Sam is a Tavistock Institute certified coach offering leadership and executive coaching. Her approach is informed by a background of nearly 20 years in the field of psychotherapy and mental health, combined with a special interest in business and the psychology of organisational dynamics. Sam’s background includes working abroad in large corporations and multi-lingual teams as well as in the public and third sectors in the UK. Sam is one of the founding partners of Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy.
As a coach and consultant, Sam is informed by contemporary relational and psychodynamic theories in the field of psychotherapy and how they apply to understanding unconscious dynamics in the workplace.
She coaches individuals by first understanding their challenges and areas of aspiration and growth, and then exploring together some of the barriers to achieving their desired goals. Her approach is facilitative and exploratory, but also focused on achieving the best result for her clients. This entails a sensitivity to knowing when to direct, manage, facilitate, educate or simply listen. Her aim is to help individuals and organisations see what can be achieved when they tap into their potential.
Types of Situations where Executive Coaching Works:
Coaching applies to individuals and organisations across all sectors. Some of the areas coaching can focus on include:
- Understanding and reducing stress at work
- Career development or change in career direction
- Developing and improving interpersonal and communication skills
- Improving work relationships
- Managing teams
- Understanding workplace dynamics
- Managing and setting boundaries
- Achieving a better work-life balance
- Becoming a better leader
Coaching and consultancy will also help you:
- Increase self-awareness and self-confidence
- Achieve personal balance
- Improve organisational skills
- Coach and mentor direct reports
- Manage conflict
- Build and maintain peer networks
These are general issues that coaching can assist you with. However, a coaching programme is always tailored to individual needs and circumstances.
A Psychological, Systemic and Multi-Cultural Approach to Coaching
Informed by her personal experiences of growing up in South America and living and working in different countries, Sam brings a multi-cultural and multi-lingual perspective to her coaching practice, with an understanding of the challenges and rewards of working across cultures and with international teams.
With a deep understanding of psychological concepts and theory, combined with many years of clinical experience, Sam offers a sophisticated approach to her coaching work, which entails being comfortable with the complexity of how human beings relate to self and others, in work and life.
Finally, she work in a systemic way, which means understanding how an individual’s role fits into an organisational system and culture. This is a helpful and less isolating perspective, which can bring more clarity to any decision-making process and help place personal challenges within a larger context.
Academic and Professional Training
- Certificate in Coaching for Leadership – Psychodynamic Approaches: Tavistock Institute of Group Relations
- Diploma in Relational Supervision – UKCP registered clinical superviser
- MSc in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (Distinction) – Metanoia Institute
- Certification as a Transactional Analysis Psychotherapist (CTA)
- BA (Hons) in Counselling (First)
Sam attends to her continuing professional development through reading, peer support groups, supervision, professional development courses, and conferences. In addition to being a UKCP registered psychotherapist, Sam is also a member of OPUS.
Client feedback:
Focusing on work-related issues explored within the confidential setting of an external coaching relationship, I have found my executive coaching sessions with Sam to have a hugely positive impact on my successful performance in my work role, and they have been a key driver in me maintaining and modelling positive workplace wellbeing strategies.
To date, the topics I have addressed in my coaching sessions which have directly benefited and informed my work include the following:
- Establishing boundaries and positive work strategies in my role
- Maintaining healthy power dynamics in line management relationships and consciously creating adult to adult working relationships
- Exploring strategies to challenge my unhelpful default behaviour patterns (e.g. people-pleasing, poor work/life boundaries, perfectionism)
- Exploring strategies for dealing with workload overwhelm
- Responding constructively to negativity from a direct report
- Managing the impact on direct reports of organisational and personal wellbeing challenges
EJ, Director of Services for a large UK charity
I found my sessions with Sam incredibly useful, we were able to take a particular issue and make sense of the dynamic with reference to my history. I came away from my sessions feeling replenished and clearer in my thinking and able to apply myself at work far more effectively.
LF, Volunteering Manager
Next Steps
After an initial ‘fact finding’ consultation, coach and coach usually agree an initial course of 6 to 10 appointments lasting 60-90 minutes each. The frequency can vary from fortnightly to monthly. Periodic reviews and feedback are used to monitor and track the client’s progress. The total duration of the work can last from several sessions to several months or even years, depending on the client’s circumstances, need and type of coaching work involved.
Articles
Executive Coaching, Psychotherapy or both?
To find out more about executive coaching, please get in touch with me via the form below.
