Accredited Counsellor and Life Coach
I spent over 30 years preparing to become a Counsellor and Life Coach. During that time I tried my hand at many different things, accountancy, sales, management, business consultancy, working for a charity, being a care worker. Each was rewarding in its own way and showed me a variety of things that go to make any activity worthwhile.
It took me until 2001 to discover the path that I am now committed to. I might have got there sooner had I not held on so long to some beliefs about what was ‘possible’ and what was ‘allowed’. But then I would have missed out on some very rich and enlightening experiences of life and people.
Experiences that taught me, in a way that no book or course ever could, about human strength and frailty, resilience and vulnerability. They also showed me at firsthand the common bond of humanity that each of us uniquely shares. Without that benefit, my subsequent training at the Iron Mill Institute in Exeter would have had less meaning.
I left the Iron Mill with an Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling and have gone on to become Accredited Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and seek to work within their ethical framework at all times.
As a Life Coach I draw on both my training as a Counsellor and on my wider experiences of life. I also draw on my association with the Coverdale Organisation, whose core values of Humanity, Discovery and Achievement have always felt very close to my own. I am indebted to them for much valuable training and coaching experience and I draw on several of their approaches in my own coaching work.
Continuing professional development is very important to me and each year I devote a significant amount of time and energy in this direction.