From Advice to Activation: Why Coaching Conversations Matter in Frailty Care

Arun lives with mild frailty, diabetes and arthritis. He is 78. His practice nurse has advised him to walk more and improve his diet. He understands the advice, but he is worried about falling. His knees hurt. Since his wife died six months ago he rarely cooks properly for himself. When asked what matters most, […]

Frailty Is Not Inevitable: Understanding Resilience, Risk and Earlier Support

Meet Jean. She’s 82 and until recently, was managing at home, doing her own shopping with help from her daughter and attending a weekly coffee morning. After a chest infection, she stopped going out. Her appetite reduced, she struggled to make food for herself, became less steady on her feet, and she lost confidence in […]

The Coach’s Inner Work: Staying Present Without Rushing to Rescue

Part 5 of 5 in a series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain About this series This five-part series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain explores how coaches working across a range of settings and sectors can support clients when life feels unstable, emotionally demanding or uncertain. It offers practical, psychologically informed ways […]

Eight Coaching Shifts for Working with Emotional Strain

Part 4 of 5 in a series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain About this series This five-part series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain explores how coaches working across a range of settings and sectors can support clients when life feels unstable, emotionally demanding or uncertain. It offers practical, psychologically informed ways […]

Stabilise Before You Mobilise: Moving from “What Is” to “What’s Next”

Part 3 of 5 in a series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain About this series This five-part series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain explores how coaches working across a range of settings and sectors can support clients when life feels unstable, emotionally demanding or uncertain. It offers practical, psychologically informed ways […]

What Clients Carry Beneath the Surface of Uncertainty

Part 2 of 5 in a series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain About this series This five-part series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain explores how coaches working across a range of settings and sectors can support clients when life feels unstable, emotionally demanding or uncertain. It offers practical, psychologically informed ways […]

When the World Feels Uncertain, Coaching Needs to Slow Down

Part 1 of 5 in a series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain About this series This five-part series on Coaching Through Uncertainty and Emotional Strain explores how coaches working across a range of settings and sectors can support clients when life feels unstable, emotionally demanding or uncertain. It offers practical, psychologically informed ways […]

Compassion Fatigue vs Compassionate Cultures: What’s the Difference?

Across health and care, the call for compassion has never been stronger. Leaders at every level are being encouraged to bring empathy, humanity, and care into how they lead. Yet one common misconception persists… that being compassionate inevitably leads to compassion fatigue or emotional exhaustion brought on by caring “too much.” The truth is that […]

Informed decision making and consent in maternity and neonatal services

The provision of high-quality personalised care is core to the 3-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. Despite informed decision-making being an ethical, professional and legal standard, the 2023 maternity survey reported that only 76% of women felt as involved as they would have liked in decisions during childbirth (1). Informed (previously shared) decision […]

The questions to ask when you’re looking for a health coaching training provider

First published on 28th September 2021, updated February 2023. Need a health coaching training provider? Dr Andrew McDowell has some key suggestions to help you make the right choice. Let’s start with what might look to be a really obvious question: aren’t all coaching trainers the same? It may sound obvious, but the answer is critical, […]