A review of Weathering by Ruth Allen

I was privileged to be invited by Rhyme and Reason booksellers in Hunters Bar Sheffield to Ruth Allen’s launch of her new book Weathering (Ebury Press, 2024). The book is an endorsement of the use of the outdoors in therapy and so is relevant to one of the core services of Open Gates Outdoors - life coaching in the outdoors. 

The launch itself was a very pleasant evening drinking Moonshine while listening to the engaging conversation between the poet Helen Mort and Ruth. I was particularly interested in Ruth’s argument that erosion, or weathering, in nature is a positive process that leads to the growth and health of the landscape and this can be used as a metaphor for aging, or weathering, in people, ie it needn’t be seen as a negative transition.

Having read the book there are other arguments made by Ruth that interest me. During the book launch it was observed a couple of times both from the audience and from Ruth’s interviewer that Ruth’s style is very lyrical. I totally endorse this. I love the passage where Ruth argues that an outdoor location is better for therapy if it isn’t perfect and unbroken suggesting that “obvious beauty as it shows up in our lives cannot be the only determinant of value and what is deemed worthwhile. Far better to have a landscape that has seen its own hardships.” Later Ruth refers to land that is under ongoing repair creating “meaningful reciprocity” with us.

I recognise Ruth’ simile between a bird’s eye view and the approach of a therapist “gently surveying the whole terrain…while also watching out for the important specifics.”

Ruth was a geologist before becoming a therapist and she makes a convincing comparison between geology and therapy as both requiring an eye for spaces, an ability to see into gaps and to put gaps together to build a story.

Ruth correctly observes that although weathering affects us all, some are affected more harshly by the process because of the combined effects of sexism racism and poverty. She is right that aging is not an egalitarian process. Access to the outdoors isn’t egalitarian either and Open Gates Outdoors seeks to address this. 

Ruth makes an interesting advocation for the outdoors as a location for therapy suggesting it is a third space that provides neutrality and encourages experimentation. I agree that coaching outdoors will often be more appropriate and successful than coaching indoors. 

Open Gates Outdoors has always appreciated the importance of a person’s sense of place to their wellbeing. People are healthier and happier if they have an awareness of the characteristics and stories of their locality. Ruth shares this conviction and puts it in a typically lyrical manner by suggesting therapists can support clients to ask not “who am I in this place?” but “what is this place in me or what is the effect of this landscape on me?”

The principal criticism I have of the book is that I remain to be convinced that erosion results in growth in nature .  The erosion of peat from areas of the dark peak doesn’t create growth and if it does this is surely more than offset by the loss of carbon capture and increased flooding due to peat being washed into rivers. I see the poetry and lyricism in the comparison between the positivity of erosive aspects in nature and our own erosive processes but I need more convincing by geologists like Ruth that on balance erosion in nature is positive.

Having said that I found Weathering a very enjoyable read and as an outdoor life coach I found it affirming in respect of the therapeutic properties of spending time outdoors. 

Open Gates Outdoors (Community) CIC

15.4.24