How Do I Know If I’ve Found the Right Coach?
Finding the right coach is a bit like finding the right walking companion, you want someone who feels easy to talk to, who listens deeply, and who helps you feel safe enough to be honest and curious. That is why we start with a relaxed chemistry call. It is your chance to get a feel for how I work, ask questions, and see if our connection feels natural. Trust your instincts: if you feel comfortable, heard, and supported, you are likely in the right place. Coaching is most powerful when you feel at ease to show up as yourself, knowing you are in good company.
What is the
difference between coaching,
counselling and therapy?
Every school or institution defines coaching, counselling and therapy a little differently. What follows is simply my own way of understanding them. You’re very welcome to take what resonates with you and gently set aside anything that does not.
Coaching
Coaching is for those moments when you are ready to grow, set new goals, or shift direction. It is a practical, action-focused partnership that helps you clarify what matters, build confidence, and take steps toward your future. Coaching works best when you are functioning well but want to move forward, create new habits, or unlock your potential. It is about tapping into your strengths and finding new possibilities in your life or work.
Coaching is not only for individuals, it is also a powerful support for teams and organisations. Team coaching helps groups step back and look at how they work together within the wider system they are part of. It can support:
- Aligning around shared purpose, values, and vision
- Strengthening communication and trust
- Building healthy team dynamics and psychological safety
- Navigating change, growth, or uncertainty
- Clarifying roles, decision making, and ways of working
- Enhancing collective performance while supporting individual wellbeing
Through a systemic lens, coaching invites teams to notice patterns, relationships, and unspoken dynamics, creating space for more conscious, collaborative, and sustainable ways of working.
Counselling
Counselling offers a safe space when emotions feel heavy or life changes leave you unsettled. It is about being heard, exploring feelings, and developing ways to cope with stress, grief, or relationship challenges. Counselling is especially helpful when you are not in crisis but need support to navigate transitions or emotional struggles. Here, you are invited to reflect, gain insight, and reconnect with your inner resources.
Therapy
Therapy is a deeper process for times when mental health symptoms are persistent, intense, or affecting your daily life. It is a space for healing, understanding patterns, and working through trauma or longstanding issues. Therapy often involves evidence-based approaches and may include diagnosis and treatment. It is about honouring your experience, exploring root causes, and creating lasting change—not just for you, but for the systems you are part of.
How to Decide
When you are considering support for your wellbeing, it helps to look at the whole picture (your needs, your context, and the systems you are part of). Just as systemic and somatic coaching invite you to explore connections and patterns, choosing between coaching, counselling, or therapy is about finding what best supports you right now.
If you are generally okay and want to grow: Coaching.
If you are emotionally struggling and need support: Counselling.
If your mental health is interfering with daily life: Therapy.
If you are unsure, start with counselling or therapy – they are trained to guide you and refer you onward. Remember, moving between therapy, counselling, and coaching is natural, your needs and context change. There is no hierarchy, just different forms of support for different moments. The right choice is the one that fits where you are, honours your journey, and supports your growth within the wider system of your life.
What is Somatic Coaching?
What is Somatic Coaching?
Somatic coaching is a holistic approach to personal growth and wellbeing that integrates mind, body, and spirit. As a somatic coach, I help clients reconnect with their inner wisdom, using body awareness, breathwork, and mindful movement to unlock lasting transformation. This method goes beyond traditional life coaching by inviting you to tune in to the signals your body sends helping you release stress, build resilience, and foster authentic leadership.
Core Principles of Somatic Coaching
Mind-Body Connection: Somatic coaching recognizes that thoughts, emotions, and behaviours are deeply linked to physical sensations and nervous system responses. By working with the body, we access deeper self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
Embodied Wisdom: Your body holds valuable information and insight. Somatic coaching encourages you to listen to your body’s signals, supporting personal development and mental health.
Holistic Perspective: This approach sees you as a whole person (mind, emotions, and physical self) shaped by your experiences, biology, and environment.
How Somatic Coaching Works
Body Centered Awareness: In our sessions, you will be gently guided to notice physical sensations such as tension, openness, or warmth, connected to your goals or challenges.
Techniques: We use breathwork, movement, body scans, and mindfulness practices to explore and shift patterns, supporting stress management and wellbeing.
Shifting Patterns: By changing posture or energy, you can create new possibilities, moving from constriction to clarity and confidence.
Benefits of Somatic Coaching
Stress and anxiety management.
Enhanced emotional intelligence and resilience.
