What coaching offers you:

My training (with CTI) was founded on the belief that every human being is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. This is a uaefully succinct way of saying that you are not ‘broken’ if you decide to invest in some coaching, nor is it in any way a sign of weakness or failure; in fact the opposite.  If you are feeling stuck or confused, it is a courageous thing to look for help in finding your best way forward.

Over the years I have benefited from support in career and life decisions and dilemmas from a variety of sources; coaching, men’s groups, careers advisors, retreats, shadow work, voice work and poetry, therapy. What they’ve had in common is a ‘space apart’, somewhere or someone with whom I can unpack the confusion and get fresh perspectives on the habits, obstacles and choices I have not always realised I have. 

That is what coaching offers you;  a held space in which you can connect more deeply with your values and priorities, see the choices that are available to you, the beliefs that might be holding you back, and then take the necessary actions to align yourself with what matters to you most.  

This image comes to mind as a useful metaphor about coaching. It is one of those big junction boxes you sometimes come across. Facing this huge jumble of wires, the engineer needs to know which wires need tweaking or replacing to solve the problem. In the same way, I see coaching as a way of working out where the pulse of our life is located amidst the jumble and complexity of the every day. You want to know which wires are the red-herrings, which ones are the vital connections, which ones might need to be replaced or shut down. Coaching is a way to explore and understand more about your own junction box.

And if that makes the experience of coaching sound too prosaic, one of my clients said this after our work together: ‘Thank you…for helping me to set my life to poetry. You’ve made it a more joyous place to be.’

A bit about me:

From my teenage years I have been fascinated by the value of structured one to one exchanges between people, and the powerful impact of listening deeply to each other. This came to professional fruition in 2013 when I began my training with CTI, the Coaches Training Institute, which offers among the most rigorous life coach training available today. I completed CTI’s Certification process in early 2017, and therefore have an internationally-recognised accreditation. I have benefitted enormously from the listening power of friends and specialists over the years, and consider it a privilege to offer this to others.

Alongside my coaching, I have spent almost 30 years working in the arts, heritage, tourism and communication. I live with my family in Grindleford, a village in Derbyshire's Peak District, not far from Sheffield. 

Cultural lecturing and communications - other things I do:

Alongside coaching, I am also a cultural lecturer and I carry out communications work in the fields of the arts, heritage and tourism. I enjoy this mix of work; what they share in common is best expressed by some words of the 19th century artist, writer and social critic John Ruskin: ‘The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.’ These simple words contain a great truth; whether in coaching (as client and as coach) or lecturing or endeavouring to communicate about an idea, a place or an artist, if we can say what we see (or feel or need or believe or want) in a plain and honest way, we will be better able to communicate with ourselves and with others.

I am also a Trustee of Five Senses Music.

Thank you: To Fred Deakin for the gift of his design work and getting me going. To my cousin, the artist Julie Brook, for kindly giving me permission to use images of her beautiful Firestacks on this website. To Joe Jones for designing and building this site.

I’d also like to thank Sophie Hunter, Andy Gimblett, Jacqui Sjenitzer, John Hillman, Keemar Keemar, Miriam Rose, Nick Kettles, Richard Topham, Ruth Nutter, the late Nick Nuttgens, Lucy Noel-Buxton, Amanda Livermore, Duncan Müller, Nat Hunter, Will Brook, Dave Hope, Gavin Hayden, Teo Greenstreet and Fiona Buckland who've all helped me in the development of my coaching. Thanks too, to my clients, without whom I would not have the honour and pleasure of doing this work.