Meet Isabel Brouwer, founder of Healing Grounds and Clarity Guide
September 16, 2025
Who am I?
My name is Isabel Brouwer and I’m the founder of the Healing Grounds foundation. Together with Tim I have two daughters who attend the democratic school De Ruimte in Soest. In 2023 we moved to Soest to be closer to their school.
I grew up in a part of the Netherlands where I obviously wasn’t native, in a rural environment surrounded by animals. At fifteen I started my first internet venture - a marketplace for horses. I went on to study Human Geography in Utrecht, Dublin and Amsterdam, where I completed my master’s degree (MSc) in 2010.
During my first job I had a coach who taught me to follow my intuition and take my personal development seriously. I also made two long journeys through Asia, where I found inspiration in Buddhism. In 2016 I became the director of a foundation. Entrepreneurship with a social purpose felt immediately right to me.
In 2020, after the birth of our second daughter, a period of reflection and deepening began. During a meditation the vision I had been carrying for years came back into sharp focus: a place where the person is central and where all forms of care come together. That vision eventually took shape as Healing Grounds.
What inspired you to do this work?
In 2013 my father died of cancer. Years earlier he had visited his GP with vague complaints, but was reassured that it was age-related and that further investigation would be “quite unpleasant.” When he returned with more serious symptoms, it turned out to be metastatic cancer. I don’t blame the GP - the protocol was followed - but I deeply feel the absence of a place where he would have been taken seriously with his story, and where there was space to listen to what his body was trying to tell him.
His death made me think about my own contribution to the world. I wrote a manifesto to myself, in which I promised to work towards “an international network of care organisations where the person is central and where different forms of care are available.” I carry that promise with me to this day.
What makes Healing Grounds different?
The key word is trust. Trust from professionals in the vision and in each other. Trust from visitors in an organisation with no hidden interests, where it truly revolves around them. Healing Grounds has no profit motive - it works towards personal and social growth, health and connection.
We give people the space to take their body and their feelings seriously, especially at an early stage, when they’re still whispering rather than shouting. We also take great care in connecting the right professionals. They work from their strengths, advise on suitable care when their patient or client might benefit, and build genuine connections with one another. The result is a network of holistically and integrally working doctors, therapists and other professionals grounded in trust and collaboration.
What can people expect from your session?
Within Healing Grounds I offer Clarity Sessions. In these sessions your health in the broadest sense is central, and I support you in finding and articulating your health desires. I attune fully to you, so that it’s genuinely about your process. A Clarity Session lasts 80 minutes and offers perspective on your personal healing journey.
Read more about my vision for Healing Grounds in the interview that appeared in the Tijdschrift Integrale Geneeskunde (Journal of Integrative Medicine):
