‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.’ - Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi was talking about living a genuine and authentic life where our thoughts, our words and our behaviours are perfectly aligned. Happiness is holistic – it is about what is going on both on the inside and outside. It is about the health and wellbeing of our mind, body and soul.
Something clicked whilst I was on maternity leave. I was loving spending time with my son, appreciating the changing seasons and feeling really alive. These feelings were clear, bright and meaningful to me. My corporate life suddenly felt theoretical. I was envious (a powerful emotion!) of the autonomy, creativity and flexibility of women with their own businesses.
My experience of motherhood and the relationship I was forming with my son made me realise that I wanted to support women to be the best version of themselves and to be their own Super Mum or Career Mum. Passionate about the positive power of coaching from a professional and personal perspective, I set up Oriel Coaching. I am now crafting a rewarding career empowering mums, like me, whilst enjoying motherhood to the full.
As soon as I knew I wanted to be a coach, I set about researching training providers. I was most impressed by the training style and content of The Coaching Academy’s Free 2-Day Event and signed up for Life Coaching Diploma (PPD) and Corporate and Executive Coaching. I can wholeheartedly recommend The Coaching Academy for the blend of theoretical and practical, for the quality of the Accelerator Days, online resources and webinars.
Since being awarded a Distinction for my Life Coaching Diploma in September 2016, my journey with The Coaching Academy has continued to be profoundly positive with new insights, learning and development. Hearing Simon Drury talk about his life purpose, the penny dropped for me! My WHY is to help women to be more resourceful, resilient and relaxed.
Having worked with various profiling systems previously, such as Myers Briggs, I was blown away by DISC and indeed, the ‘Do It! or Ditch it’ book by Bev James. I have genuinely used this insight to best effect both on a personal and professional level. I have since completed the DISC Accreditation Day and offer profiling to my clients so that they can understand what makes them tick. DISC enables them to be more resilient in different situations giving them the best results.
Being clear on my core values now means that I can be more purposeful with my time. Some of my clients have come to coaching having lost sight of who they are aside from being a mum. Working on their values has helped them to take a step back, to prioritise and to manage ‘overwhelm’. They learn to understand their needs and the importance of meeting them so that they are happy, healthy and fulfilled.
The Reinvention CPD Day was particularly poignant for my niche market and I’m really excited about the Resilience Coaching and Confidence Coaching CPD Days and how these can benefit my clients going forward.
My top tips for future coaches would be to:
• Attend The Free 2-Day Foundation in Life Coaching event with an open mind – it is a great opportunity to listen, to learn and to really reflect on where your life is right now and what you want for the future
• Get yourself a coach firstly to challenge and support you to explore what you want to be, do and have and secondly to help you to achieve your goals quicker than if you were working on your own
• Make full use of The Coaching Academy mentoring – this is an invaluable opportunity to talk through and learn from the coaching conversations you have had with your practice clients
• Use the practical tools and resources on The Coaching Academy website with your practice clients so you can build up your toolkit
• Walk the talk – coaching isn’t just about the conversation between yourself and a client. Don’t be that dentist with the bad teeth that no-one will want to visit! Consider what message you are conveying to your target audience. Live a genuine and authentic life…
If Oriel's words have inspired you and you feel that Coaching could be a potential full or part time opportunity for you, or if you would just like to know a little more about what Coaching is and how it can benefit you and the lives of others, please contact our Specialist Course Advisor, Jamil on 0208 996 4830 or email: Jamil@the-coaching-academy.com
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Transform Lives through Life Coaching
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
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