FAQs
What exactly is coaching?
Coaching grew out of sports coaching and helps people to be the best version of themselves, whatever that means to them. As your coach, I ask you questions, listen, hold space for you to think and explore your answers and ideas. We talk about what makes you feel good, what you’d like to improve on or have more of, where you’d like to make changes and what kind of life you’d like to create.
We might do a life audit to help you to see where you’d like to make changes if you aren’t sure about this already, and look at your values and strengths as a means to connecting with yourself and what is important to you.
This can take time for some people, and be quick for others, but once you have some clarity on what you’d like to work towards, we discuss the steps you want to take in order to make that vision a reality.
It might be something specific, like you want to make some lifestyle changes or maybe you feel stuck and aren’t sure what needs to change. Coaching can help you to get some clarity on what you’d like your next chapter to look like as well as determining which actions you need to take to get to where you want to be.
How do I know if we are a good fit to work together?
I usually have a 30 minute free “discovery call” when we can have a chat, I can answer any questions you might have and we can both see whether we are a good fit. We won’t know right away if we will work well together but we will have a good idea. You may decide you’re not ready to start coaching, and that’s fine too.
What’s a first session like?
During the first session we will have a chat about what has brought you to coaching and discuss where you’d like to be at the end of our sessions. This will help me to start getting to know you and also help you to get a little clarity on what you hope to get out of coaching This also helps me to support you to keep you on track. We may find ourselves talking about topics that seem wholly unrelated, sometimes for whole sessions, but these conversations are all part of the puzzle and I will make sure we come back to the initial topic and that you are making progress towards what you set out to achieve.
What happens in subsequent sessions?
Sessions usually start with a quick check in where we talk about what has happened and any progress you may have made or obstacles you’ve encountered since our last session. Then I will ask you what you would like to focus on today. You will always set the focus for the session and I will also ask you what you’d like to have by the end of the session.
How long is a coaching session?
Sessions are 50 minutes long.
What happens if I cancel or want to re-arrange a session?
Sometimes life gets in the way and you can’t make a session. If you give 24 hours’ notice, I will happily reschedule your appointment. I have a no refund policy for cancellations under 24hrs or no shows, because it’s often hard to fill these empty spaces.
Are sessions confidential?
All sessions are entirely confidential. Trust is an integral part of the coach / client relationship. However, there may be some circumstances where I may consider breaking confidentiality for a client’s own safety. This would only be if I felt there was a risk of harm to you or to another person and I would discuss this with you first.
I discuss my work with a supervisor from time to time, to ensure I am meeting the needs of my clients as well as I can. All details would be anonymised. This is standard best practice in coaching.
Both myself and my supervisor abide by the EMCC or ICF Code of Ethics.
How long do you usually work with clients?
I have worked with some clients for as few as 6 sessions and others for over 2 years. It depends on what you want to achieve and the timeline you have in mind. Sometimes once you start to fine tune one thing in your life, you decide there are other things you want to improve too. It is not unusual to see clients for 6 weeks at the outset, on a weekly basis, and then monthly or even bi-monthly after that for a longer period. Clients also often return for an annual session to set themselves goals and keep themselves on track for the year.
Where do sessions take place?
Sessions take place either online or face to face in a consulting room in London.
How does coaching differ from therapy?
Coaching and therapy are not the same, and yet there are sometimes some overlaps. While therapy tends to have a focus on the past and how that might be affecting your present, coaching tends to look forward, thinking about how you can change what is happening in the present to create a future that you want. Sometimes we will touch on aspects of your past which are affecting your thoughts and actions now, but we will not delve deeply into the past. I am not a therapist. If I think that you would benefit from therapy, I will tell you so and can give you some ideas of who to contact.
Can I change my mind about what I want to focus on?
You can absolutely change your focus. The decisions are all yours and it is not uncommon to start discussing one topic and then realise there are other topics that are relevant or that you’d like to change too. I will remind you of the topic you chose to work on and also enable any re-focusing you choose.