Frequently Asked Questions

  • A life coach generally works on outcomes and behaviour. Life coaching can be great for some people but is unlikely to deal with the deeper and more significant parts of someone's mind and worldview. The architecture of our mind with all its beliefs, experiences, and patterns are what offer the most significant areas for growth.

    If you're looking to make sustainable change in your life and you need to work at the root of all thinking, feelings, and behaviour. This way you get to change yourself and how you experience the world. 

    So, my work includes behaviour and outcomes but also goes much deeper to understand the deep beliefs a person holds and help them to become aware of those beliefs.

    I work with psychological intelligence, emotional intelligence, and physical intelligence - all the levels of the human system.

    I listen for what a person says to develop a clear understanding of their life story / mind story / identity and story. I also listen for what is not being said. Looking for or a person can't see themselves as a big step to growth and change (we repeat what we know). If you are committed to change then stepping into the "unknown" can be scary but the place to work.

    Using a systems-based approach considers how people and the world affect each other. 

    I see the shadow and light of all things including behaviour, beliefs, and desires - a mindset of ‘grounded optimism’ allows us to face all things, good, bad, or otherwise and take action

  • A business coach is likely to be well versed in psychological practices and models solely about business. These can be really helpful, but they miss the driving force behind the person applying this model. 

    I take a human-centric approach to professional coaching. I think not just about psychological model that can help their business but the reasons behind why they may do this. By working with psychological and emotional structure of a founder, we then can apply many of the great business models to help them achieve their aims in business whilst at the same time doing it in a way that is authentic and right for them

    It’s not just about what founders think, but how they think. Lateral thinking and creativity open up new possibilities for the person and their organisation.

    I work with psychological intelligence, emotional intelligence, and physical intelligence - all the levels of the human system. 

    I listen for what a person says to develop a clear understanding of their personal identity and life story. I also listen for what is not being said. Helping a person see themselves is a big step to growth and change. We repeat what we know but can get stuck here. If you are committed to change then stepping into the "unknown" can be scary but the place to work.

    I use a systems-based approach that considers how people and the world affect each other. 

    I see the shadow and light of all things including behaviour, beliefs, and desires - a mindset of ‘grounded optimism’ allows us to face all things, good, bad, or otherwise and take action.

  • Happy, healthy employees perform better on every metric. That includes the organisation’s leaders. 

    An executive coach usually works with high level employees in the organisation. The purpose is to help each individual overcome challenges for fill their potential. There is a dual focus here, because the executive coach is responsible to both the employee and the employer alike.

    When I am working with founders or high-level executives, my contract is with that individual only. This means my client can be free to be themselves without the burden of the company acting as the buyer.

    I support people in senior positions who are dealing with stress and burnout. I help them understand how they are thinking feeling and working, and what drives their behaviour, so that they can we make changes to these negative patterns. This does not mean you have to leave your job. It simply gives you a way to work more efficiently and authentically so that stress and burnout are replaced by engagement and self-awareness.

    I work with psychological intelligence, emotional intelligence, and physical intelligence - all the levels of the human system. 

    I listen for what a person says to develop a clear understanding of their life story / mind story / identity and story. I also listen for what is not being said. Looking for or a person can't see themselves as a big step to growth and change (we repeat what we know). If you are committed to change then stepping into the "unknown" can be scary but the place to work.

    Using a systems-based approach considers how people and the world affect each other. 

    I see the shadow and light of all things including behaviour, beliefs, and desires - a mindset of ‘grounded optimism’ allows us to face all things, good, bad, or otherwise and act.

  • In simple terms, psychotherapy is the use of psychology for a therapeutic change in a person.

    There are different forms of psychotherapy. More traditional approaches, such as psychoanalysis, are largely driven by looking at the origin of a person’s mind history and mental problems. More recent practices include behavioural change, existential inquiry, and emotional intelligence.

    I qualified in a discipline called Contemporary Psychotherapy. The philosophy of this is to use the latest understandings and principles from all fields of psychology to help a person navigate change. It also has a particular focus on somatic (body based) intelligence. All minds are embodied and when we can include body language, body intelligence, and sensations, combined with emotional understanding and how we are thinking, this gives us more complete system of working with problems and change.

