I trained as a coach after many years working with students (of all ages) and finding myself fulfilling the caretaker or ‘saviour’ role, listening to and counselling numerous people in a wide variety of subjects, in ways I wasn’t necessarily trained for and which could have become dangerous for me or others. The intensive, nine-month training course I followed at Coaching Ways France introduced me to my own limitations as well as my personal areas of strength and potential; with modules on Transactional Analysis, Neurolinguistic Programming, Non-Violent Communication, as well as other coaching tools and the coach’s ‘posture’.

My own growth, through this training, has been exponential, leading to discoveries around my own gender identity, working on my own issues with disordered eating and use of alcohol and nicotine as coping mechanisms, and has massively influenced my approach in terms of accompanying my clients in the realisation and accomplishment of their goals. Being an active member of a support group for people changing their relationship with alcohol (stopping completely, reducing consumption, drinking ‘moderately’) has also influenced my approach to coaching – it is a necessarily personal calling, and I was initially doing myself and my clients a disservice by closing off access to the demonstrably caring parts of myself. I care deeply about my clients’ successes in their projects and lives, and that is a strength for me; through setting clear boundaries and respecting them, I am also able to allow the loving and caring sides of myself to be present in the coaching relationship and interactions.

I’m highly empathetic and also pragmatic, able to look at the bigger picture while identifying a ‘throwaway’ word or split-second look that can lead to greater realisations and breakthroughs. I’m committed, both to coaching in general, and to my clients and their success – I can’t do the work for them, but I can help them find how to do the work better and be there to cheer them on in good times and bad.
 
How does it work?
After an initial contact (via the website, email, message), we’ll schedule a consultation phone call of around 30 minutes. During this conversation, we will work together on defining your global objective (one of the differences between coaching and therapy is that we work towards a specific, time-based goal) and how many sessions it will take you to get there. This will lead to a contract being drawn up between coach and client, defining objective, number of sessions and total price as well as any payment options. During each individual session we will work on a specific step to get you closer to the end goal, with mid-point check-ins and a closing session at the end of each project/global objective. I’ve found that 10-12 sessions is usually a decent number to work on each global objective, although that can be flexible (to be defined at the beginning of each contract). It is absolutely possible after concluding and closing one contract together that we can work together again, either on a deepening of the original subject / objective, or on a different one. But again, contrary to many forms of therapy, a coaching relationship isn’t left open-ended: both parties are aware of the subject, the amount and frequency of sessions for each global objective, and the motivators for the work together. Sessions can take place in my consulting room in Villeurbanne (Rhône department, France), or online, via Skype, WhatsApp or Zoom.

If you’ve been looking for someone who can be at the same time a cheerleader, motivator, sounding board, consultant, source of inspiration and also real-talk, who will listen attentively and pay attention to what is said (as well as what remains unsaid), then make contact today – come and find out what's possible!