May always feels like a settling point, the moment in the year where the work becomes clearer and the foundations start to show their shape. All around us we can see those peonies blooming (yay!) and today as I sit in the garden, typing it feels like summer is just around the corner.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been focused on the first stage of this year’s priorities: bringing Peony Community into testing. I began working with more intention on the evolved offering in September 2025 and ambitiously said it would be launched in Spring 2026. Suddenly here we are…

Alongside this project I have been strengthening relationships with my retained clients and supporting founders and leaders who care deeply about the people they serve. Some of these conversations have not been easy, but we have worked together and kept the human at the heart of decision making.

This month’s intro is intentionally short, as I wanted to share where I am with the Peony Community right now.

Does this resonate? 

If you’re honest, you know you’re at a point in the year where something in you wants to shift, not dramatically, not urgently, but quietly and steadily. You want to understand yourself better, make sense of the patterns you keep meeting, and move in a way that feels true rather than performed. But you don’t want another programme telling you to push harder, be more, or keep up.

Peony Community was built for that exact place.

It’s a self‑led developmental programme grounded in a structured, eight‑stage model of psychological growth.

It meets you where you genuinely are (not where you think you should be) and it grows with you at a pace that feels safe, steady and human.

Let me give you a taster of what you would experience….

Your journey begins with the Peony Scale: twenty honest questions that read where you are across four seasonal dimensions. Your result matches you to the season that reflects your real starting point. Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter, each one holding a different kind of growth, guided by a companion who stays with you throughout.

From there, you move through six self‑led sessions, each around thirty minutes, small pockets of time you invest in yourself, building up over a year.

The Cogs and WOW 

Built on real methodology Created by me, this is not a wellness app. It is a genuine developmental programme with professional‑grade methodology behind it.

Self‑led You move at your own pace, in your own time, on your own terms. There are no deadlines, no streaks, no urgency prompts. The programme is designed to meet you where you are, and to stay there with you, however long it takes.

Depth that stays safe Each session is carefully calibrated to what is appropriate for self‑led work. You will never be taken deeper than you can safely go alone. The programme grows with you.

Evidence of your growth At the close of each season, you reassess where you are. You receive a From Me to You downloadable record of what has shifted, what has been built and what you carry into the next season. Your development is evidenced, not just felt.

Each season in Peony Community is held by a companion, Ashe, Lark, Isen or Zora. They are AI‑embedded, but every interaction is scripted by me. This keeps the experience psychologically safe, consistent and grounded in the same values that underpin my coaching and HR practice.

Their role is simple: to stay with you, to steady the pace, and to help you meet yourself. I will intro these more over time but for now meet:

Lark (Spring) — gentle courage, beginnings, first light
Zora (Summer) — clarity, inner authority, standing in what feels true
Ashe (Autumn) — pattern‑tracing, understanding, sustainable rhythm
Isen (Winter) — compassion, depth, moving at the pace that feels safe

SOOOO… Do you fancy being an early adopter or part of the focus group? I have some keen and eager supporters already, but welcome more, I need only a small amount of your time over May, to experience a session or 2 and feedback your thoughts.

Keen- just reply and I will add you to my list.

And finally….

I will sign off with just one podcast and one book this month.

Fiction: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi | Waterstones – the most beautiful book which I feel everyone should dip into read at some point this year.

Feel Better Live More- Build Life Long Resilience – How To Support Your Immunity, Reduce Inflammation & Age Better with Dr Jenna Macciochi was a very good listen about how mental and physical health are linked and how medicine is evolving how we treat symptons such as stress.

Non Fiction: current read as just released.. The Age Rebellion by Lyndsey Simpson | Waterstones

By the time June comes, I am hoping I will be able to say we have launched and will get back to normal newsletter updates.

Alice