One in six adults recognise they have symptoms of poor mental health, and coaching is often sought by people when they are going through a difficult time in their life. Especially with all of the adverse situation's life continues to throw at us, such as burnout, losing your job, the breakdown of a relationship, or an existential crisis about what is next in life, this is not even including the day-to-day stressors we navigate.

A coach will often use the description, that they help people who might feel blocked, or the client is seeking coaching as they feel stuck, but not sure why.

Sometimes our clients stuck-ness can be underpinning trauma-related issues. Trauma related narratives may also emerge during a session, whether this is acknowledging an aspect of the client's past life as it bubbles up mid conversation, or they may go through a form of trauma whilst in the process of coaching, such as experiencing a bereavement. I personally love this quote: "It's hard to imagine the scope of individual life without envisioning some kind of trauma, and it is hard for most people to know what to do about it."

Coaching is not therapy

Despite the similarities there is a strong demarcation that coaching is not therapy. Yet there is more recognition that coaching is slowly being developed, to have an important role in supporting an individual when navigating a difficult part of their life.

I see my role as a coach to work with someone who is on the languishing to flourishing continuum, from zero to ten. Whereas my therapeutic peers will often work on the opposite end of the continuum from languishing at zero, down to minus ten. This of course is not always the case with the idea of positive therapy, but more often than not therapy leads to focused treatment for mental ill health and emotional issues; those issues which disturb the functioning of a person's daily life and could include pathology and definable disorders.

This is where it is important to recognise there is a space on the languishing to flourishing scale that traumatic events will happen. Whether you describe them as big T or little t trauma, it is completely in the eye of the beholder. Trauma is not what happens to us, but it is how we interpret that trauma. Which is why two people could go through the same redundancy at work and respond to the same situation differently. For example, one person may feel knocked but they bounce back and start job hunting, for the other person it may shatter their assumptions and beliefs e.g. I thought that this was a job for life, which has a deep impact.

Understanding post-traumatic growth

It is not the trauma itself where the growth happens but how our clients engage with the aftermath of their experience, and coaching is an intervention where a client might engage with the challenges of the trauma.

In the mid-1990's the term 'post-traumatic growth' was coined by Tedeschi and Calhoun, defined as 'positive psychological changes experienced as a result of the struggle with traumatic or highly challenging life circumstances."

Therefore, post-traumatic growth PTG can be seen as both the process and the outcome.  It is viewed as the phenomenon of positive change, so once the client has experienced trauma they return to a different and higher-level of functioning.

PTG in someone who has been struggling is reported across the following domains:

• A change in perception of self
• A change in spirituality, priorities, and relationship with others
• A changed philosophy in life
• A deeper appreciation for life
• A new sense of life direction, opportunities, and purpose