Many people have found that while psychotherapy and counselling has supported them to gain awareness of their current difficulties and provide a space to process their emotions it has not always equipped them with the skills and strategies they need to break through to the next level in practical terms. Similarly coaching on its own can fail to address underlying blocks stalling a client’s progress. Taking an integrative coaching and counselling approach can address this gap by working with clients to ‘be with where they are’ and support them actualise ‘where they want to be’.  

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I work with clients to identify areas in their life that may require greater attention and improvement and how those areas may connect to each other. For example, developing healthy sleep patterns (physical wellness) to assist greater mental clarity and decision making in work or personal relationships (intellectual/emotional wellness). Similarly, chronic or mild fatigue can be a result of excessive screen time or evening ‘thought anxiety’ about the next day’s events. The underlying cause may be related to attachment style formed in early childhood affecting adult ways of relating to self and others. Such that, an inability to ‘relax’ is not just a symptom of our busy lives but an existential anxiety stemming from not feeling ‘safe enough’ to relax.

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In these examples, an integrative counselling and coaching approach can support clients make these kind of links, develop deeper awareness and compassion for self, and focus on goals which supports them to not only set 'relaxation' goals but adopt techniques and approaches needed for greater emotional self-regulation, to support that behavioural change.  However, unlike counselling which might (or might not) suggest a client explore behaviour change approaches outside of the consulting room, I work directly with clients to focus, activate and review those needed changes.