    I no longer explicitly offer psychotherapy, but my mind body coaching process has been informed and guided by this training practice. The coaching work I do is therapeutic by nature and holds the view that change can only happen in the present. How we relate to experiences from the past, and how we are going to build a future, start in the present and in the mind and the body. 

    With the right approach and skills, all problems are possibilities that have yet to be unpacked. The world view/perspective we hold will be formed by our early years and upbringing, but this is not fixed. We can change how we are, how we feel, and how we think, at any point in our life when we are ready to do the work. 

    I work with psychological intelligence, emotional intelligence, and physical intelligence - all the levels of the human system. 

    I listen for what a person says to develop a clear understanding of their life story / mind story / identity and story. I also listen for what is not being said. Looking for or a person can't see themselves as a big step to growth and change (we repeat what we know). If you are committed to change then stepping into the "unknown" can be scary but the place to work.

    Using a systems-based approach considers how people and the world affect each other. 

    I see the shadow and light of all things including behaviour, beliefs, and desires - a mindset of ‘grounded optimism’ allows us to face all things, good, bad, or otherwise and take action.

Glossary of Terms

I aim to avoid jargon where possible but sometimes, the language and descriptions have specific relevance to my work. Please find below a list of commonly used terms you might read/hear and how I define them.

  • A blend of attitude, beliefs, and perspective that shapes how we see challenges and events.

  • Using conscious breathing practices that directly influence the body and nervous system. This in turn can have particular effects such as reducing anxiety and stress, increasing mental clarity, sleep quality, how we feel emotionally. See more on the Approach page of this website.

  • How we feel emotionally and how we are thinking. For example, in a calm state, we are more likely to assess situations with a balanced approach. In an anxious state, we are biased to searching for threats even if that may not be so.

  • A longer term experience of emotion that influences thinking and behaviour accordingly.

  • I use the collective term ‘movement’ to describe exercise, posture, physical sensations and response, body language and body intelligence. Exercise and fitness are fundamental in performance and well-being, but they are not the only aspect. How you walk, your posture, your voice, your mannerisms, and the way you carry yourself all affect your experience of life.

  • Bringing balance and steadiness to how we feel rather than oscillating between more extreme feelings.

  • A psychologically directed approach to overcoming problems and blocks, and transforming these into new choices for how you wish to live and work.

  • Most of our behaviour happens in repeating patterns, much like a habit. These can be helpful or unhelpful. Coaching aims to uncover the patterns you may be living by and work on changing unhelpful/outdated ones. It is a process of uncovering, understanding and then transforming the patterns that are causing problems in your life with empathy, respect, and courage.

  • These are largely unconscious, but they are the fundamental architecture of our mind. They shape our actions and choices. We largely ‘learn’ our belief architecture when we are younger, but it is not fixed and can be ‘updated’ at any age. Limiting beliefs such as ‘I’m not good enough’ or I can’t do xxx’ are especially important to address in order for the person to have a fulfilling life.

  • The underpinnings of belief and what really matters to us. Becoming clear on your values helps direction in life/work. But sometimes we have a ‘values conflict’. This is like being pulled in opposing directions and causes a lot of internal discomfort and external problems.

  • The great question of ‘who am I?’ Our identity is made of many layers, in the mind and body as well as our social and work environments.

  • Whilst we can deal with specific aspects of what is happening for you, nothing works in isolation. Using a systemic principle, we can see the relationship between thoughts/feelings, actions/reactions. This principle holds that, as we make change in one part of you/your life, other things may change too. The key is being aware of how to consciously change. 

  • According to doctors Fraser and Solovey, “first-order change refers to solutions that do not change the problem but that create stability, while second-order change transforms the first-order solutions, resulting in a resolution of the problem.” To put it more simply, first order change is more about updating skills, behaviour and actions. Second order change is seeing the yourself and the world in a new way. Both are needed.