My story
I empower companies, individuals, and students to master their emotional intelligence and tackle their pain points, I teach them to identify the exact issues they face and deliver tools to provide them the solutions they need to grow professionally and personally. Through working with me my clients reach their goals and aspirations.
I am a growth mindset coach with over 25 years of coaching experience. I specialise in alleviating stress, overwhelm, and burnout, using a toolkit of coaching types such as positive impact, performance breakthrough, NLP and hypnotherapy. Find out more about how I got here below or contact me now to discuss how I can help you.
How did I get here?
I worked, initially, in the security industry in Warwickshire, where I was a control room manager dealing with customer service and people management from 1995 until 2002. It gave me a fantastic grounding in coaching.
I moved back to Scotland in 2003 where I continued my coaching journey with First Direct bank, working my way through roles in customer service, sales, performance coaching and quality coaching. No two days were ever the same whether dealing with customers, reps, or managers with a variety of personal as well as professional issues.
During my time with First Direct, I was very privileged to work with exceptional coaches and managers. Every day was a school day for me - I love to learn - and they were all willing to share their vast knowledge and expertise. First Direct nurtured my thirst for learning, sending me on courses to keep improving how I could help those I worked with and mentored. Included in these were leadership courses, SVQs in management, and a diploma in Positive Impact Coaching from Newcastle University, plus certificates in Mental Health First Aid and Suicide First Aid.
Facing my own Everest
During my time with First Direct I contracted an illness. It affected both my kidneys and bladder regularly causing debilitating kidney infections. The frequency of the infections increased until I was suffering fortnightly. Soon I was finding myself in hospital up to five times a year with no signs of the infections letting up. The pain became unbearable.
Eventually, through medication and operations, I found ways to manage my condition, though I still lost a kidney.
Then, 4 years ago, I was told I was inoperable as they were now causing more damage than good and I would be in this pain for the rest of my life. From now on pain management was my only option. And then, to my amazement, they told me that I also had cancer which had been removed in my last operation but I would need to be checked quarterly to ensure it did not return.
That weekend, the pain and the news I had received was finally too much to bear. I had a breakdown.
My recovery was hard. Consulting my GP made me realise that an overstretched NHS simply didn't have the capacity to help me with the emotional and mental anguish that came with my physical conditions. I realised that I needed to find other sources to help me.
And so, armed with the emotional and mental health well-being tools I had acquired during my time with FirstDirect, I started on a journey. I have tried every type of holistic treatment I could find. I looked at furthering my understanding of emotional and mental health. And whilst not all holistic healing worked for me, I saw it work for others. I saw how belief and a positive mindset were the building blocks on which to climb up and over my own issues. Slowly, I found ways to cope, then live again and finally thrive. As I did so, I realised that part of that thriving was to be able to help other people with their own emotional and mental mountains.
Going it alone
And so, in 2021 I left First Direct to set up Changing Your Mind Ltd. I continued my own journey by becoming a Master Practitioner in Neuro-linguistic programming or NLP as it is more commonly known, and I qualified as a Profession Hypnotherapist.
Using all this new knowledge and with certificates, I also gained in Emotional Freedom Technique and meditation I was ready to work with others. Adding in the tools and techniques that I had developed to deal with my condition became an essential part of my mission. And on a personal success note, I have just celebrated my first year in over 12 that I have not been in hospital.
I am proud to be the living proof my system works.
Thanks to being online I am able to work with anyone, anywhere in the world. In recent times when I have had motivational speaking engagements in virtual conferences in Sydney, Johannesburg and Los Angeles.
My mission Statement: Educating clients to implement new resources and processes that will enable them to learn, grow and succeed.
My ongoing vision: To be a world leader in bringing emotional and mental health into everyday conversations.
