Coaching

What's your experience of life now? And how do you want it to be? Do you know?

Over the years I've coached people from a wide range of backgrounds - leaders of research institutes, nurses working on hospital wards, artists and writers grappling with confidence, students managing anxiety, professionals experiencing mid-life crises, couples with relationship problems, and people wanting to find more meaning in life.

My coaching always works at two levels - the particular topic we are focused on, and the wider agenda of who you are and what you are learning about yourself. Together we are creating a deeper awareness of your experience, exploring what’s possible, and identifying changes, big or small, that will bring you to life. We'll start from where you are and use clarity, courage and commitment to work with your inherent creativity, wholeness and being enough. The agenda is yours.

Why coaching?

People come to me for coaching for different reasons, such as:

some want support to work through a challenge or problem creatively and with confidence
some are feeling anxious, stressed, or ill, and need to find ways to feel more resourced and resilient
others are navigating change in their work, lifestyle, or relationships, and want support to find clarity, possibility and direction
some are leaders seeking a space for deeper reflection on the challenges they face
and some are seeking a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, wanting to reconnect with the fullness of life and a sense of intention

And sometimes all of these things!

Common to all is exploring your deepest values, sense of purpose and intention, unpacking unconscious patterns and beliefs, along with freeing up confidence, creativity, and the possibility of alternative perspectives.

What's involved?

My coaching is about meeting your experience as it is now and having the conversation you need. Coaching can be a place of solace and a place of challenge. It can be humorous, vibrant, uplifting and energising. It can also be challenging and emotionally disruptive as you look at things afresh and answer difficult questions. In sessions we’ll likely use emotions, metaphor, embodied experience and stretching your comfort zone; meditation, visualisation and movement might also come in, if and when it feels right.

I mainly offer coaching via Zoom or by phone, though face-to-face appointments are an option if you are in the far south west of England. Please note, you don’t have to sit still or be indoors, often clients opt to walk during coaching.

I work in three main ways:

Coaching packages: working together to develop ideas, test out changes and reflect on what is and isn't working. A typical package is an initial discovery session (1.5 hours) followed by six sessions of 45 minutes, roughly every fortnight, so working together for three months.

Pause Sessions: when I work with leaders the focus is often less about trying to decide or change something and more about having the space to reflect, to notice, to see what is here. Pause sessions tend to be monthly or every six weeks and are just that: an opportunity to take stock, explore emerging themes, and to identify where to put your energy.

One-offs: when you have something specific that’s bothering you, a one-off coaching session can be useful. During the session - usually an hour - we focus on the challenge you are facing, and explore whatever feels most appropriate. Often this tends to be about realising what’s important and identifying alternative perspectives to become unstuck.

Fees: for private individuals I offer a sliding scale and invite you to choose what is right for you. I also allocate some time to offer coaching for those without the means to pay. I also have rates for institutions. Please ask me for more information.

A note on mental health

I’m often asked questions about coaching in relation to mental health, such as can I have coaching if I have mental health challenges? Can coaching address mental health challenges? What is the difference between coaching and therapy? Firstly, there is much debate about the differences in principle and practice between coaching, mentoring, therapy, manager coaches etc. and also about the role of coaching alongside other ‘talking professions’. As a professional I stand by some basic distinctions. Though I recognise this is simplistic, in contrast to the mentor as specific expert, counsellor as listener, and therapist as analyst, coaching holds a space in which you are the expert in your life. Coaching works with you as a whole person, trusts that there is nothing ‘broken’ that needs fixing, and ensures learning takes place through bridging reflection with action. Interestingly, as a coach I may use many methods similar to therapists (and increasingly therapists are using coaching methods). The difference is the intention of the conversation. Secondly, I've worked with many clients with background mental health issues - depression, anxiety, trauma - and sometimes they've found the coaching has had a powerful positive impact on their mental health. Like any constructive conversation, coaching can feel therapeutic, and it is also about taking charge of things, including how to live with accepting underlying conditions. Sometimes clients have had a therapist alongside the coaching and in this case I ask that you let the therapist know about the coaching. Thirdly, my work as a coach is also informed by my training in stress and trauma-based meditation techniques and when it feels useful I bring these in - always in agreement with you. The key thing is that you are in charge of what you bring, and how we work with what comes up. By way of summary, while as a coach I cannot ‘treat’ depression, I could work with you about how you move forward with life in the context of the depression.

