When four-year-old Jewels Wingfield found temporary escape from her violent home environment by burying her face in a neighborhood rosebush, she discovered a profound truth that would shape her life’s journey: nature could offer healing when humans couldn’t. This revelation set her on a path of seeking solace and wisdom from the more-than-human world.
In this soul-stirring conversation with Malcolm Stern, Jewels reveals her evolution from wounded child to skilled facilitator, sharing how her own inner work became the foundation for her ability to hold space for others. “I believe we can only hold space as far as we’ve gone in our own journey,” she reflects, describing how her facilitation depth has grown in direct proportion to her personal growth.
The turning point in Jewels ‘ relational patterns came when she finally confronted her resentment toward her absent father—a revelation that arrived during a powerful plant medicine experience showing her how this bitterness was “eating her from the inside out.” Taking responsibility for her emotional landscape rather than projecting old wounds transformed her capacity for authentic connection. “Relationship is not seeking perfection,” she shares. “It’s seeking to accept what is and love anyway.”
Perhaps most transformative was Jewels’ late-in-life discovery of her autism—an understanding that provided context for lifelong challenges while honoring her unique gifts. Rather than pathologizing neurodiversity, Jules reframes autism as different wiring that offers both challenges and extraordinary capabilities, particularly in sensing others’ emotional depths and creating sacred spaces. Her perspective challenges our culture’s narrow framework for acceptable ways of being.
Today, Jewels has manifested her vision of creating land in the Forest of Dean where people reconnect with nature and remember their place within it. As she approaches her 60th birthday, she finds herself in a liminal space—no longer identifying with her younger self but not yet an elder—composting old identities as she discerns what’s next.
What dragons has Jewels had to slay? “Taking off my armor,” she answers without hesitation. The protective barriers necessary in childhood had become permanent fixtures, preventing authentic connection. Learning to selectively disarm and embrace vulnerability has transformed every aspect of her life.
Have you found healing in unexpected places? What armoring might you be ready to release? Join us for this profound exploration of nature connection, relational healing, and the courage to be seen.
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Presenter
Malcolm Stern has worked as a group and individual psychotherapist for more than 30 years. He was a co-founder of Alternatives at St James’s Church in London and runs groups internationally.
He is the author of Falling in Love / Staying in Love (Piatkus 2004) and Slay Your Dragons with Compassion ( Watkins 2020). He co-presented Channel 4’s relationship series, ‘Made for Each Other’ in 2003 and 2004 and sailed on the ‘Rainbow Warrior’ with Greenpeace in the 1980s. The book he is currently writing is an exploration of the shadow and its necessity in our evolutionary development.
Malcolm Stern in conversation with guests overcoming & thriving through adversity.
