Coaching

Carmen Joanne Ablack

Working with PEOPLE, PROCESSES and RESOLUTIONS

Some questions we may consider at the outset

  • What do you want to get out of life?

  • What areas are your strengths currently?

  • What are the areas that you are happy with?

  • And what are the areas you want to develop or are unhappy with?

  • Where would you like to see yourself ending up - immediate goals, short and longer-term goals?

  • What do you already know about your own sense of self-motivation and ability to self-reflect on your thoughts, ideas and actions?

  • What is the nature and quality of your current work-life balance and is it okay for you?

  • If not what needs to happen that you are aware of already?

My approach is collaborative partnership

We will work collaboratively, and I will support you to approach the task of self-challenge and self-reflection.

You will be encouraged to come up with and discuss the steps and plans, that you choose, to help you move forward towards reaching your goals and / or more generally improving your life. I use client-centred, integrative and gestalt approaches in my coaching work.

I will not come to our coaching work with an agenda for you to fulfill, and you will not have to agree to decisions you don't feel comfortable with or are not yet ready to make. Our work is a partnership and during our work together I will encourage you to explore how to make positive changes in your life. Our sessions will be confidential, allowing you to explore your thoughts, plans, ideas and feelings privately.*

Coaching Principles that I work with

Uniqueness and subjectivity: as an integrative body psychotherapist and gestalt teacher I understand that we each have our own perspective on the world and our own ways of making meaning of our experiences. Sometimes just a few coaching sessions can help, sometimes a slightly longer process is needed.

Coaching can help us to define and refine what we believe and how we wish to take that forward into a more successful or meaningful way of relating, working, or generally being in relationship with others. The coaching sessions can help you to define what you need and support you in exploring and deciding how you want to proceed. They can also offer a space to learn and reflect upon what really works for you, in your unique circumstances.

Here and now and empowerment: much of the work in coaching is about helping you unfold your sense of empowerment and supporting you to identify specific solution-focussed goals for yourself. The role of the coach is to guide you to who and how you really are and to support your thinking and understanding when translating goals and ideas into actions and projects.

Self-reflective guidance: in using a whole variety of tools, techniques and approaches I can support you to guide yourself from where you are, to where you want to be. Part of my approach is helping you to develop your self-reflective capacities so you can use what you learn for yourself both in your present situation and in any future challenges you face.

The structure of sessions

Coaching sessions are a specific duration and length of time; they can be 50-60 minutes long and are usually for a fixed number of agreed meetings or calls.

I conduct coaching sessions over the phone, face to face and via Skype. All initial arrangements are made by email - this allows us to clarify what you need and to be clear 'on paper' what is being agreed as our contract.

Fees are agreed at our first meeting and I work with a sliding scale, I offer students and trainees a discount on the bottom rate of my scale should they need it.

*There is one exception to the confidentiality of our work, if I have a reasonable belief that you are in real danger of harming yourself or another I will need to break our confidentiality agreement; usually this would be discussed with you and options for how you are going to handle the situation would be explored.

I will always ask for contact details for you and for the name and address of your general practitioner or other health professional when we start a coaching relationship; this is specifically for your safety should you become unwell whilst working with me.