Having 25 years of experience in wellness and wellbeing, Carey found a new way to serve her mission when she discovered The Coaching Academy training.
What was/is your profession before becoming a coach?
CIPD qualified, a Senior Learning and Development professional, a teacher and ‘informal’ coach for many years on the subject of health, I saw the free Introduction to Life Coaching event advertised and was drawn to find out more.
I had just left a multi-award-winning business I had started some years earlier and was looking for something that fulfilled me on two levels; it had to fit in around my three teens, and it had to be driven by passion around helping people to manage their health and wellness.
The two days were a revelation for many reasons. Never had I learned so much in two days and never had I been so sure that something was so right for me.
I became fully committed, inspired and motivated to become the absolute best coach I could and signed up immediately.
What was the most rewarding part of your training/journey?
Two aspects of the course stood out for me.
Firstly, I loved every second of the coaching itself. The buzz I got from this, from day one, has been incredible. I would advise all trainees just to dive straight on in there. I was determined to finish the course in as near to a year as possible and I think giving yourself a target really sets the pace and motivation. Every client I had was a huge learning curve, one that I relished with an opportunity to get better.
Secondly - the training days. I have worked in and around L&D for most of my life and I have rarely encountered such outstanding trainers.
On day one of meeting Pam Lidford, I remember thanking her after the event and saying ‘ I want to do what you do’. Now I have qualified I will be looking to see more of them all on the CPD days.
How did you fit coach training into your busy life?
Like anything that should be a priority, I set aside so many hours a day and week to training and then subdivided that up into coaching, paperwork, and training ( webinars, 1-1’s, group sessions).
I’m a busy single mum of three teens so I am in demand, but I red circled this time, and diarised this first, building all else around it and letting my family and work colleagues know that I was doing this.
Where are you now? How are you using your coaching skills?
My coaching niche was easy for me. I’ve had over 25 years experience in health, wellness and wellbeing, with my focus around food and nutrition.
Although I had qualifications in nutrition I hadn’t wanted to be a nutritionist. As a coach, I feel I am perfectly placed to help people get to where they want to be for long-lasting sustainable change to last the rest of their lives – but what is key is that they drive the journey and changes. This makes it work!
I have started building up my business to work with both mums and families who want to change their relationship with food, both 1-1 and as part of a 12-week course I offer.
I also work with businesses to make wellbeing a focus, giving talks and training.
At the moment, when we’re all challenged by the economic and health challenges across the world, I’m covering the cost of 15-minute calls to anyone personally really struggling at this time.
I’m also offering 45 minutes to corporate companies who need support with company wellbeing, please get in touch with me on LinkedIn.
I started a podcast ‘ Coaching Conversations’ with my colleague Julian Roberts whom I met on a Coaching Academy Training Day for DISC, to raise the profile of ‘coaches with integrity’, helping give a platform to some of the excellent coaches out there and helping those seeking a coach the opportunity to hear what it is all really about. We are so fortunate to have had Pam Lidford, Kris Robertson, and Ann Skidmore as guests.
I have also become a Radio Presenter on Wellbeing Radio to widen my reach and further help others, mind body and soul.
I’ve also written a coaching manual following the GROW model for those wishing to work through the process of eating better and taking a family along with you. It will be ready for launch in September.
What are your top tips for:
People who are looking to become qualified as a professional coach?
Find a course you can engage with and feel motivated by. Adult education puts you firmly in the driver’s seat so you will need to be self-powered to see this through.
Set a schedule and a timetable for getting the qualification. Find someone you connect with on the same course and mentor one another through the journey. I am very grateful to Elissa Benjamin for doing so with me. We will remain mutual supporters and friends. Engage a coach if you can.
Those currently in training with TCA?
1. Set yourself a finishing date – begin with the end in mind!
2. Get yourself a buddy so you can push one another through.
Co-coach and set up at least one call together a week to talk through progress and ensure you are moving forward. Go over paperwork, tick off the process together, and ensure you are both moving forward.
3. Start coaching ASAP! Just do it – the sooner you get going, the quicker you learn, the quicker you qualify.
4. Stay organised.
Get a folder for all your paperwork both online and offline and ensure you have all the submission sheets there.
I set all this up initially which made it very simple for me to come back and input my feedback on online training, my coaching sessions, my assessments.
Organisation is KEY so that as the months progress you stay on top of the various bits and pieces.
5. Use your personal 1-1 coaching sessions with the Coaching Academy experts well. They were so helpful to me
6. Enjoy it!
If you're interested in finding out more about life coaching, just like Carey did, start by joining us in our interactive live webinar. Choose from available dates here.
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.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
