Meet the Coach: Becca Sandler
Becca Sandler is a coach in South West London and online
What attracted you to become a coach?
It was a really personal journey into coaching for me. I had returned from a ski season, running a bar in an Italian resort called Champoluc. On my return to the UK I had no idea what I wanted to do now that I was back and in my mid twenties. I had the fortune to work with an amazing executive coach who worked with recent grads pro-bono to help them decide what they wanted to do in life.
After the first session it was safe to say I was hooked, but at that time, never considered that I could do what he did. I quickly successfully secured a new corporate role in executive search which I thought would be the making of me. But Covid hit, and it was a last in-first-out situation, so I was made redundant. But I’m thrilled to say that being made redundant was the best thing that’s ever happened to me because it gave me the chance to revisit coaching and make the decision to retrain and become one myself!
What attracted me to coaching was the ability to connect with people on a really human and personal level and make a real different to people’s lives – whilst empowering them to find their own answers.
Where did you train?
I trained at Animas Centre of Coaching, completing their Diploma in Transformational Life Coaching which is ICF and EMCC accredited.
I chose Animas due to the transformational aspects of their course. When I compared it to some of the other training schools out there, their syllabus went below the surface of things and really appealed to my curiosity of how the mind works.
I love working with people in a both performance based and transformational space and to make the kind of lasting difference that I wanted to. Animas was the winner in terms of their depth and breath of training.
What kind of coaching do you offer?
I offer transformational life coaching, which may sound broad… But it gives the client complete autonomy over what they want to bring to our time working together. My training and experience can assure them that I am well equipped with the skills, knowledge and expertise to support them through whatever challenge, life change or problem they bring to my coaching space.
How does transformational life coaching help people with improving their holistic wellness?
The way I view holistic wellness is that it is made up of the following areas of one’s life:
- Your environment, both at work and home
- Your physical health
- Your mental health
- Your emotional wellness
- Your nutritional choices
- Your social wellness (friends/family/relationship)
- Your intellectual wellness (personal growth and development)
- Your financial wellness (your wealth and investments)
Transformational life coaching helps people improve their holistic wellness because it provides them with a much needed confidential, non-advisory, safe space where an objective ear will listen, question and reflect in order to empower them to make life changes that will impact their overall wellbeing.
I have supported people navigating through different problem areas and challenges in their lives that sometimes fall into one of, but often fall into overlapping categories above.
Transformational life coaching works to improve a client’s level of holistic wellness by providing a supportive and empowering environment for clients to first become aware of their current state of play by identifying their current, often unhelpful thought patterns, ingrained beliefs and damaging behaviours. To then explore how they can replace these with more helpful, long-lasting and positive patterns of behaviour, beliefs and thoughts.
This heightened awareness and understanding will help clients to grow in confidence when making new decisions around the topic(s) we’ve covered and change the direction of their life course if they fully commit to change.
I'm also a meditation and yoga teacher – here's a guided meditation I put together for Welldoing:
What sort of coaching clients do you usually see?
I have consciously made a decision in my coaching practice not to ‘niche down’ at this stage for two reasons:
Firstly, I love variety in my work and due to the nature of coaching I find that no matter what age, gender, life stage, profession, religion or background a client comes from, I am able to support them, if we gel and the rapport is there.
Secondly, I believe that everyone needs support at different points in their life. And with holistic wellness as my backdrop, I don’t think we are ever not in the pursuit of optimising this.
That being said, a cross section of clients I have worked with would include:
- Managing Directors of Search Firms
- Founders of Design and Branding Agencies and Skin Care brands
- Global Sales Managers
- Data Analysts
- NHS Managers
- Criminologists
- Sixth Form students
So quite a variety, but I love it. I believe I have helped all of them to build confidence, find connection and see more clearly what it is they want and how they’re going to get there.
Do you ever suggest books or other materials to clients?
Very occasionally I do, if I think it might be helpful to specific topics they have brought, but only with their explicit permission to do so.
Some examples might be:
The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett
Time to Think by Nancy Kline
Working Hard, Hardly Working by Grace Beverley
What do you like about being a coach?
The ability to make a difference to people’s lives every single day.
What is less pleasant?
Sometimes there can be a lack of stability from a business point of view due to the nature of the work that I do. We kind of work ourselves out of a job because the aim is never for my clients to be reliant on our sessions, but instead for them to feel empowered to consciously seek support when they want and need to.
What is one life lesson you try to live by?
That everything is exactly where it is meant to be right now.
But this is a conscious practice and much easier said than done. However, if running my own business has taught me anything it's that things will happen when they happen, and that’s OK!
What do you wish people knew about coaching?
That it is a brilliant tool that they have access whenever they need an objective and non-judgemental ear, and that although it's unregulated at present, they should always seek out the credentials of a potential coach in order to verify the legitimacy and quality of their coaching practice.
I also think more education around the differences between coaching, mentoring and therapy would be helpful for people seeking support.
Do you have a favourite client testimonial or particular success story?
David, Founder of Big Fan Agency testimony has always stuck with me:
“As a self-confessed 'people pleaser', I entered into coaching concerned that I would keep my deeply ingrained guard up and not truly open myself up to the process.
However, from the outset, Becca created a space that not only felt safe, but almost sacred. For the first time, I felt I had an opportunity to present things exactly as they were: no dressing things up, no faking-it-until-I-made-it, no pre-conceived expectations on my shoulders.
The trust and respect for each other built very quickly, powered by Becca's extremely warm demeanour, and pitch-perfect challenges to established behaviours. I learnt so much about myself over the months, and believe this has benefitted not only my own sense of and acceptance of my "self", but also what I put out to the world through my work and relationships. I can't thank Becca enough.”