Greater self-awareness and confidence
Improved relationships and communication skills
Overcoming limiting beliefs and ingrained habits
Leadership development and authentic presence
How Somatic Coaching Differs from Traditional Coaching
Unlike traditional coaching, which often focuses on mental strategies and goal setting, somatic coaching adds the crucial dimension of body awareness. By asking, “How does that feel in your body?” we unlock deeper, embodied change, supporting personal growth, wellbeing, and transformation that lasts.
What is Equine Assisted
Learning?
Equine assisted learning is a holistic, experiential approach to personal growth and education that draws on the unique presence and wisdom of horses. Like somatic coaching and systemic constellations, it recognizes that lasting transformation happens when we engage our whole selves mind, body, and spirit in the process.
Core Principles of Equine Assisted Learning
Embodied Awareness: Horses invite you to tune in to your body, emotions, and energy. This deepens self-awareness and helps you notice patterns that may be holding you back mirroring the body centred focus of somatic coaching.
Non-Verbal Communication: Horses communicate primarily through body language. To connect and collaborate with them, you must develop clear, authentic non-verbal communication—an essential skill for leadership, relationships, and emotional intelligence.
Congruence and Authenticity: Horses respond best when you are genuine and congruent. This teaches you to align your inner state with your outward actions, fostering integrity and trust.
Systemic Perspective: Like constellations work, equine assisted learning helps you see the bigger picture—how your actions, beliefs, and feelings are shaped by the wider system around you.
How Equine Assisted Learning Works
In a session, you might be guided to notice your posture, breath, and energy as you approach and interact with a horse. Through mindful exercises such as leading, or simply being present. You learn to observe subtle shifts in both yourself and the horse. These experiences become powerful metaphors for challenges and opportunities in your everyday life, much like the living maps created in constellations work.
Benefits of Equine Assisted Learning
Enhanced self-awareness and confidence
Improved communication and leadership skills
Greater emotional intelligence and resilience
Authentic presence and relationship-building
How Equine Assisted Learning Differs from Other Approaches
Horses don’t seek to please, they offer honest, immediate feedback
Horses are herd animals, attuned to group dynamics
Horses communicate non-verbally, using their emotions from the limbic system
Each horse is an individual with a unique personality
What is
Systemic Coaching and Constellations?
What is Systemic Coaching and Constellations?
Systemic coaching is a way of working with people that looks beyond the individual and considers the bigger picture the systems we’re all part of, like families, teams, and organisations. Instead of focusing only on personal goals or challenges, systemic coaching explores how relationships, patterns, and hidden dynamics shape our experiences and outcomes.
At its heart, systemic coaching is about understanding how everything is connected. It helps you see how your actions, beliefs, and feelings are influenced by the wider system around you. This approach is especially useful when you’re facing complex issues that don’t have simple solutions.
What is a Constellation?
A constellation is a practical tool used in systemic coaching. Think of it as creating a living map of your situation. You use objects, markers, or people to represent the key elements such as team members, goals, or even abstract ideas like trust or purpose.
With the help of a coach, you arrange these elements in space and notice what emerges. This process can reveal hidden patterns, unspoken tensions, or loyalties that might be affecting you or your team. By experimenting with new arrangements and language, you can find fresh perspectives and solutions that support balance and growth.
Why Use Systemic Coaching and Constellations?
It helps you see the bigger picture and understand the root causes of challenges.
You gain insight into relationships and dynamics that may be holding you back.
It supports lasting change by working with the whole system, not just the individual.
It’s especially powerful for leaders, teams, and organisations navigating change or seeking deeper transformation.
In short, systemic coaching and constellations offer a way to reconnect with what matters, see new possibilities, and create positive change both for yourself and the systems you’re part of.
Why choose to work with Stillingpoint rather than AI?
Our coaching is rooted in the understanding that true transformation arises when mind, body, and spirit are engaged together. While AI can provide information and answer questions, it cannot sense the subtle shifts in your energy, the hesitations in your voice, or the moments when your words and actions are not in harmony. AI responds to what you ask, but it cannot notice what you’re not saying or gently invite you to pause, breathe, and notice what feels different within.
Working with Stillingpoint means having a partner who can mirror your experience, reflect back your feelings, and help you tune in to the wisdom your body holds. Together, you can explore alternative perspectives, uncover what feels authentic and true, and create space for deeper self-awareness. In person presence offers empathy, curiosity, and the ability to sense what is emerging in the moment—qualities that AI simply cannot replicate.
In essence, AI is a tool for information. Stillingpoint is a guide for transformation.