond.

So, I am creating some spaces where we can share our stories, start to heal our trauma, and rediscover our confidence in ourselves as parents and individuals, to understand and do what makes sense for our children, for ourselves and for future generations.

Story Circles offer a safe space to connect with each other.

We listen to each other in circle silently and without offering any answers, suggestions or advice, and without interruption. Your listening and your silence are valued as much as your voice in circle.

Everything that is shared is confidential and we all agree not to share anyone’s sharing outside the circle. This also means not referring back to someone’s story in conversation with them.

You can come to one circle or to as many as you choose to.

Speaking in Circle

You cannot be ‘too much’ and you cannot be ‘too quiet’. That said, we do have limited time and want everyone to have the opportunity to speak so I do ask that we are mindful of this. I will gently remind circle if time is getting short.

In circle we welcome all perspectives and experiences and we ask everyone to speak from their own truth, without judgment or assumptions about others.

What do I mean by differently-wired?

By 'differently-wired' I mean neurodivergent, perhaps having unique strengths in areas like creativity, problem-solving, or sensory processing, or experiencing challenges in areas like social interaction or attention. Possibly people with autism, ADHD or giftedness or twice-exceptional people. Possibly people with specific learning difficulties such as dyspraxia, dyslexia or dyscalculia.

How the Story Circle Works:

We will by lighting a candle and settling ourselves. You might choose to light a candle too. I will share a short reading or poem related to the theme.

A short ‘check-in’ to introduce ourselves to the rest of the circle.

I will introduce a theme and ask you to share a piece of your experience around this theme, if and as you are moved to do so. There will be an opportunity for each member of the circle to speak but there is no requirement to speak.

Once everyone who wishes to has shared, without going back into anyone’s story, we will reflect on common themes that may have emerged and how, perhaps these are resonating with us.

I will ask everyone to share a word or phrase in farewell and I will close the meeting with a few words and we will extinguish our candles.