Transpersonal Coaching, which is often referred to as Spiritual Coaching, sits on the periphery of mainstream coaching, and is often regarded as a little bit too woo for some coaches to consider.    In this episode we explore what it is, what it’s not and what it could be. We also consider why some people might choose to engage with Transpersonal Coaching, either as a coaching approach in its own right, or as an approach to borrow from, weaving elements of it into an integrated, holistic...

Having trained over 250 doctors to coach and with another 50 or so currently participating in our training programmes, we have noticed that they do have some wonderful transferable skills. We’ve also noticed that most of the doctors that come to learn to coach have some common challenges that crop up for them when it comes to learning to coach.   Some of these challenges stem from the personalities of our coaching doctors and some stem from their education, training and the constraints of...

In this episode Helen chats with Dr Jo Hartley, a delegate on one of our early Doctors’ Transformational Coaching Diploma courses. Jo is a former Emergency Medicine Consultant now working as a career and life coach for doctors. She works with doctors in training in her local professional support and wellbeing service and runs a business delivering workshops and coaching for hospital consultants. Helen caught up with Jo to find out about her journey into the world of self employed coaching,...

It’s listeners’ questions time again, and thank you for sending yours, and thank you again to those listeners who have taken the time to get in touch to tell us how much they enjoy listening to our podcast.   In this episode we have been asked what to consider when choosing a coach training course and, once you’ve completed your coach training, where to look for good CPD opportunities.   We love to receive your questions about coaching so do keep sending them to us.     Enjoy the...

Values are an important aspect of coaching and integral to increasing a coachee’s self awareness and sense of identity.   When responding to questions about values a coachee may not be able to tell their coach instantly what their own values are. It may take some reflection of them to come up with them. Their values may not become apparent until they are challenged or trampled on. Alternatively, they may be keenly aware of their most important values and actively seek to live a life aligned...

It’s easy to think that everyone views the world in the same way that we do. Understanding that people have different aspects to their personality that might mean they think or behave in a different way is essential in gaining perspective on situations and relationships.   In this episode we explore the psychology behind a number of psychometrics that may prove useful in the coaching room. Asking a coachee to complete a personality questionnaire and then working through their report with...

We sometimes get asked if we teach NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) on our Doctors’ Transformational Coaching Diploma and the answer is mostly no, and also, a little bit, yes. For this reason we thought it would be useful to have a conversation about it on our podcast.   We are both trained and licensed NLP practitioners, and although we gained something from our training, neither of us actually practise NLP.   We do, however, weave some of our learning into our individual ways of...

As coaches we are having conversations that matter, and discussing topics that are important to our coachees. With any conversations of importance thought is required around how we hold that space for our coachees and how we show up as coaches. Coaching is an unregulated industry and it therefore falls to coaching bodies to try to ensure that its members act with professionalism, integrity and an ethical approach.    In this episode we explore the subject of ethics and what an ethical...

In this episode Helen will be chatting with Dr SaraLou Wylie. A G.P. interested in a more holistic approach to wellness, SaraLou joined our diploma programme in 2023. She is nowcertified Women’s life coach who specialises in coaching professional women with overwhelm, burnout and stress. SaraLou's holistic approach helps them regain control of their lives, feel like them again and live a life with joy and presence.   Helen caught up with SaraLou to find out about her journey into the world...

From time to time we devote an episode to questions about coaching that have been asked by our listeners. And this episode is one of those, with a difference. We have been saving up some of the more personal questions that have been sent in and you can join us to find out a little bit more about us as coaches, including our biggest frustrations about coaching, what brings us joy, what inspired us to be coaches, books we are reading, and we talk a bit about using psychometric testing in the...

On our podcast we regularly explore topics that coachees might bring to a coaching conversation.   One such topic is ‘Wellbeing’. In the last 10 years, Wellbeing has become a huge topic for discussion in many settings, including workplaces, schools and GP practices.   Wellbeing is a hugely diverse topic with many different elements and meanings assigned to it. So, whether you consider yourself a wellbeing coach or not, you are likely to come across clients who want to explore it in some...

Back in episode 30 we spoke about using Transactional Analysis (TA) in the coaching room, and in episode 31 we explored one of the TA models, the Parent-Adult-Child model. Another coaching model that originates from TA is Karpman’s Drama Triangle, so we thought it was time we introduced this model to you as well. The Drama Triangle offers another way to explore the coachee’s perception of their inter-personal relationship dynamics and behaviour patterns. It is an extremely useful model to...

