About me & Coaching
Hi, I’m Christina
I am a creative, adventurous person, living with my young family on the border of England and Wales. I love being outdoors, moving my body and I’m an extremely entry-level-but-ambitious forager.
I am personally accredited as a professional coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and have been certified in specific coaching approaches through ICF accredited training programmes. I certified as a professional Transformational Coach, trained by Coach Masters Academy, in early 2021, went on to complete Advanced Training for Mastery Coaching, certified as a Physical Intelligence Coach through the Physical Intelligence Institute, and as a Group Coach by Group Coaching HQ.
In January 2021 I completed my MSc in Psychology, and being slightly obsessed with Psychology (and biology which was my original degree), I am constantly updating my knowledge and incorporating it into my coaching, writing, speaking and workshops.
I use evidence-informed frameworks, drawn from psychological theory and research such as Cognitive, Positive, Phenomenological and Gestalt Psychology, and extensive case study analysis and narrative research. The transformational coaching method that I’m trained in is built on an understanding of how the mind operates, and how to maximise sustainable impact.
Since becoming a professional coach I have spent hundreds of hours in the privileged position of coaching many unique and inspirational people.
Prior to certifying and practicing as a professional coach I had nearly a decade of experience in the public, voluntary and community sectors, where I had the opportunity to gain both strategic and on-the-ground perspectives, as well as managing projects, relationships, budgets and contracts. My golden thread was always community and individual development and engagement. I was particularly interested in finding innovative and fun ways of community engagement, co-creation and citizen-led action and was often awe-struck by how people were able to overcome immense practical and psychological obstacles to achieve amazing things. Truly everyone has something to give. During that time, I had plenty of opportunities to apply my developing coaching, counselling and leadership skills and training, including ILM level 7 Strategic Leadership, Leadership for Empowered and Healthy Communities, and Development Centre Assessor and Mentor.
I’m passionate about helping humans to be at their most creative, resilient, clear-headed, joyful and thriving best, and believe that restoring our connection with the natural environment that we evolved and adapted to thrive in is a key part of that. I am a founding member of Nature’s Blueprint and dedicated to building human capacity to make a positive impact for the benefit of people and planet (including all the flora and fauna).
Typically people think of coaching as just for the top athletes or highest ranking CEOs and that therapy is only for people who are really suffering.
But everyone has goals and desires.
No one is completely free from pain, or unhelpful thought patterns and stories they tell themselves.
Everyone has the potential for growth and transformation.
So, acknowledging the huge variety in types of counselling and coaching, as well as the even bigger variety of individual human beings, counselling and coaching could be hugely impactful for anyone.
The main thing you need is a willingness to reflect – or at least a willingness to grow into it.
I coach using a blend of Transformational coaching and Physical Intelligence coaching
Transformational Coaching
What is Transformational Coaching?
Transformational coaching puts you at the centre, and takes the approach that you have the creativity and inner resources you need – you just need help to access them. This principle is at the heart of what makes the coaching so impactful, and the changes you make so transformational and long-lasting.
Why is Transformational Coaching important?
Clarity, purpose and strength might be tangled up in other parts of your story: such as your beliefs, your expectations, your identity, or your values. We are training our brains all the time -often without realising it - to look at the world in certain ways. Gaining awareness of this is often a first step to re-writing your story and freeing yourself to move forward. Transformational Coaching leads to discoveries and insights that change not just your way of doing, but your way of being.
Transformational coaching also equips you with the powerful skills of asking yourself the right questions and the ability to reflect. This means that beyond changing your current circumstances, you can transform your whole future.
Through transformational coaching you’ll discover how you view the world, how you exist in the world, and how you are interacting with it. That understanding empowers meaningful change.
I tend to use a blended approach, but in our first conversation we will get an idea about which approach to focus on for your particular needs and style. I also offer dedicated Physical Intelligence sessions.
Physical Intelligence
What is Physical Intelligence?
Physical Intelligence allows you to understand and manage the relationship between your body, your thoughts, feelings and actions so that you can achieve more, stress less, and live your life with more joy and happiness.
Why is Physical Intelligence important?
We live extremely busy lives and everything we do seems to be at an accelerated pace. With constant demands on our time and capacity, physical iIntelligence enables us to achieve our goals and sustain our performance.
Physical intelligence is about increasing awareness of how what is going on in your body has an impact on the way that you think, feel and act – and vice versa. With more awareness you can be more intentional and cultivate physiological states that are more supportive of your goals and wellbeing. For example, managing a balance between the physiological mechanisms that support quick, focussed, ‘fight or flight’ responses, or those that support growth, creativity, and collaborative responses. Sometimes we need to draw on our strength, and other times we need to access our flexibility: being physically intelligent supports you to have more control over how you approach life.
“I found Christina’s sessions so useful in quickly offering clarity and a new way of thinking out a thorny issue. I had many ‘aha’ moments!"
Steph, Qualitative Researcher