About
The Vision
A powerful collective of service leaders, leavers & veterans who know themselves behind the uniform with deep integrity and courageously step towards their fullest potential .
The Approach
Over the past ten+ years, I have recovered from cancer, depression, anxiety and C-PTSD, befriending layers of trauma and neuro-divergency along the way.
I've recognised my own burnout and depletion, replacing them with self-awareness, somatic strategies and a deep kindness to myself.
I'm using ALL of this: the military; the pain, the lessons and the deep, rich insights from my whole lifetime to HELP OTHER PEOPLE BE THEIR BEST.
My approach is to compassionately honour the journey, celebrate the lessons and and use the wisdom to commit courageously to the next step.
When you work with me, you get all of me. Not just the qualifications and the learned knowledge, but the wisdom of a lifetime of experience, offered with huge compassion and delivered with fearless curiosity.
The Evolution
I have spent the past 10+ years un-learning a lifetime of people pleasing so that I can create robust personal boundaries that help me to SHOW UP WITH CAPACITY for the people and projects I love the most.
I WANT TO HELP YOU DO THE SAME.
I have trained as a Professional Coach with the International Coaching Federation. I'm a Burnout Prevention Practioner and training towards Level 1 in Non-Violent Communication.
My RESOUNDING WHY for everything I do in my work is to SUPPORT OTHER PEOPLE TO THRIVE.
I know first-hand how debilitating and exhausting life can be; the weight of expectation and responsibility, especially through key life transitions. In different ways, we all might have forgotten to ask ourselves WHAT DO WE NEED TO BE AT OUR BEST?
When we are empowered to know and ask for what we need, we shine a light for our families, teams and communities to do the same.
There has never been a time where showing up in our lives with deep integrity and courage has mattered more.
The Backstory
"I want to be someone who helps other people to be at their best".
This is what I told my careers teacher, back in the mid 90's.
I was told that 'no such job exists' and so joined the British Army in a quest to 'Be The Best' and to find a tribe of like-minded peers seeking the same.
I had an amazing career, deploying several times to Kosovo, Iraq, Norther Ireland and Afghanistan, working in large collaborative multi-discipline teams.
Despite everything I was told I couldn't or shouldn't be, I broke the ceiling expectations for my background and education and retired in 2014 as a Major.
In my early 'civvie days', I trained as a specialist exercise and wellness coach working in the pregnancy, postnatal and pelvic floor fields, supporting professional women with additional skills such as hypnotherapy and massage. These offerings aligned with my life season at the time: I had my first child at 35 in 2011 and my second in 2017 after 4 miscarriages whilst undertaking a complete house renovation of our beautiful 400-year old cottage.
It was right to help other women like me with the knowledge I had at that time to help them find balance in the chaos of motherhood. During COVID, my focus evolved towards life coaching as I realised that I was no Joe Wicks (!!) and wanted use my skills to empower individuals in a gender-free environment.
I was asked why I was not doing leadership coaching - given the breadth of experience I had and the need for sound leaders during the crisis.
I genuinely had not considered that anyone would want to listen to me -
some seriously unhelpful beliefs around my ability as a leader from poorly worded remarks by senior officers had left me believing that I was not a good leader.
One day, I sat down with a cup of tea and a packet of ginger-nut biscuits and wrote a post on LinkedIn called 'Fat, Married, 3 kids and a Labrador' which had over 6000 reactions and 500+ comments, reaching over 300,000 people.
In that moment, I realised that the stories I'd believed for so long, perhaps were not true...
"You're not a good leader, you're too nice, you're too kind....'
That was the beginning of my journey to now and the deep understanding that I - like you - am so much more than the rank I wore, the annual report gradings I received and the weight of other people's opinions.
