Whilst on maternity leave in 2007, I made the decision that something had to change. I felt stuck and unfulfilled in my career and I knew I had to do something different to find my fit.  This was the turning point in my career as I enrolled with Open University to do a Psychology degree. I was hooked on the subject from the first chapter of the first text book and was inspired and intrigued by the subject throughout my six years of study.

​

During the six years of study I continued to move around the organisation looking for my ‘fit’ and found myself in the position of a Communications Manager for an IT Programme.  I enjoyed this role and it ticked a lot of my boxes for my ‘fit’ but it still wasn’t quite right and at that time I couldn’t work out why.  I was engaging with people constantly, I was using my psychology knowledge all the time so it should have been perfect, but it wasn’t the right ‘fit’, just the best nearly ‘fit’ so far.

 

In 2013 my employer at the time announced the closure of the site I worked on, I’d been working there since I was 17, and at the time I was 33.  For me it was a complete shock and I remember being dazed and confused about how it could even be happening!

 

As the news settled in, I started to think about what’s next then. I found this incredibly difficult, many sleepless nights worrying about money, my future, the impact to children.  That horrid whirl pool of worry that you can so easily get stuck in!

 

Towards the end of 2013 I was introduced to the concept of coaching, this wasn’t something I’d even heard of before.  Counselling I’d heard of and have used several times when I’ve needed it, but not coaching.

 

I remember asking ‘So what is coaching then?’ and the response was ‘Coaching enables you to think differently, it brings you clarity in a situation that you are struggling with and enables you to take positive action’. I thought excellent, sign me up and that’s exactly what we did.

 

Coaching was exactly what I needed, I was finding the redundancy experience extremely distressing, I was struggling with depression, was low in confidence, self-esteem and motivation and struggling to take action which was just making the whole situation feel even more hopeless.

 

I left my employer at the end of 2013, I’d already started having coaching and the changes in me from even session one were life changing. I felt more confident, had motivation and realised this was what I wanted to do for people, support them in getting out of a demoralising stressful place and back to being their amazing.  I finally had regained the confidence and motivation to take action.

 

I started a coaching trainer course, because I knew finally knew that is my ‘fit’ and set up ThriveMinds with a mission.  This is to help people rebuild their confidence, self-esteem and motivation enabling them to take action and make decisions.

 

In each session I combine psychology and coaching techniques to smash down my client’s self limiting beliefs (The I can’t statements) and restore their confidence and motivation by coaching them through tools and techniques so they understand why they think and feel as they do and how to take control of their negative thinking.

 

Coaching changed my life, not only did it restore my confidence, self-esteem and motivation when I was badly in need of it, it has also given me my ‘fit’ and enables me to do what I love, which is work with amazing people and see them get back to being their amazing.