The Older Women’s Self-Appreciation Society
A 9 week online course for women over 50
who want to live & lead from the inside out
Next Cohort begins Sep 26
Find the deeper ease, authority, & self-leadership you know is in you
The Older Women’s Self-Appreciation Society is a gathering place for intelligent, mature women ready to stop believing what our youth-focused culture says about what’s valuable, and start living in alignment with their real worth.
You have decades of experience, a deep well of wisdom, and a spark you don’t want to lose, but in a world that still sidelines older women, it can feel like your brilliance has been dimmed.
So this spring, tend to your inner flame. Because it is this flame of leadership, developed in community, that our world is sorely lacking.
This isn’t just a programme for thinking differently. It’s a programme for living differently, in ways people will notice, and in ways you’ll finally trust yourself to own.
Leave the course feeling more grounded, more in your power, and more at ease with yourself and who you’re becoming
Over nine weeks, we weave together:
Radical Self-Appreciation
Not in the “hashtag selfcare” sense, but in the I know what I’m made of sense
You’ll develop an embodied understanding, and deeper appreciation, for how much you have to contribute as a woman over 50, and why.
Because when your value feels embodied, you walk into rooms knowing you belong. You make different choices. You make different moves.
Compassionate Self-leadership
Reconnect with inner wisdom, self-trust, & self-leadership across 4 key areas (more about these in a minute)
You’ll discover how to tap into your wise, wild, & utterly unique inner guidance via Focusing/felt-sensing (a somatic self-enquiry practice)
Live true to yourself, leading from your grounded center.
Find your inner fire & authority as an older woman
through these four facets of self
1. Your strengths, achievements, experience, & talents
What you’ve done, what you know, what you carry. Yes, the CV-worthy bits, but also the overlooked ones.
You may recognise your achievements in your head, but you don’t always feel their full weight.
It’s time to claim your wholeness & take it with you into your next chapter.
2. Your miraculous body
We’re encouraged to see our bodies as problematic machines, or, at best, projects to be worked on. This is false.
Get ready to appreciate yourself as a living, embodied human as you discover the antidote to all the ways you’ve been taught to mistrust your body and yourself.
Feel more grounded and more able to “get out of your head”, and be connected to yourself.
3. Your shadow selves
What you’ve hidden, denied, or dismissed in order to fit in, to survive, and to carve out a space for yourself in the world. It’s time to discover what might be waiting there to help.
In particular, learn how self-sabotage and self-criticism can be turned around with love and care
Leave with a very different sense of self-trust – one where you know you can trust ALL of yourself and the wisdom you’re carrying.
4. The difficult archetypes
Crone, witch, harpy, hag. These are the words the world uses to shrink older women. You’ve learned to soften your edges and tame your voice so you won’t be called them.
Yet these archetypes can help you find your way through the confusion and unravelling of midlife
Reclaim the power and potential of these ancestral patterns. Walk through life lit from within, more comfortable with yourself than ever.
You’ll also take away:
- Clarity about the difference between appreciation and gratitude and how can this free us from the oppression of always having to be grateful for everything (this segment was described as “eye-opening” by one of the pilot participants.)
- Practices for reconnecting to your resources, especially the vibrant resources of the larger system: nature, community, and the ancestors in an embodied and grounded way.
- A clear-eyed understanding of what we are up against i.e. how ageism and sexism (what I call “agexism“) combine in our society, how that lives in each of us – and what we might do about that
- Ideas for how to approach the transitions of elderhood – the grief and beauty of living from things as they are
The golden thread running through all of this is Felt-Sensing/Focusing.
This soulful, structured method for deep listening, and enabling somatic shifts, has been transformative in my life. I’m more grounded, more present, less worried about what other people think, and far less self-critical than I was before I began to practice it. I’m more able to be real in every situation. I want all this for you too.
Feel part of a circle of women who see and affirm the real you. Then carry that with you beyond the course.
It’s time to celebrate who you are – and who you’re becoming. Unapologetically.
“I joined Helen’s pilot programme for The Older Women’s Self-Appreciation Society because I am an older woman, who is resisting the cultural pressure to become invisible, and wanted to learn more. First, I learned that I’d been resisting the ‘older’ adjective, for a myriad of reasons and mixed-up self-talk. By the end of the sessions, I’d recognised that ‘older’ is not a big deal, and I was beginning to accept that it is an accolade to be embodied with pride and courage. Helen provided a wealth of uplifting information, resources, shared exercises and an inspiring space for discussion, listening and learning with the group.
She brings her wisdom, coaching expertise, focusing knowledge and practical experience to the party. Because this is fun, albeit serious stuff, for us older women. The programme expanded my awareness of my potential and capacity to shine ever more brightly, whilst taking care of self-doubt. And this is why, I’m signing up to the next programme.”
