My Coaching Experience and Background
The primary attribute I bring to coaching is psychological depth.
For over 25 years I’ve worked as a clinical therapist with adults experiencing anxiety and depression. The causes of these symptoms were wide-ranging, from childhood trauma to practical problems in the present day. What that means is that as a senior-level coach, I know the value of sustained reflection. My coaching experience has emphasised how the coaching session (just like the therapy hour) is a time out of real life. Here, whatever you bring can be looked at with clarity and depth. I’m not an ‘accountability coach’ who’ll simply cheer you on. As well as coaching experience, I bring curiosity, a questioning attitude and new ways of seeing, that will make our work together much more than surface-level.
I’m accredited as a counsellor with the BACP and as a Senior Practitioner coach with the EMCC. As well as qualifications, what I bring is twofold:
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Lived experience, particularly as a creative person—with my own frustrations, breakthroughs and long stretches of figuring things out.
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Over two decades of therapeutic work—supporting people through anxiety, confusion, depression and creative stuckness.
This combination allows me to meet you at a deeper level. I understand the intensity of wanting to make things work, and I also know what it’s like to fail. I know the despair of getting in your own way. I also know the focus and drive needed to create good work and a good life, amid recession, burnout, and a culture that can seem allergic to other people’s success and to depth.
Whether your struggle is internal (fear, perfectionism, inertia) or practical (time, money, structure), our work will honour both.
A Bit More About Me
Before this chapter of my work, I was a journalist writing for publications like The Times. I trained as an actor. I’ve had poems published by renowned poetry journals – and also know the pain of rejection.
I’ve lived in London but have also spent years in rural Oxfordshire, West Cornwall and abroad. I’m interested in the many shapes a meaningful life can take, not just the ones we’re sold.
A search for meaning has always been important to me. I was raised a Catholic, since my mother’s parents came over from a Catholic country, Poland, at the end of WW2. Once an adult, I tried on various spiritual beliefs – perhaps this was also a result of being young in the 90s, when spirituality, particularly Eastern, was very much the thing. It’s left me open to the whole range of different faiths and beliefs – and non-belief.
Coaching and Therapeutic Qualifications
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Advanced Diploma in Coaching – EMCC Accredited Senior Practitioner
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Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling – BACP Accredited Therapist
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Certificate in Life Coaching
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Advanced and Introductory Creativity Coaching Training (with Eric Maisel)
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Certificate in Focusing Skills
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Certificate in Online Counselling
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Diploma in Acting (Guildford School of Acting)
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MA in English (Oxford University)
To Get Started
Call or text: 07896 919141
Email: realityshiftcoaching@pm.me
