Coaching

I came to coaching a little late in life – slightly wary of what was involved. Somehow I imagined coaching was only for thrusting business executives or totally purposeful people who wanted to make their highly successful lives even better. What I discovered is that coaching is a revelation – something quite amazing that can help everyone to be more resourceful with their own gifts and skills and to make the very best of whatever situation they find themselves in.

Resourceful and person-centred

As someone with quite a lot of life experience behind me – including a number of sudden bereavements – I appreciate that ‘positive thinking’ isn’t always enough to get us through. Instead we need to find ways to feel more in control of our own lives and to identify strategies and goals that feel appropriate to the circumstances we find ourselves in, and which are realistic to who we are as individuals. For this reason I choose to coach in a co-active way (some people call it co-creative) which respects that the client is the person who knows what is best for them. I work alongside the client as they explore their chosen agendas helping them to make discoveries about themselves and their goals. I offer deep listening, reflecting back and where appropriate, observations and challenges, but at all points I follow the client’s agenda - never my own ideas of what might be best for them. I am non-judgemental and I respect client confidentiality at all times. The core element of this type of coaching is a partnership of equals.

Woods and Trees

Not being able to see the wood for the trees is a pretty hackneyed image but I find it a helpful one to describe the power of coaching.

Imagine that you are standing on this side of the wood and you know that you’d much rather be in the mountains on the other side. You know there are possible ways through the wood but all you can see is trees, there’s a mist coming down and you just can’t decide how to approach your journey. Coaching can help you identify those different paths and consider the positives and negatives of each route.

As you ‘map out’ the route through a coaching conversation you will make discoveries as you go along: some routes may lead to dead ends, some routes have bridges over the boggy bits and handy short cuts, and some routes may lead your out of the forest and into totally new directions altogether. Maybe you will decide to choose the most direct path to the mountains or maybe you will decide that there is fertile, undiscovered territory and you’re going to spend some time exploring that instead. Without coaching you may spend so long walking up and down the boundary of the woods that you lose all energy and enthusiasm to make the journey. In other words you lose an opportunity through which you could grow and develop as a human being.

How coaching can work in the caring sector

Within the social care sector some of the most important decisions which affect people’s lives are made, yet staff are often left feeling un-resourced and undervalued. Many coaches offer their services to the corporate sector but I prefer to use my skills to benefit the sector where I feel most committed, and where I believe some of the most vital work in our society takes place.

I believe coaching has an important part to play in helping staff to identify their wealth of skills and use them most resourcefully to benefit service users, colleagues and team members. The following are examples of those who can benefit:

• Teams merging with professionals from other care cultures
• Individuals taking on new roles and responsibilities
• Staff responsible for designing new structures and procedures
• Individual workers feeling de-skilled or burnt out
• Foster carers dealing with dilemmas in their work

Individual coaching

In addition to coaching for organisations I also offer coaching to individuals. This can be face to face or by telephone.

Costs

My costs are graded according to the type of organisation I am working with and the package of coaching required. You will probably find I am less expensive than many executive coaches because I recognise the financial restraints of the sector I have chosen to work within.

Please call me to discuss details.

Standards and ethics

Coaching is an unregulated profession but there is a lot of work being done to rectify this. I am a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) and follow its Code of Ethics. Client confidentiality is central to this Code. I am currently studying for accreditation with one of only three courses in the UK which is recognised by the ICF. This involves a detailed programme of theoretical and experiential training, including observed and assessed coaching practice. I have a supervisor and a coach.

As an ethical coach I must always ensure that I am the best person to work with someone. If I believe that the needs of a client will be best met by another coach, counselling service or form of therapy, I will make them aware of my opinion that I am not the appropriate person to work with them.

I am happy to discuss any of the above, if you would like to know more.