For many of my clients, psychological therapy is appropriate, justified and very much wanted by them. However, for some clients, a different approach is required - for these clients I can offer a therapeutic coaching model. 

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Coaching is most often appropriate for clients who have an acute challenge in their lives, without any past traumas, and without any patterns of relationship or work-related difficulties, that might indicate underlying unprocessed emotions.

 

Where coaching is indicated there is likely to be little or no need for an exploration of the client's past or childhood, and instead we focus on the practical steps related to how a client can move forward, within an acutely challenging current experience. Coaching tends to be short-term work, focussed on a one-off challenge, which tends to be a challenging happening in the here-and-now.

 

The focus of psychological coaching tends to be on:

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• Clarifying the short-term aims & outcomes the client wants to focus on, to navigate through their current challenge

• Providing education of psychological concepts that might assist the client in achieving their short-term aims, and

• Identifying & tackling obstacles that are getting in the way of the client achieving their aims on their own. 

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The coaching model is often associated with career-goals, but it can be equally applicable to parenting goals, relationship goals, and self-care goals. 

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It can also at times be a person's entry point into deeper therapeutic work. For this reason, I would always recommend that you access coaching from a trained mental health professional - At the outset of a coaching relationship, it is not always consciously obvious whether there are deeper, darker, more painful aspects of a client's history that are impacting on the here-and-now. The process of being in a close, empathic, supportive relationship with a coach can bring these previously hidden aspects of a client's emotional health to the foreground, and that can feel destabilising, and at times vulnerable, or even scary. 

 

There is no legislation in the UK to regulate the use of the term 'coach - This means that anyone can call themselves a coach, and therefore a lot of coaches do not have extensive (if any) mental health or human development training.

 

It is therefore a common experience of coaching clients to, with a coaching relationship, come across an internal obstacle in them related to past trauma, or childhood experiences, or extremely painful previously hidden emotions, only to be told by their coach: "I'm not really qualified to explore that with you". Conversely, their coach may attempt to go beyond their training and try to offer this support. Both common scenarios are often jarring & unhelpful for the client at best, and dangerous for the client's mental health at worst. 

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With my extensive education & experience in the world of psychology, I offer more than coaching - I tie in my therapeutic expertise with a coaching model to provide safe, containing 'therapeutic coaching'.

 

When you access therapeutic coaching from me, you can rest assured that if and when we uncover any deeper emotional obstacles related to past traumas or your mental health - I can absolutely support you with that.

 

We can discuss transitioning from coaching into therapy, and/or we can be very conscious and deliberate about the boundaries that we draw around your coaching work, to keep you feeling safe & in control in that process, if you decide therapy is not the right option for you at that time. 

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If you believe that my expertise in parenting, mind-body work, self-care, relationships, or perimenopause may be useful to you in a coaching capacity, please do not hesitate to get in touch, and please do let me know that coaching is what you are seeking in the first instance. I look forward to hearing from you and working with you.