What’s your background? (Coaching and otherwise)
I did psych as a degree; worked as a Project Manager in tech (BBC, Skype, Sony Playstation) whilst I found my specific direction in mental health. I started training in athletics in my late 20s and so sport found me! I did a Sport Psych MSc at Roehampton. Then got a job with Prof Steve Peters after the London 2012 and have evolved my practice since. I was privileged enough to work as part of Team GB for the Rio Olympic cycle, as well as with the England Netball team and Liverpool Football club’s Academy. I’ve sat with a lot of athletes, staff, coaches and people working in high pressure environments to help them understand their world and their interior. My practice has evolved to a much more coaching based approach that uses an integrative mix of Gestalt, Chimp model, embodiment and other schools of psychology.
What would you like people to know about your coaching?
I’m interested in helping the person in front of me understand themselves better and how they relate to the organisation or environment in which they find themselves. I think this is an essential skill at Sanctus. I’ve personally experienced the transformative effects of working on your psychological and emotional fitness and I bring a similar approach an athletic or sporting coach would bring to a person. Swap out reps, squats and efforts for understanding, noting, effort and recovery and you’re getting near to how I use ‘exercise’ to connect to clients as a starting point. That said, I’ve worked with many individuals and groups who don’t have a sport or exercise link and at the core of my work, I find what is important is the language of the client that they use in order to collaborate with people to help themselves and their world. ☺ From my feedback, it’s an approach that people connect and take to, in order become their full selves.
What would you like people to know about you?
I love understanding people and helping them on their journey – however difficult that can be. It’s what gets me out of bed every day. I’ve worked in business, loved it but it wasn’t what I was all about. Life and work to me are about relationships and through those build strength, meaning and a vision from there. Away from work, I’m a big Manchester United fan and have been attending since I was 7 years old. Spain is our family base and I’m a committed hispanophile – enjoying all aspects of Spanish language and culture – even the difficult words and phrases in Catalan and Basque!