The Emerging Proud community warmly welcomes Linda Allen as our new *UK Emerging Kind Peer Group Facilitator Trainer…

Linda says;

“After experiencing a major crisis myself, although already trained and experienced as a personal development coach, I immersed myself in further study to deeply understand what happened to me, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. My experiences and decisions at that time caused chaos and left me feeling alone, misunderstood and alienated from my family and those that had loved me and known me through my life.

Finding the support of a Spiritual Companions group and studying Psycho-Spiritual Counselling helped me feel heard, understood and validated at a time when I was most vulnerable. I was immersed in mindfulness, as my rational capacity took a few months off, and yet I became deeply insightful and intuitive.

Experiencing the value of feeling heard (keeping me just about sane), I felt compelled to offer similar support for others and initiated a weekly peer support group which I facilitated for two years. Providing this safe space for sharing personal stories and making sense of experiences was powerful and cathartic for all. Themes and patterns emerged and these mirrored research from many focus groups on what specifically supports someone going through a crisis. Many of us developed a sense of purpose going forward, including my dear friend and enthusiast of the group, Katie Mottram.

Over the years I have connected with many others in recovery from more intense experiences and mental health crises and frequently attend conferences and access new research in the area. This along with inspiration from other paradigm- shifting organisations has helped me develop a deep and broad view of what blocks, constitutes and sustains recovery and wellbeing.

My mission now is in providing mental, emotional and spiritual support by sharing knowledge, enhancing innate skills and empowering people and communities to be a support for each other.

My most recent project is ‘KindaListening’, and the aim is around empowering communities to support each other through deep listening and empowering communication.

The KindaListening training will form the basis for the Emerging Kind Peer Group Facilitator training from 2018 onwards, and it is a blessing that mine and Katie’s journeys have come full circle, back to the original vision we shared back in 2013 of working together to provide a ‘Support Source’ to the world.”

To find out more about Linda and KindaListening, go to:

http://www.kindalistening.org and http://www.lindaallen.net

*The International Emerging Kind Peers will continue to be trained by Elizabeth Sabet of ACISTE 

If you’d like to support us to support more Peers to provide more support groups in 2018, please pledge to our crowdfunding campaign HERE; thank you ❤