Our bodies provide the perfect vessel in which to hold our stress and we will feel all sorts of indications that this is happening for us when we’re in struggle. But our bodies also offer us some insights into what else is going on for us. Somatic markers provide us with information that we will often ignore when it would be wise to be mindful of them. While we might not choose to act on a gut feeling, noticing what we notice about our physiological sensations can become an important part of...

What is coaching supervision and why would I want to engage with it as a coach?   Coaching is an unregulated industry and, as we have discussed on previous episodes, it is down to coaching bodies and individual coaches to take responsibility for the professionalism and self-regulation of coaching as a whole.    Coaching supervision is one way of helping you as a coach to reflect on the quality of your coaching, your own professional development and your progress in the world of coaching....

From time to time we devote an episode to questions about coaching that have been asked by our listeners.   In this episode we are discussing the difference between team and group coaching, whether a coaching approach would help if you’re asked to facilitate with some mediation, and what to do if a client wants to end their coaching arrangement early.   If you have a question to ask about coaching and would like us to answer it for you on the podcast, do send us your questions, or even...

In this episode we are joined by the delightful Dr Liz Donovan who has had a stellar career as a paediatric consultant and neonatologist, as well as being the Director of Medical Education at University Hospital Southampton. Liz came out of retirement to return to Southampton to work on a very special project, supporting medics through a coaching programme.   The Doctors’ Development Unit offers support to senior clinicians within the trust. A pool of consultants have been trained as...

On our podcast we regularly explore topics that coachees might bring to a coaching conversation.   One such topic is ‘burnout’ and as with many topics that arrive at the door of the transformational coach,  this is an important topic that affects many members of the medical community.   Burnout is a complex phenomenon, and we might well be coaching individuals who are at different stages in the burnout journey. They may be feeling stressed and concerned about ending up burnt out; they may...

Here at Your Coaching Journey we believe that the primary role of a coach is to facilitate the coachee’s own thinking around their situation, allowing them to gain new perspectives and consider their options for moving towards their desired outcome.   Coaching is about encouraging the coachee to find their own answers, rather than the coach providing them with them.   So how do we square the non-directive approach with the concept of the coach introducing coaching tools, models and...

In Episode 52 of the podcast, we talked about using metaphor in coaching and briefly touched on the coaching approach known as Clean Language.   In this episode we take a deeper dive into the ‘Clean Language’ approach and explore its origins. We also take a look at what distinguishes it from other coaching approaches and explore some of Clean Language’s strengths and weaknesses.   We know that reflecting back the coachee’s own words in a coaching session often proves more powerful than...

Here at Your Coaching Journey, we have been training doctors to be transformational coaches on the Doctors’ Transformational Coaching Diploma for the past five years and this continues to be our flagship training programme.   More recently we have adapted our learning offering and created a Transformational Coaching Diploma for Lifestyle Medicine. On this programme we train doctors who are interested in lifestyle medicine and health coaching to become transformational coaches. This course...

Accreditation - ‘What is it?’ and ‘Why would I want to apply for accreditation?’   These are questions that we are asked from time to time, and so we thought that we’d offer our thoughts on the matter in this episode of the podcast. While it’s not essential to be personally accredited as a coach, there are some real benefits for those who do apply for accreditation.   In her role as an accreditation assessor with the Association for Coaching, Helen is well-versed in the assessment...

From time to time we devote an episode to questions about coaching that have been asked by our listeners.   In this episode we are discussing the requirements around supervision for coaches, tools you can use to explore a coachee’s core values, and what you would need to consider when thinking about group and team coaching, as opposed to one to one coaching.   If you have a question to ask about coaching and would like us to answer it for you on the podcast, do send us your questions, or...

Join us today as we have a fascinating conversation with coach and paediatrician, Dr Nikki Paul. We caught up with Nikki to find out what she had been doing since she successfully completed our Doctors’ Transformational Coaching Diploma in 2023.  As well as having a role as a paediatrician Nikki is also a mum and a widow. Since completing the coaching diploma Nikki has seen it as her mission to help widowed mums process their grief and learn to love their life. Her company, ‘The Grief...

On our podcast we regularly explore the topics that coachees might bring to a coaching conversation. One such topic is ‘change’; a huge topic that encompasses many different potential areas of a coachee’s life.   Sometimes, the coaching might be focused on a change that is happening around the coachee or it might be a change that the coachee wants to bring about for themself.   Either way, everyone responds to change differently and there is a broad spectrum of how impactful and...