FAQs

Fortunately, we’re beginning to talk more about mental health and trauma. As part of this development, more coaches claim to work in a trauma-informed way. Being trauma-informed covers a widening range of practice. Someone’s training and areas of interest and expertise will determine what trauma-informed means for them.

In my coaching practice, I lean on my therapeutic training as well as experience of working in clinical settings including my involvement in art therapy and complex trauma group programs. Additionally, I keep investing in professional development in this area by deepening my understanding of certain therapeutic frameworks as well as keeping up to date with the fast-changing fields of trauma research and neuroplasticity as a way of processing and healing. I also maintain ongoing clinical supervision.

I bring an awareness of relational/ attachment trauma, as well as complex PTSD. As a coach, I attend to clients’ behavioural, relational or emotional patterns through the lenses of attachment theory, internal family systems and polyvagal theory. I also attend to so-called small-t or micro trauma: experiences that leave a scar but are easily dismissed.

I offer sensitive and arts-based approaches to explore these patterns and parts of self if a client consents to this depth of work. Sometimes, working trauma-informed can mean that a client is interested in and willing to travel back in their life to understand the root causes of certain patterns and emotional responses.

I also value psycho-educational elements as understanding theory and building new skills of support is empowering for clients. This can include an exploration of attachment style, stress response, nervous system dysregulation or nurturing a sense of safety in self and others.

We discuss your preferences regarding arts-based processes when we begin to work together.

Accessible processes that have worked for many clients include collage, photography, writing techniques/ reflective writing, poetry, working with metaphors, using objects or symbols. Some clients will weave their own creative hobbies into the work (whether that’s sewing, ceramics, creating sculptures, music or photography).

In addition to arts-based approaches, we might agree to explore some embodied or somatic exercises.

You can choose to what extent arts-based, creative or embodied processes play a role in your coaching, and I always encourage clients to experiment with this as an additional way of knowing that enhances their self-awareness. Any creative work is about finding personal meaning, and I will not interpret your art.

It’s not required to have any technical arts skills or certain materials. I remind all my clients that creativity is inherent and available to us all, not the privilege of a selected few.

I use Zoom for my online sessions. To get the most out of your session, it’s important that you have a quiet and private space and a reliable internet connection. If you aren’t familiar with Zoom, we can use the (free of charge) Discovery Call as a trial run to see whether online coaching feels right for you.

Often, clients attend to creative invitations in-between sessions as opposed to art making during the session. This allows them to immerse themselves into the creative exploration without time pressure. It also leaves room to reflect on their creative process and keep returning to their work based on new insights.

Each session will unfold around your needs. We will work towards your overall goals and capture any specific intentions on the day. Unless it is our first session, we will explore what has shown up in your work and reflection. Sometimes, we might agree to use a specific creative process in the sessions. Typically, a 1-on-1 coaching session is 60 or 90 minutes.

After each session, you’ll receive detailed coaching notes capturing the session content. These serve as a scaffolding for any creative invitations to deepen your work and are a key ingredient in developing your reflective practice.

This depends on your goals, what you want to get out of coaching and what you are willing or able to invest in-between sessions. Some people might only need a few sessions to kick start a process of change, others benefit from and prefer longer-term coaching.

Coaching requires self-motivation, dedication and commitment to invest time and energy beyond your coaching session.

While every client is unique, a pattern I often see is that clients begin with more frequent (weekly or fortnightly) sessions – this helps us build trust and gain momentum; after a few sessions they move to a monthly rhythm with more time for reflection, creative exploration and integration between sessions.

I use the analogy of seeing a massage therapist. When you’ve injured your back, you might initially see them weekly; but once the acute injury has been resolved, you might continue with monthly ‘maintenance’ appointments.

There is no need to commit upfront to a certain number of sessions, we will assess this as our work progresses.