Coaching & Mentoring
Main Qualification: CMI Level 5 Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring
Coming Soon – Embrace The Change – a 7-week programme of compassionate support and guidance to help navigate menopause with more ease and grace!
A mentor has great answers for your questions. A coach has great questions for you to answer – OpenLearn (free courses from the Open University)
So that’s got the basic definition out of the way. But what does that actually mean, and why is coaching and/or mentoring so popular these days?
Coaching and mentoring are my passion. This is the work that lights me up, as I support others to light up their lives. Here’s why I find it so rewarding.
When did you last take time out of your busy schedule to think about what you truly want in life, from life, and to contribute to life? Let alone then spend time planning ways to make these things happen? You have hopes and wishes, but without a plan, they’re likely to remain only dreams. Yet the benefits of achieving them won’t stop with you – they could benefit friends, family, people you haven’t met yet, and even people you’ll never meet.
That sounds like a lot of pressure, which could easily lead to overwhelm. I know – it happens to me too. But that’s when it’s most important to take time to organise your thoughts and consider what small steps you could take towards your dreams. Having a plan gives you a clear path, relieves the niggling voice that says you’ll never achieve it, and takes the guesswork out of what you need to do next. Turning the stress into momentum feels so good! And when you make a start, life throws up opportunities you might have missed out on before.
My job is to listen carefully (when did someone last do that for you?!), ask insightful questions, and challenge unhelpful thinking. In fact, my job is to make myself redundant! I aim to help you access the resources you didn’t know you had, or had forgotten about, and help you gather the tools you need to become your own coach.
As a mentor, I’m best able to support you with self-awareness, spiritual self-development, navigating menopause (I’m currently studying for a certificate in Menopause Coaching), the ketogenic and carnivore diets (and their offspring, the ketovore diet), and nutrition in general. You’ll see my certificate below for the Ketogenic Diet Coaching course I did, after switching to keto and finding it hugely beneficial. Tools in my box include tarot, chakra work, visualisation, crystals; herbs, supplements and nutrition; intuitive insights; and a store of hard-won wisdom.
As a coach, I don’t need to know a thing about the specific goal you want to achieve – I just need to know how to ask helpful questions. You’re the golfer, I’m the caddie.
What do you truly want from life? Do you even know?
What happened to your childhood hopes and dreams? What even were they?
So often, we drift or scurry through life, knowing there’s something missing, or that we aren’t achieving our dreams, but failing to find the time to investigate or do anything about it. Or we may remember that we once had dreams, but don’t think they’re possible now. Life is too busy. How can you think about what you’d ideally want from life, when you already feel like you’re constantly running to keep up?
Then again – how can you afford not to?
Coaching is a fantastic opportunity to stop that spinning world and get off for a while. Research has shown time and again that taking time out makes people more productive. Giving yourself an hour to discuss what you want from life can be not only empowering, but life changing.
Talking things over with a coach is a great way to do that. I have the skills and techniques to help you create a route-map to your dream life. It’s the best way to ensure you arrive at your desired destination – and get there at a comfortable walk instead of a hectic sprint.
Mentoring is pretty much the opposite of coaching, but with a similar intention. As a coach, my job is to avoid giving advice or suggestions – I just ask the questions you need to answer to build the road to your goal. But as a mentor, I’m there to share the benefit of my experience, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
CPD and learning the trade
I loved studying for my Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring. It not only gave me a wide range of tools and techniques, but it reminded me of a few fundamental things about myself. I learned what my core values are, why it really helps to know them, and started thinking about my boundaries and why they are important. I wrote about some of these experiences on my Substack.
As students, we were encouraged and supported to put in many hours of practice. I did a lot of self-directed study. I read books and articles, watched videos, and attended webinars. Some of these are available from or recommended by my training provider Ioda, or the Chartered Management Institute, of which I was a student member. Some are provided by top-ranked coaches all over the world.
So you can be sure I have the knowledge, skills and experience to help you on your journey. I’ve spent a lot of years supporting clients, friends and family with counselling skills, coaching conversations, and mentoring, so you can be assured that I have what it takes to help you. I’m even writing a novel featuring coaching, as another way to embed my learning, and to illustrate the power of being coached.
Tools of the Trade
Some of the tools I use for coaching may be familiar. You might already have encountered the life balance wheel and SWOT analysis. There are many others, and I’ve adapted some and created my own as well. If you’re thinking, ‘I’ve been trained in goal-setting – how is this different?’, I can honestly say you’ll notice the difference in minutes. In a coaching session, unlike a course, all the focus is on you. That means you have all the time you need to consider how to move towards the life you dream of. Goals are much more powerful when you set them, and you’re more likely to follow a plan of your own devising. Your Life Coaching sessions will help you focus on these goals like never before. Having someone to report your progress to and keep you accountable is a great way to keep on track, too.
As I said, my aim is to make myself redundant by equipping you with the tools and techniques – and the mindset – to become your own coach. You can achieve more, and have a more fulfilling life, than you ever thought possible. Can you afford not to give yourself that chance?
Contact me today to get started on your best life yet.