People say ...

“I’ve really enjoyed our sessions. I appreciated your openness to work with whatever I needed, and a day later I feel relieved, and like I’ve reached the point I needed to. It does feel like a huge shift.” (TB)

“Will doesn’t profess to have the answers to all your questions, but helps you to reframe your questions in a way which helps you to answer them yourself. Being coached is not an easy process and the self-reflection required can often be very uncomfortable and challenging, yet Will creates a safe space for you to explore your feelings and beliefs. I benefitted greatly from the process and have become a stronger and more resilient professional as a result of the coaching I received.” (LB)

“The coaching has hugely increased my ability to observe, understand and accept or change situations, and my feelings/thoughts/behaviours occurring around those situations. This is enabling me to create a work life that’s much more positive and fruitful. I really can’t thank you enough for this.” (JD)

"Will is an attentive listener with an adaptable and creative approach to coaching. Despite the sometimes serious nature of topics which can be brought to coaching, his sessions frequently involve laughter and an element of creative 'play'." (HWT)

“The coaching has been hugely beneficial. The opportunity to reflect on my work and the direction I want to take my thinking and research in has enabled me conceptualise what I want to achieve and identify the barriers that may inhibit progress towards my goals. Will is expert in facilitating my thinking and reflection and I am confident I would not have made the progress I have without his coaching.” (SM)

“I wasn't expecting to enjoy the telephone coaching format, but what started off as an alternative to the first meeting ended up being the preferred mode … it allowed me to think/pause more easily than might have been the case if face to face. I like to talk, so would have felt the need to fill the space. By being coached via telephone I was more disciplined with myself. I was able to think more deeply about responses.” (PW)

“I was particularly grateful to have the opportunity to start Will's coaching during my sabbatical as this gave me the space and distance to reflect on my career, my priorities and worries as an academic, and my short and long-term goals. My conversations with Will over this time really helped me to focus on what mattered to me and how I could align my priorities with those of my institution.” (SD)

My personal experiences of coaching

My first experience of being formally coached was in the early 1990s as a windsurfer in the British Sailing Team. I remember feeling very trapped by obligations and the sports psychologist invited me to say to myself five times each morning 'I have the right to stop windsurfing'. I remember the openness I felt in my body and how, through this reverse psychology, I started to enjoy windsurfing again. I did actually stop sometime later with injuries and a new found confidence took me back to study.

Years later, I was feeling very stuck and flat during my PhD and got in touch with Jeff Gill who had previously hired me to teach windsurfing at his outdoor centre. Jeff had become an NLP coach and I asked if we could explore my PhD experience using some of his techniques. By walking up and down a line on the floor and trying on different hats (literally) I found a whole new perspective to approach my PhD, and a way to write again, even when it was hard. Years later, having trained as a coach myself, Jeff and I joined forces to run coaching programmes for PhD researchers and students, and wrote two books together.

Through my training as a coach, I've experienced different styles of coaching with my peers (including Edith Graham, Rachel Griffiths and Louise Yates) and I’ve worked with a coach to support me in various transitions, including relationships, changing career from academia to full-time coaching, and also what it means to bring joy into life! I also tried some business coaching with Jenny Bracelin which, while helpful in many ways, helped me see I'm happy to do things differently and stay true to my values.

Through all these experiences I have continued to develop my own 'self-coaching' and found other formats to explore my relationship with this world - including working with people through dyad meditations, clarity work, transactional analysis, and constellations therapy. I also continue to explore and challenge who I think I am in the world with a group of peers supporting each other to work with our 'edges'. And I have regular supervision regarding my role as a coach.

Want to explore this further?

I'm happy to have a 30 minute call to find out how coaching might work for you and, if so, whether I’m the right coach or can recommend someone else.

Let's chat