To mark World Mental Health Day, we are pleased to be featuring Paul Dorrington in our blog this week! Paul is a Coaching Academy graduate, who also won our Coaching for a Cause Award back in 2019, then two weeks afterwards he received the NHS Chief Executive Leadership Award. His career spans over 20 years in the NHS and Paul now runs a successful consultancy where he advocates for a proactive, rather than reactive approach to mental ill-health and helps organisations create a mentally healthy working culture.
In 2019, winning The Coaching Academy's Coaching for a Cause Award marked a pivotal moment in my life—an honour that underscored years of dedication to the mental health sector. Reflecting on the journey that led to my qualification as a Professional Performance Coach, I see the transformative power of coaching, not just in my career, but in every facet of my existence.
Balancing study and practice coaching sessions alongside my role as an NHS Lead for Vocational Rehabilitation Services, supporting individuals with mental health challenges, was sometimes a challenge. My coaching studies and being coached changed my perspective dramatically. The realisation of the profound impact of professional coaching fuelled my commitment, leading me to envision breakthroughs both as a team leader and for my clients.
The infectious drive to refine my beliefs and set new goals during evenings and weekends of deep immersion in coaching manuals propelled me forward. Coaching became the cornerstone as I developed high-level listening and questioning skills, aligning with my values to build a successful business coaching private clients and contributing to my NHS role.
By being coached I was able to coach my own team to success and two weeks after I won the Coaching Academy Award, I was honoured to receive the NHS Chief Executive Leadership Award.
While I was sincerely grateful to win these awards I didn't know what was about to hit our shores in January 2020, and how it would truly test my abilities. The onset of the pandemic in 2020 brought unprecedented challenges, and the tools and skills acquired through coaching became my anchor, helping me stay grounded and focused.
Setting and breaking down goals, reconnecting with my values, and utilising emotional state management techniques learned through coaching proved instrumental in navigating the uncertainties. This not only enabled my personal perseverance but allowed me to guide my team and clients through their own trials.
Recognition, such as the NHS People's Choice Highly Commended Award in 2022 and the NHS 20-year Long Service award in 2023, serves not for its own sake but as a testament to my profound journey. Coaching, for me, opened a realm of possibilities that reshaped my trajectory, enabling me to achieve success in both my NHS role and personal business.
Beyond career triumphs, coaching became a tool for personal transformation. It empowered me to adopt a healthier lifestyle, quit drinking, embrace daily exercise, and incorporate meditation and nature into my daily routines. My business coach Rachel Russell (Coaching Academy Trainer & Coach) helped me ground my personal business plan and help me set and work towards my vision in monthly sessions, reflecting, learning and adapting to constant changes.
In my NHS career at a South West London NHS Mental Health service, I lead services that helps people with severe and enduring mental health conditions rebuild their lives and achieve their vocational aspirations in mainstream society, while also managing complex job retention cases, conflict resolution, mediation, vocational rehabilitation strategies and recovery coaching for people who become severely unwell while in mainstream employment and business.
I now run my own business Phoenix Works, where I am an International Mental Health Vocational Rehabilitation Trainer, Consultant and Keynote Speaker. Essentially I help mental health and employment services around the world by sharing what I have learned from our pioneering work in the UK using the Individual Placement and Support Model (IPS). This approach is now used in 22 countries around the world and growing.
I also use my knowledge and expertise to help businesses around the world by running training using a powerful blend of neuroscience, coaching principles, and practical productivity and resilience techniques. This programme can help individuals become more resilient and productive, and can also help managers and leaders have better one-to-one conversations with their teams around stress and resilience.
1. Focus on the Journey:
While goals provide motivation, appreciating the present and finding joy in the process is crucial. Embrace the journey, learn from failures, and don't fixate on outcomes beyond your control.
2. Know Your Values:
Success is more meaningful when aligned with personal values. When I started my coaching journey I thought I wanted to be a life coach to the stars. I actually discovered that my heart lays with public service, not celebrity life coaching. It was then my true calling unlocked unparalleled potential. Find what’s meaningful to you.
3. Keep Going:
Life's challenges don't diminish with success. Seeking meaning through aligned values helps weather inevitable storms. Accepting oneself, practicing gratitude, and continually growing through learning and personal development lead to a more substantial and meaningful life.
As I continue my coaching journey, I look back at that first Coaching Academy training weekend when I did the Introduction to Life Coaching event. I never imagined the profound impact it would have—shaping a successful career and business through daily actions and small changes. And my journey continues, fuelled by the question: What is possible next?
Thank you Paul for sharing your inspiring coaching journey with us.
If you are feeling inspired and would you like to find out more about training to be a life coach or using coaching skills within your current role, then do join us on our Introduction to Life Coaching 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.
