Coaching is simply a structured conversation, or series of conversations, designed to help people problem solve, learn, develop and to achieve their goals.

People usually come to coaching because they want things to be different, they want to learn, and they want to change something. 

Coaching is about awareness. Awareness of thoughts, emotional reactions, patterns of behaviour, how others respond to us and situational awareness. 

Awareness leads to insight, and insight leads to change. 

By focusing on a challenge or situation, we develop awareness of what’s happening  and often change our perspective, i.e. we see ourselves, others or the world differently. As a result we have different emotional and behavioural responses – we feel and act differently. Ultimately changes in how we ‘show up’ and behave lead to changes in results. 

A coaching session is about facilitating that learning and change.

Coaching psychology is the application of psychological theory, research, and evidence-based practice to encourage a person’s learning, resourcefulness, and self-insight in a non-directive and collaborative way to enhance their goal-striving and achievement (O’Riordan & Palmer, 2023)”

In practice, what that means is that we apply the science of psychology to our coaching work.

Although I am a psychologist, I am not a therapist. (For more information on what the difference is see below.)

 The best way to understand what coaching is, is to experience it. That’s why we offer an introductory session (called a chemistry session). 

As I am coaching Psychologist I follow the Psychological Society of Ireland’s, the British Psychological Society’s and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council’s codes of ethics.

Each process is different depending on the needs and goals of the client. We’ll run you through a typical process and what to expect on our discovery call. 

For me at, coaching is to help people move forward with their performance, development, and their wellbeing. 

Performance. 

Sometimes I work with people because they would like to perform better or they are feeling ‘stuck’ in a situation. 

I help people in their journey to overcome psychological barriers such as:

• Confidence

• Motivation and engagement

• Procrastination

• Relationship and interpersonal ‘habits’.

• Make a big decision.

• Gain clarity on a problem and or problem solve

• Put a plan in place and take action

Development 

Development involves getting clear on what’s important, where we’d like to improve, and overcoming the practical and psychological obstacles getting in the way.

Sometimes this requires feedback from others such as a 360 process. 

We tend to focus, on 3 key areas of development: personal, interpersonal and strategic. 

Wellbeing:

People are more confident, motivated, resourceful, creative and better to work-with when they are happier. We focus on topics like stress, burnout, work-life balance, relationships, resilience and behaviour change. 

Coaching and therapy have different focuses and goals.  The key focus of coaching is supporting professional and personal development. This is achieved through pursuing specific behaviours and outcomes that the client wants to achieve. The fundamental goal of coaching is helping clients to clarify and reach their goals. It focuses on the future and the actions we need to take to create that future. 

Conversely, the purpose of therapy is addressing emotional pain and dysfunction – often by focusing on past difficulties in order to process them, so we might feel differently in the present. For example, the aim of counseling psychotherapy is to deal with issues such as anxiety, loss, and addiction (IACP, 2014).

Both coaching and therapy can have supportive functions. However, as our coaches don’t work with people in long-term psychological distress, we can also help clients through a more challenging approach to their thinking and behaviour. Coaching looks to leverage your current thinking, emotions and behaviour to achieve your goals. Secondly, the best way to understand what coaching is, is to experience it. That’s why I offer an introductory session (called a chemistry session).

Training focuses on transferring specific knowledge or skills. It’s usually structured, with predefined content, and designed to teach participants what to do or how to do it.

Coaching is a personalized, collaborative process that helps individuals reflect, build self-awareness, and unlock their own solutions. It’s about guiding people to think differently, grow, and apply learning in real-life situations. 

I like to think of it as coaching being about helping people use what they already have (e.g. problem solving ability, creativity, resilience, values, empathy, curiosity) to address their challenges  – rather than learning a set way to address a common problem (training).