Sandra HawesI did not come to circle work through certainty. I came to it through longing, exhaustion, curiosity, heartbreak and the growing sense that many women were carrying far too much alone.Before I trained as a counsellor, I was already deeply interested in what happens when people gather honestly together. Again and again, I found myself drawn towards spaces where the usual performance of life softened and something more human emerged. Long before I had professional language for concepts like attachment, relational safety, or group process, I had already witnessed the quiet transformation that can happen when women feel genuinely listened to.Over the years, I held circles in many forms and places: around fires, in retreat spaces, in living rooms In ordinary rooms made sacred simply by the quality of attention inside them. Later, my counselling training gave me a framework for understanding more clearly why these spaces could feel so powerful. I began recognising in group therapy literature many of the same truths experienced circle holders had always known intuitively: that people heal relationally, that belonging matters profoundly and that honest witnessing changes what becomes bearable.My own life has also taught me about fragility, interruption, grief and beginning again. There have been seasons where life opened beautifully and seasons where it fell apart unexpectedly. Loss, illness, change and uncertainty have shaped me as much as any training ever has. Like many women, I know what it is to continue outwardly while inwardly trying to find solid ground again.Perhaps because of this, I have become less interested in polished versions of healing and more interested in what genuinely helps people remain human with one another. Not perfect. Not endlessly resilient. Simply real.This book grew from that place. It grew partly from professional experience, partly from years of sitting in circles with women and partly from my own ongoing search for spaces where honesty feels safer than performance.I do not believe circles solve everything. Human beings remain complicated, vulnerable and unfinished no matter how thoughtfully we gather. But I do believe something important happens when women are given room to arrive truthfully together, especially in a world that so often rewards speed, self-sufficiency and emotional concealment.If you are reading this because you are considering holding circles yourself, I hope this book reassures you that meaningful holding does not begin with perfection. It begins with attention. With care. With humility. With the willingness to stay present long enough for something real to emerge between people. That is where my own journey began too. Read More Read Less