My approach

I believe something emancipatory happens when we're being ourselves, in true dialogue. Coaching depends deeply on this exchange - it's as much interpersonal as it is personal. 

Two lessons have led me here. First, the acknowledgement of the centrality that connection has in my own life. Second, the fact that all the theory and research on positive change supports the idea that it is predicated on authentic connection between human beings.

My practice

I use Person-Centeredness, CBT, Transactional Analysis, Motivational Interviewing, and Existential ideas. 

Identifying your stage in the journey of change, and supporting you through the following ones, is my core aim in coaching. I will then work with you on the following broad areas, which collectively aim to address the problems of personal change and how to prepare you for it. 

(Note that these may have differing relevance to your particular situation; everyone is unique.)

Worldview: a "warts and all" exploration of your sense of yourself, what's valuable or meaningful to you, and how you relate to others and the systems you are situated in. Where do you find fulfilment and balance, and what are the experiences by which you flourish, or don't? Your awareness of these concerns is crucial to your establishing meaningful direction. Without it, your goals or decisions risk being arbitrary or inadequate responses to your dilemmas.

Outcomes: your ideas and intuitions of possible directions, and an inquiry into what's good and less-good about each of them (including stasis - the case for not changing). You may have a clear idea of the options available to you, or may have historically prevented yourself from exploring them. Coaching allows you to experiment with ideas in a safe and non-judgemental environment. Do they go against your nature, or are they enabled by it and in harmony with your worldview?

Mismatch:  the discrepancy between your current situation and your preferred outcome(s). This is a dissonance that you may already have a strong sense of; an intuition of the "wrongness" of your situation. Coaching can clarify and encourage you to truly admit that gap - between your current state and a projected you that thinks and acts in accord with your worldview. 

Ambivalence: often the core of the problem - a heightened sense of "stuckness", circular thinking, and an inability to escape this mismatch. This can be dispiriting, yet is a balance that can generally be tipped and from which a commitment to change can emerge. Ambivalence is indeed a prerequisite for it. Stasis is an equilibrium that can be destabilised towards forward motion by the weight of awareness of your own reasons for change. 

Necessity: an unmistakeable sense that manifests when ambivalence is resolved. It can be fragile, but can surprisingly quickly become a relatively reliable feeling. Necessity is when the importance of change is undeniable, your commitment to it is authentically made, and your readiness to act is evident to you. These are capacities that are already within you; coaching does not impart them but it elicits them from you so that necessity can emerge.