Inner Journey Sessions
A space to work through what you’re carrying
Something has happened. Or something is happening. An event, a shift, something has impacted you in a pretty big way.
Maybe you’ve already done some work on it. Therapy, grief counselling, somatic sessions, years of 12-step. It helped. But the shift never quite settles, and the Camino keeps tugging at your sleeve.
Or maybe you’re not sure what it is. You just know there’s something.
What are Inner Journey Sessions?
One-to-one sessions on Zoom, 60 minutes each, as many as you need.
Some can happen before your Camino, some after, and some while you’re away if you’d like them. For example, two before and two after, or two before, two during and four after. You can space them to suit you.
We work out what fits you, how many and when, in a free Inner Journey Sessions Chat first, so the sessions fit around what you need, your life and your Camino.
Awareness. Understanding. Integration. Acceptance.
Awareness is realising what you’re actually carrying. Understanding is the compassion for the part of you that took it on. Integration is the space for it to become part of your story rather than something you’re still grappling with. Acceptance, the real kind, only arrives from there.
You might arrive with awareness and understanding already done. You might find them along the way. Integration might already be happening. There’s no set order, so we start wherever you are.
The Camino holds all four, if you let it. These sessions are support alongside it, before, during and after.
Read more in My Philosophy.
What might we work on?
Here’s who I tend to walk alongside. You might:
- Have been through a loss, such as a bereavement, divorce, ambiguous grief, anticipated loss, miscarriage or redundancy
- Be in the middle messy bit. Not in the fresh raw shock of it, but not through it either
- Have lost a role, a loved one or an identity, and not quite know who you are without it
- Feel stuck in your recovery journey and want someone who has been there too
- Have done lots of work on yourself and want time and space to process what you’re uncovering
- Want to find out what spirituality or religion means to you, without a set of beliefs enforced on you
- Not be sure which direction your life is heading, or be searching for your purpose
- Not even be sure what the Camino is, but know it has something for you
You don’t need to know what it is you’re carrying. We start from wherever you are.
What the Camino helped me work through
Over ten years and more than fifteen routes, these are some of the things I carried onto the path and found a way to put down.
- Coming to terms with my Dad’s death, and that of others
- Two miscarriages, and coming to peace with not having children and being a “Mum”
- Grieving my Mum while she was still here during her illness and then losing her
- The end of my marriage
- Grief that arrives in layers, where one loss brings back another
- Learning boundaries and being honest about what I want
- Letting a new love in and the trust and vulnerability that came with it
- Being the one who gives and listens too much and learning to ask for what I need and receive
- Friendships shifting and changing
- Redefining what family means
- Leaving a long career to start my own business
- Walking away from a role that no longer fit – despite the perceived cost
- Choosing to work in a way that felt congruent for me
- Imposter syndrome and building self-confidence
- Finding my Ikigai and the courage to follow it
- Burnout and healing from it
- Recovery from alcohol and finding my own definition of “God”
- Working through my fierce independence, perfectionism and people-pleasing
- Learning that giving in is not giving up
- Attachment to stuff and discovering what was underneath it
- Learning to support my fear, anxiety and a nervous system that has never been safe to settle
- That rollercoaster of perimenopause, including a dark time when I thought about ending it all and learning to ask for help
- Putting down new roots after moving to a different country and saying farewell to the UK
Inner Journey Sessions are not a crisis or emergency service. If you are in crisis, or thinking about ending your life, please contact your local emergency number or a crisis line in your country straight away, or someone you trust, before anything else. You can find a helpline for your country at Find a Helpline.
It’s all in Book 1.5: The Inner Journey.
I don’t work in one method, and I’ve used many on myself. These are the ones that have been part of my own inner journey:
- 12-step recovery AA and Al-Anon
- Grief counselling after my miscarriages
- EMDR for trauma
- Internal Family Systems (parts work)
- Family Constellations
- Compassionate Inquiry
- Bioenergetica and Biodanza
- Kinesiology and muscle testing
- Ayurveda
- Flower essences, crystals and cards
- Ancestral healing and etheric gardening (my current therapy)
- And always walking, which is my meditation
In sessions I draw on what I’ve lived and what I’ve learned.
Alongside my own experience, I’ve trained at various levels in:
- Grief, Somatic Work, Addiction Psychology, ADHD and Ikigai
- Compassionate Inquiry
- Internal Family Systems
- Complex trauma and CPTSD and Compassion Focused Therapy
- Polyvagal Theory
- Suicide prevention and intervention and Mental Health First Aid
- Coaching
- Hospitalero training, for caring for pilgrims on the Camino
See the full list on Training and Education.
What this is, and what it isn’t
Inner Journey Sessions are about giving what you’re carrying room to be heard and to land, with someone who has walked through the middle messy bit of grief in all its forms many times and come out the other side.
Sometimes this kind of work uncovers things that need deeper or different support. If that happens, I’ll tell you honestly, and I can point you to colleagues who work in other ways. Think of me as a first step, not the only one.
What does it cost?
The Inner Journey Sessions Chat is free. Inner Journey Sessions are Donativo, meaning you pay what you feel they are worth. I also offer a service swap or Pay it Forward option if that works better for you. See here for more details.
Want to find out more? Book an Inner Journey Sessions Chat
A free 30 minutes. Tell me a little about where you’re heading and what you’d like to work through, and we’ll talk about what the sessions could look like for you, including how many and when.
I invite you to ponder a few questions before we meet – see this page.
If there is no availability, sign up to the email community list and you will be notified when more times become available.
I look forward to chatting soon and being alongside you on your Inner Journey 🙂
Other options for support...
📧 Plans
Choose a 30 or 90-day email plan to guide you step by step
🤗 Supported Plans
Choose a 30 or 90-day email plan WITH LIVE weekly Group Zoom support
📓 90-Day Workbook
Work through the 90-day plan at your own pace with the workbook
📖 Book 1: The Ultimate Camino Planning Guide
All the practical stuff to consider to plan your Camino
🎓 Workshops
Practical workshops to work through your Camino planning with support from Jo
👣 Camino Workshops
Live sessions focused on one route at a time – Info, experience and Q&A
📖 Book 1.5: The Inner Journey
Explore what a decade of Caminos gave me and what the Camino might give you
💬 Camino Conflab
Book a one-off conversation to get specific guidance on your Camino questions
🦋 Inner Journey Sessions
One-to-one sessions on Zoom to work through what you're carrying, before, during or after your Camino
🇪🇸 In Camino Support in Spain
Support for when you are on your Camino to navigate the practical side or a deep dive into the Inner Journey