reflections

The questions I'm asked most, answered properly

Coaching, psychology, and how people actually think and change, with more room than a service page allows.

introduction

Most coaching sites answer these in a sentence or two. I’d rather answer them at length, partly because they deserve it, and partly because how someone answers them tells you a good deal about how they’d actually work with you.

Some of this began as writing I did for my own professional development, including during my postgraduate diploma in coaching. That’s thinking which normally stays between a practitioner and their supervisor. I’ve put it here because it holds up outside that context, and because it’s more considered than anything I’d have written straight onto a website.

None of it assumes you’re thinking about working with me. If something here is useful on its own, that’s exactly what it’s for.

A proper answer, not a paragraph.

what's here so far

Coaching or Therapy, What's Actually Different

The question I'm asked most. Where the two genuinely differ, why I practise both and won't hold both roles with the same person, and how to tell which one you're looking for.

The Philosophy Behind How I Work

The two things I believe about change that don't sit comfortably together, why I hold both anyway, and what follows from that for anyone I work with.

Is Coaching the Right Thing Right Now

Sometimes it isn't, and sometimes it isn't yet. What I check before starting, why being sent by an employer changes the conversation, and why I'm not a neutral judge of the question.

What Actually Happens in a Coaching Conversation

The practical answer. How a session opens, what you leave with, what the weeks in between are for, and how a sixth session differs from a first.

Why a Good Coaching Conversation Isn't About the Right Question

What the pauses are doing, why an answer handed to you can cost you a better one of your own, and what to expect if you find silences uncomfortable.

Explore at your own pace.
Start where it feels right.

where to start

If you’re not sure which to read first, most people start with the coaching and therapy piece, because it’s the quickest way to work out whether I’m the right sort of help at all. If you already know it’s coaching you’re after, the one on what actually happens in a session is the more useful place to begin.

There’s no expectation attached to any of this. Some people read one piece and that’s enough. Others find it useful to talk something through properly, which is what a Discovery Call is for.

More will be added over time, when there’s something worth writing at proper length, not on a schedule for its own sake.

hope this was helpful.

There’s no expectation attached to any of this. Some people read one piece and that’s enough. Others find it useful to talk it through properly, which is what a Discovery Call is for.

More will be added here over time, when there’s something worth writing at proper length, not on a schedule for its own sake.