Lynne Stainthorpe (UK)
Only 8 Seats Available
You are being called to reorient & rebuild
This course arrives at a moment when we are stepping into longer, more complex, more visible lives. Women over 50 are in the vanguard of a new way of understanding what it can mean to age powerfully.
And we’re calling back to ancient practices of Elderhood and women’s wisdom.
Yet the world seems bleak. AI severs us from our embodied wisdom and flattens everything into sameness. This course is about rediscovering the light and warmth of our elder, feminine, inner knowing.
It’s time to reject the narrative that our 50s and 60s are when we fade away. Instead we’re reshaping what it means to age, to matter, and to lead from within.
- So, this is the moment to rebuild and deepen your relationship with your inner knowing
- To examine old cultural messages about ageing and visibility and dismiss “what insults your soul”
- To reconnect to who YOU are – and how YOU want to show up as you age through menopause and beyond
“I joined Helen’s OWSAS Course last year mainly because I recognised that I was an older woman but I’d also recognised some things about myself and I wanted the chance to explore these observations and speak to others in a similar situation. The course covered a number of reflection points around personal attributes, about our experience and skills, about how we view ourselves and how the world sees us. Are we shrinking as we age or are we making ourselves smaller to fit into a gap that’s narrowing as we age?
Helen is a wonderful facilitator and created a space of reflection and positive challenge. A space that allowed me some time to think about this next chapter for me. I’d highly recommend the course to anyone considering it.” Sam Wells (UK)
The steady fire of self-knowing: fierce and embodied
We often hear about “coming home to yourself”. This course is about making that home within yourself so you can hold yourself with the same warmth and regard you extend to others.
As a result, you know how to tap into the fire within and can return to your inner knowing again and again. (And we’ll explore exactly HOW to do that.)
So you can go out into the world feeling more grounded and more yourself.
The course is also a place to land, exhale, and be met.
Expect a gently held space, nourishing practices, and a community of like-minded women coming together to spark change in the world – from the inside out.
Your Course Facilitator
Hi, I’m Helen, Conscious Career Coach, qualified in psychotherapy and coaching, Certified Focusing Practitioner, and long-time guide for women navigating life’s deeper turning points.
For more than 30 years, I’ve been working with women’s inner lives – drawing on humanist psychology, archetypes & the Divine Feminine, feminist thought, and the lived wisdom of experience. I’m not offering quick fixes or blueprints. Instead, what matters to me is helping women feel more at home with themselves, in ways that are honest, embodied, and quietly radical.
Focusing gave me a way to do that for myself. It taught me how to stay with uncertainty without abandoning myself. It’s now at the heart of both my personal practice and the way I hold space for others.
This course is an invitation into that kind of space. One where women can listen inwardly, together, and rediscover what it means to belong to themselves.
It’s also, for me, the most exciting thing I’ve done in years, bringing together decades of psychological depth work, a passion for women’s inner lives, and the practical magic of Focusing. I am SO looking forward to meeting you in this space.
“I joined the group thinking, ‘I’ve got this.’ But I noticed the word ‘older’ didn’t sit well with me. It made me reflect on my bias, just towards the word, and realise there’s nothing wrong with it. Why is it hard to own? Yes, I feel young, age is just a number, don’t they say? But we forget that there’s joy and freedom in being you at every age. And whether society or people have stereotypes about older women, the best we can do is not stereotype ourselves.
Helen held the space with such kindness, curiosity, and care and it gave me a gentle nudge I didn’t know I needed.” Mamta Bajaj (Thailand)
Feel at home in your own skin, with all your experience, edges, and depth intact
Nine weeks to deepen your self-regard, embody your worth, and move through the world with unshakeable presence:
- Relate to your body as a resource, not a battleground
As women we’re constantly told to work on our bodies – make them tighter, smoother, thinner, younger. We’re encouraged to be in a battle with symptoms of “ageing”. We’re going to turn that on its head. You’ll develop an intimate appreciation for your body’s ability to know, regardless of its shape, size, or age - Listen to your inner wisdom, even when it’s quiet or unsure
In a world full of career hacks and personality tests, this course teaches something older, slower, and wiser: how to listen to the parts of you that already know. This is a skill you can develop, and trust, in every area of your life. You’ll leave better able to listen to your inner wisdom, uncover your next steps, and trust what you know. - Understand and claim your contribution
Find clarity about what older women in general – and you in particular – bring to the world at this stage of life. (I have receipts!) Reject the roles society tries to force us into and claim your own place in the world as a post-menopausal woman. - Be the kind of listener who helps others find themselves
Develop and hone trustworthy, facilitative listening skills through Focusing partnership practice. Become the kind of listening companion who helps others connect with their own inner knowing. These skills can be carried into every area of your life. (This is gold if you already help, coach, or lead others, or want to.) - Soften your inner critics and meet your shadow parts with curiosity
Discover the surprising energy and insight hidden in the places you’ve judged or suppressed. In this foundational skills course we’ll explore how simple changes in language and mindset – from Inner Relationship Focusing – can facilitate much needed inner friendliness and peace. - Draw strength from archetypes you’ve been taught to dismiss
Crone, Witch, Harpy, Hag: explore ways of intentionally tapping into these as sources of authority, wisdom and power. - Develop a grounded appreciation for the inconvenient, wise, wild, and still-becoming woman you are as you explore, practice, and felt-sense self-appreciation in real time. Appreciate your life experience without packaging, proving, or justifying it.
