My Story
My undergraduate degree was in Sociology at the University of Bristol. Whilst I appreciated the predictability of the education system, I had ‘analysis paralysis’ over entering the world of work as I was totally unsure of where to begin. My early experience of work left me feeling unfulfilled and almost every day I used to think to myself ‘is this it?’. I knew that I wanted to do something different, but I didn’t know what that was going to be. It felt like I was always being told what I 'ought' to do, whether that was to be in a certain place or to have achieved something by a certain time. The pressure felt totally overwhelming.
In one of my early jobs out of university, I used to bounce around the office spending my time talking to colleagues, listening to their worries, and trying to alleviate some of the pressure they were under. I always wanted people to leave our conversations feeling better for it. Since that point, I was searching for a job where I could turn those characteristics into a career. One day I was talking to a friend and she was telling me about her Mother, who was a Coach. It planted the seed for me and I found a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at the University of East London. Ever since then, I’ve known that this is all that I want to do; to help build people up, to introduce them to tools that they can use to take responsibility for their own wellbeing, and ultimately to forge their own pathway in this life from a place of confidence and autonomy.
My Coaching Philosophy
I believe that building self-awareness is imperative to our enjoyment of life, both at work and at home. We are inevitably going to encounter new experiences which bring new challenges. If we don’t have a thorough understanding of our sense of self, then our perception of ourselves can easily be swayed by the people around us. Having this in-depth understanding of our sense of self is key to the success of any changes that we choose to make.
My work with coachees is almost always underpinned by confidence and mindset. We look at the limiting beliefs that hold them back, how they can end up getting in their own way, and how being held back by fear stops them proactively taking steps towards reaching their goals.
Ultimately, we are striving for a balance whereby coachees are not so far out of their comfort zone that they feel psychologically ‘unsafe’, but rather that they are aware that the feeling of discomfort is a reflection of having reached the edge of their comfort zone. By facing that feeling of discomfort, they can learn how to regulate their emotions and relax into that feeling, knowing that growth is just the other side.