They are often high‑achieving women, used to keeping everything together on the outside, but privately struggling with the long shadow of narcissistic abuse and coercive control.
Allie, who runs Glimmer & Bloom Somatic Coaching for Women, specialises in supporting survivors to reconnect with their bodies after years of having their needs minimised or ignored.
“When you grow up with a narcissistic parent or spend years with a controlling partner, you learn to divorce from yourself just to survive,” she explains. “You stop trusting your own feelings, your hunger, even your instinct that someone is lying to you.”
That experience is personal for Allie. She grew up with a narcissistic parent in California and later realised that although she had done “a lot of healing in my head”, her body was still carrying the weight of what had happened.
After moving to Penarth in 2015 to study for a master’s degree and deciding to stay after meeting her husband she turned her own recovery work into a practice helping other women.
Somatic coaching focuses less on retelling the past and more on what a person is feeling in the present moment.
Sessions can include grounding exercises, gentle body awareness and space to notice emotions without judgement.
“When I first did this work myself, it felt overwhelming,” Allie says. “But once I made space for those feelings, they told me more about who I am and what I want than my head ever did.”
Many clients, she says, arrive competent on paper but deeply uncomfortable being alone with themselves.
Over time, they start to feel calmer, more creative and more able to “take up space” in their own lives. “A lot of the work is about moving from self‑abandonment to self‑belief,” Allie says.
Allie works with women around the world online, offering one‑to‑one somatic coaching sessions, group programmes and occasional in‑person events.
For those who are not ready to work somatically, she also runs “Sounding Board Sessions”, a more conversational service offering practical support, validation and guidance, priced at £70 an hour.
She also hosts the podcast Not to Make This About Me But…, where she shares her own story and interviews guests about recovering from narcissistic abuse and coercive control.
Later this spring she will co‑host a women’s mini retreat in Sully, Gather, Ground & Glow, giving people a chance to experience the work in a small group setting.
You can find out more about Allie’s work at Glimmer & Bloom: Somatic Coaching for Women at Glimmer & Bloom | Somatic Coaching for Women.