This is about self-appreciation that isn’t performance-based. It’s personal, political, and powerful.
This course is about reclaiming the voice that says:
I am here.
I have value now.
I will not disappear to keep you comfortable.
But it’s not solitary. We go together.
At a Glance: What this course includes:
This course has been designed with both structure and spaciousness – giving you a gently held rhythm of learning, practice, and connection.
- 8 live 2 hour sessions (on Zoom) over 9 weeks, with teaching, guided exercises (bring crayons and coloured pencils – we’re going to play!), whole group and breakout discussions, and Focusing practice in pairs. NOTE: There will be an integration/catch-up week after the first 4 classes. I will be available for questions and support throughout.
- A 45 minute one-to-one guided Focusing session with me. Take this upfront to get more of a sense of Focusing before we begin, or at any point during the course to deepen your learning.
- Recordings of sessions in case you can’t make one – life happens. I do encourage you to plan to make most of the sessions live. Breakout rooms and partnership practice/exchanges will not be recorded – we keep those moments private, so you can feel safe to show up as you are.
- Partner practices to help you develop your Focusing and listening skills in real time (you will also be encouraged to practice with another participant between classes), supported by simple written guidelines
- Simple materials to guide you between sessions – e.g. guided audios and playsheets. Your time commitment outside of the live classes is likely to be around an hour a week for partnership practice.
- A small group of (up to 8) women to travel with – deeply held, spacious, and human. (I’m hoping, as well, to have a couple of assistants who are experienced Focusers to help support the partnership practice.)
- Certificate of Attendance – for live participants – this course covers the skills for Levels 1 & 2 of the 5 level Focusing Skills Certificate validated by the British Focusing Association. (More details below)
You don’t need to be confident. You don’t need to have done this before. You just need to be willing to show up as you are.
Plus, Develop Your Focusing Skills
This course includes Levels 2 & 3 of the British Focusing Association (BFA) Focusing Skills training. If you attend all sessions and complete the partnership practice, you’ll receive an attendance certificate that counts toward the full BFA Focusing Skills Certificate – useful if you ever want to take this aspect of the work further, either personally or professionally. Level 1 course details here…
You’ll also develop powerful listening skills through partnership practice, and gain access to a network of Focusers for mutual support and continued learning via the BFA’s Focusing Network
More information about the 5 levels of the skills certificate, the Focusing Network, and further professional training can be found on the BFA website here.
Only 8 Participants
“Working with Helen was truly a gift. She has an incredible teaching style that is marked by a collaborative approach. Since working with Helen, I have used my Focusing skills in every area of my life and discovered profound insights and sense of calm. No matter your journey, I cannot recommend Helen enough!” Erica M. (US)
Is this for you?
This course is for you if:
- You’d like to deepen your personal practice of self-understanding and self-care, in the company of others doing the same
- You’re an older woman who wants to relate to herself differently
- You’re aware that you are in, or approaching, the liminal space of Elderhood and you want to live that transition with both community support and radical self-acceptance
- You recognise that we swim in an eco-system which tries to keep us from self-compassion, never mind self-appreciation, and you want ways to counter that
- You’ve done personal development, but want something more embodied and less solitary
- You’re ready to listen instead of push, and get curious instead of self-critical
- You want to grow older on your own terms
- You suspect that more of you is welcome than you’ve been led to believe
- You sense there’s a deeper ease and authority in you, but it’s under-used
- You already know you’d like to learn Focusing or develop your partnership practice and the topics speak to you
- You’re probably over 50, but if you’re 40-something and this is speaking to you, jump in
- Simply, you love the idea of appreciating your “elder-woman-ness” – and are excited about finding a space that talks openly about it
You do not need to know anything about Focusing to join us. The Focusing aspects of this course are aimed at complete beginners. There will be many opportunities to try it, slow down, and partner with others.
