May 27, 2022
Andy Campbell
May 27, 2022
My background is in the youth and community sector, and my own coach helped me realise that my approach to helping others was already instinctively quite 'coach-like' in that I tended to find ways for those I was trying to help to reflect on the wider issues and find their own solutions. He encouraged me to explore it as a professional step, and the rest is history.
I trained with Animas Centre for Coaching. The pandemic has seen a lot of training go online, but I was fortunate enough to take the course while physical meeting up was still accessible.
I have a fairly lighthearted and relaxed approach. Many of my clients are people who have responsibility to look after others in some capacity, and often struggle to remember to look after themselves, so there is often a self-care element - time or boundary management, for example.
I offer clients the headspace to reflect on the things that are weighing down on them - and help them see what can and can't be done to change things. We identify what the next steps could be, and explore together how to take them.
Many of my clients are leaders of charities, small organisations or community groups of some sort, but I also work with students, teachers and others. It's often people who are looking for personal or professional change in some context, or how they can support others more effectively and efficiently.
I'm always a little cautious to recommend specific resources until I get to know the client better - as what clicks with one person often doesn't for another.
Those moments where a client suddenly sees something in a different way. Helping clients see what is possible, when they have been distracted by their problems, is a genuine privilege.
It can be hard to repeatedly re-visit what feels like the same thing with a client, or when you - as a coach - can see something that the client can't and have to hold your peace.
There's a crack in everything; it's how the light gets in.
That a coach can help you find keys to locks you didn't know existed.
I worked with a client who found themselves reflecting on fears holding them back from public speaking. As a result, they proactively took chances to do other things that had overwhelmed them, and started learning to swim with their children. We usually left those coaching sessions with huge smiles on our faces.
Andy Campbell