Chichester & West Sussex
The things you’d do...
If you didn’t have to do them alone.
Steady, in-person support for women through the chapters that change everything. Not therapy. Not taking care of you. Just someone beside you.
You have people. That was never the problem.
You have friends. Good ones. Family nearby who love you. Something you're good at, and rooms where people are glad you walked in.You're capable, and you know it.
- Until the front door closes.
- Until Saturday morning arrives, and the weekend stretches out ahead of you.
- Until the invitation comes and instead of excitement, you feel that quiet dread of walking in alone
- Until something new comes along that you want to do, but you don't. Because doing it alone feels like too much.
You can be surrounded by people who love you and still feel completely alone. Not because people aren't there, but because lives move.
The difficult thing isn’t doing it.
It’s having to do it alone.
WHAT THIS IS NOT
It is not therapy.
No sessions, no analysis, no unpacking the past. If you need that, and sometimes we do, you should absolutely have it. This sits alongside it. Not instead of it.
It is not care.
You're smart. You're capable. You've been managing just fine. This isn't for women who can't cope, it’s for women who are tired of coping alone.
It is not advice.
You already know what to do. You just need someone beside you while you trust yourself to finally do it.
What it is: a trusted woman who gets it because she lives it — showing up beside you, for whatever today needs.
Why I built this
I’m the woman this is for.
I have friends. A family. A phone that rings. I am not short of people, and I am not short of confidence. I spent fifteen years walking into strangers' homes and leading conversations with people from every walk of life. I can hold a room. I can hold a silence. I know how to make someone feel seen within minutes of meeting them. And I still know exactly what it is to contemplate the session and not go. To get an invitation and decline it, because showing up solo felt too exposing. Those fifteen years were in premium property, which sounds glossy and mostly wasn’t. I sat in living rooms with women during divorces, probates and downsizes — the sales that happen because something ended. They were competent, well-loved women, and they were doing the hardest week of their lives with nobody in the passenger seat. To stand at the front door on a Saturday morning with a whole day ahead of me — and feel the weight of doing it alone. Not because I have nobody. Because the company I needed wasn't there. Those fifteen years in premium property put me in living rooms with women going through divorces, probates, downsizes. The sales that happen because something has ended or changed. They were competent women. Well-loved women. Women with people who cared about them. And they were doing the hardest week of their lives with nobody in the passenger seat. I kept coming back to the same question, for them, and quietly, for myself. What if someone just showed up? Not to fix anything. Not with a framework or a five-step plan. Not therapy. Not advice. Just there. Beside me. For whatever today actually needs. That question became Grounded Beside You.
What this actually looks like
Ordinary days, made possible.
Mid-week pottery class
The one you looked up in January and never booked. Two places, and someone sitting at the wheel next to you.
A dance class on a Thursday
This is where being a beginner can be exciting. We walk in together and soon a bunch of strangers become your next best group of friends. Dance as if no one is watching!
A gallery, followed by lunch
Pallant House Gallery, then somewhere with yummy food and someone across the table engaging in real conversation.
An appointment neither of us will pretend is nothing
I sit in the waiting room, or I come in with you. Afterwards there is a cup of tea and no rush to be brave.
New places to discover
Somewhere you’ve often contemplated. Time for action. Let’s go!
A walk when the house is too quiet
Up onto the South Downs, along West Wittering if the wind isn’t vicious or simply around the block. Talking… optional.
The envelopes you’ve stopped opening
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
An event you’d have declined
The plus-one you couldn’t fill. We arrive together; you leave whenever your social bucket becomes full.
Whatever today needs.
Ways to begin
Start wherever feels right.
The Community
Free
A local group for women in and around Chichester.
The Circle
£25 / month
Membership, so there is always something in the diary.
An Afternoon
£150
Three hours, one-to-one, doing the thing you’ve been meaning to do.
Beside You
from £395 / month
Ongoing support from one consistent person.
What you can count on
The plain facts.
Simply me, every time.
Not an agency. Not a rota of strangers. Me. the same face, the same car, the same trust where continued conversation builds trust.
15 years trusted in clients’ homes.
A career in premium property, much of it spent sitting with women on some of the most challenging days of their lives.
Trained in counselling skills.
Which means I know that everyone's story is different. That being truly heard can change the temperature of an entire day. I won't assume. I'll just be present. And I'll listen in a way that most people don't.
A written agreement.
Times, costs, boundaries and notice, all set out plainly in writing before anything begins.
Grounded Beside You works exclusively with women. Every arrangement is set out in writing, and is entirely non-intimate.
Reading this for a loved one?
You live an hour away, or four. The calls have got shorter and you're not sure what to do with that. You've looked at what's available. None of it fits, because your loved one is independent and capable. She doesn’t need or want to be managed. She, at times, simply needs someone beside her. This is not a care service. It won't feel like one to her, and it won't feel like a hand-off to you.
Our online community
Come and see who's there.
Join our free Facebook group for women in and around Chichester. It costs nothing and asks nothing of you. You can simply be a quiet presence, dip in and out, or get more involved, entirely at your own pace. Come and have a look. You may just discover that you’re not as alone in how you feel as you thought. Beyond the group, there are occasional small gatherings, usually eight to ten women meeting for a long lunch, a walk or afternoon tea. No pressure. No expectations. Just lovely women, good conversation and the reassuring feeling that perhaps we’re all in the same boat after all. And really, that’s rather the point. (Occasional event costs may apply to cover individual expenses).
Let’s have a conversation.
Just write a few lines about what’s going on, and I’ll reply personally, usually within a day. If I don’t think this is right for you, I’ll say so honestly and, where I can, point you towards something that might be a better fit.
hello@groundedbesideyou.co.ukChichester and about 25 minutes around it