This course is probably not for you if:
- You struggle to connect with your feelings, or going “inside” to be with your inner experience is too hard or overwhelming. Focusing may well be helpful for you, but it would probably be better to begin with one to one guided sessions where you can get dedicated support – please contact me using the priority contact form below to discuss if not sure
- You’re not interested in the topic of self-appreciation for women in their 50s and beyond, or it’s not relevant for you. A lot of the content and practical exercises are built around this topic. However, there are many other options and courses for learning Focusing. My level 1 course for complete beginners is here. And checkout the websites of the British Focusing Association and the International Focusing Institute for more information.
- You don’t want to develop skills that support you in listening to others and/or you don’t want to practice in partnership. While many Focusers do Focus alone, peer partnership Focusing exchanges are at the heart of the practice. Learning and practising the skills and attitudes needed to make these work smoothly are a key aspect of this course. If you’re primarily seeking self-listening skills, then the one-to-one “Be True to You” course in solo-Focusing may be a better fit.
- You are a complete beginner to Focusing. You’ll get much more out of the course if you have a little bit of Focusing and focusing partnership practice. Take my Level 1 course (starting June 26). or contact me via the priority contact form below to discuss.
Small group – max 8 participants
50 and Rising
We all live the stories we’ve been given, by family, culture, and wider society. The stories our culture holds about older women are particularly narrow, outdated, and frankly, insulting.
It’s time to question these narratives and find new ways of talking about ourselves and our lives.
Together, we’ll create new stories that stem from our individual, embodied, and combined wisdom about what it really is to be a 50plus woman in the 21st century.
And what it could be.
So… what would it be like to live in a society that valued older women?
Could it be that this could begin with us? In small groups of women, “hearing and talking to one another“?
This is the question that set me off on this winding path – starting with a pilot in 2024 and months of gathering real stories about what older women do better. I’ll share those with you in the course (btw, the opinions and wisdom of real life women – not “what AI thinks”).
Now, this course brings together embodied self-listening, partnership skills, and honest appreciation of both our brightest strengths and darkest shadows. It’s a whole experience – ready and waiting – just for you.
When was the last time you really saw yourself? Not just glanced, but truly acknowledged and cherished who you are today?
You’re shaped by everything you’ve lived through. The losses, the battles, the wisdom earned.
Smart. Messy. Strong. Still growing. Still here.
Whether today you’re shining bright or your inner fire is kinda dim. Can you appreciate the aliveness inside?
The woman you are, and the woman you’re becoming?
If this is hard when you’re 35, how much harder when you’re 55, or 75? Society does not prize the older woman. We have to do that for ourselves, together.
So… I’m calling the circle. Will you join me?
Reserve Your Place in the
Older Women’s Self-Appreciation Society
Next cohort begins September 2026
If you came to this section first, no worries, but please do read more of the page to understand what this course is truly about. Hop back up to the beginning. Does it speak to you? I’d love to have you join us.
Want to hear when booking is open? Drop me a message via the Priority Contact Form below to get on the “interested” list.
Live Class Dates
Next cohort begins September 26 – dates/times tba. Drop me a message below to get on the “Interested” list
The Nature of this Group
This is primarily a learning space. Focusing is not therapy, but we will be working with potentially delicate material and with opportunities for sharing ourselves in community. For that reason there will be group guidelines, drawn from the extensive wisdom of the Focusing community, around keeping yourself safe as well as keeping the space safe for others, which you will be asked to agree to.
You will need somewhere private and quiet to fully take part in the exercises and the partnership practice.
All women are welcome in this space. Come as you are, bringing kindness, an open mind, and willingness to listen to others and to learn.
Note: I’m primarily designing this for women over 50, but if you’re in your 40s and feeling that this is exactly what you’re seeking right now, do jump in.
If all this speaks to you, here’s how to join us…
Your Investment
Special Early Bird Price and Payment Plan – coming soon
REGULAR PRICE: to be announced
This link takes you to Calendly. Select the date of the class (14th Feb) and select the time slot (there is only one), then follow the instructions to pay.
Other Payment Options:
- INSTALMENTS: Reserve your place by paying £186 now as a 1st instalment, and then pay 2 further instalments of £127 (due on 2nd March and 2nd April 2026) to make the full regular price of £440
- Pay by bank transfer (BACS) or similar (full price or instalments) instead of Paypal
- Pay in USD or Euros
For any of these alternative payment options, please use the priority contact form below to let me know.
FAQs
What, exactly, IS Focusing/Felt-sensing? 
Does this qualify me to use Focusing with my clients?
What if I miss some live classes?
Will I be allocated a partner to practise with?
What if I can’t practice between classes?
I don’t have a printer – will I need to print out worksheets?
Can I pay in more than 3 installments?