Coaching can benefit you if you want to effect a very specific change in your life but need some guidance in clarifying goals and defining steps to achieving them.
Services
Coaching
Coaching is about developing you, finding your strengths and building on them. By creating and reviewing realistic goals, your development is constantly monitored, helping you to make positive changes in your life.
“I was fed up with what I was doing but unsure how to move on. Working with my coach allowed me to make decisions and take action to move into a more interesting job and still do the best thing for my family.”
Tom, 37
Coaching FAQs
How can it help me?
Coaching can help you with organising material, becoming aware of and examining options, and operationalising an action plan. It can be the support that enables the change that you might not otherwise be able to fully realise.
How does it work?
In prior-arranged hour-long meetings – face-to-face, by phone or over Skype – you and your coach will evaluate your current circumstances. By examining and experimenting with different options, you will devise a structured action plan to achieve your goal.
An example
To help with job progression, Tom was contemplating postgraduate studies when his wife became pregnant with their second child. He consulted a coach to help him consider the options for him to best support his family as well as advance his career.
Tom initially met his coach and they made a thorough assessment of his current circumstances, his skills, experience and interests as well as his values, commitments and aspirations. Using insights from these sessions, he spent some weeks following up various leads that they had discussed. He then had a Skype and two further ‘phone consultations with his coach to firm up his decisions and to finalise his action plan.
Tom decided to do a part-time PhD and negotiated with his boss, and his wife, acceptable amounts of time to spend on his studies.
Counselling FAQs
Could I benefit from Counselling?
Counselling can help you alleviate stress, resolve a particular problem, improve your sense of wellbeing, or deal with a specific crisis in your life.
How can it help me?
Counselling can highlight choices or changes to be made; reduce confusion, immobility and fear; and promote positive action so you feel more in control of your life. Counselling not only helps with current issues and crises, but also facilitates personal learning for future decisions and problem-solving.
How does it work?
After an initial consultation, an agreed number of 50-minute sessions are arranged with your counsellor. Talking to a professional who is not connected to your ordinary life makes exploring feelings such as anger, sadness and anxiety easier: because they are appropriately trained, they are able to accept and reflect your emotions and problems without being burdened by them.
An example
Mo’s wife died of a brain haemorrhage 18 months before they were both due to retire and move abroad. After struggling to come to terms with her death for six months, Mo talked with a counsellor about the shock, grief and anger he had experienced on losing her.
After ten counselling sessions Mo was feeling more himself and his sleeping had returned to normal. He chose not to make any decision about selling the house and moving abroad, but felt confident about reappraising his situation within the year.
Counselling
Counselling provides a confidential, non-judgemental setting to help you explore problems and difficulties causing distress; no issue is too big or too small. In addition to bringing relief, counselling enables you to make changes in your life as well as to deal more effectively with things that cannot be changed.
“When my wife died I felt the carpet was pulled out from under me. After a few months I didn't even want to get out of bed in the morning. My daughter persuaded me to talk to a counsellor and although I still miss my wife terribly, it helped me to start to move on with my life”
Mo, 64
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy helps develop insights into your thoughts, feelings, behaviours and relationships with the aim of achieving a more satisfying life. It involves exploring underlying patterns and relevant events, sometimes from childhood and personal history, with somebody trained to facilitate this in a safe and effective way.
“Two years ago, all I saw in the mirror was a fat, middle-aged woman with no life. My GP recommended antidepressants but I didn't want to rely on drugs so I started having psychotherapy. I feel a completely different person now, much more confident and happy in my life”
Carol, 44
Psychotherapy FAQs
Could I benefit from Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy can benefit you if you feel lost or stuck with an old problem in a way that interferes with your enjoyment of life. It may seem irrational to you and others, and you may feel powerless to do anything to change.
How can it help me?
Psychotherapy can help identify the obstacles preventing you from enjoying your life, making changes and moving on. This can entail working through learned patterns of feelings, thoughts and behaviour; and examining relationship dynamics that might be holding you back.
How does it work?
A contract of ongoing, 50-minute, weekly (or more by agreement) sessions are set up between you and your therapist. Through building up a trusting relationship, aspects of your life and relationships you may not have considered or been able to face before, can be examined with a person qualified to identify patterns and offer useful insights.
An example
With her youngest child just in high school Carol was lacking in confidence and direction in her life and was disappointed that she had steadily gained weight. She consulted a psychotherapist to help her tackle this.
In therapy, Carol talked about the long-standing issues of dissatisfaction in her life, about her current situation and how at times she felt rage, jealousy and guilt that seemed irrational to her and that she feared would destroy her relationships. She had never spoken about it before and felt like she was making a fuss about nothing. Immediately Carol started to lose weight as she stopped holding on to her negative emotions