Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between coaching and therapy? ⚕️

There are 3 main differences for me.

1) The biggest difference is that, unlike therapy, the coaching profession is unregulated, which is in fact its biggest strength–as it allows coaches the freedom of expression and the freedom from institutional pathology that are the necessary prerequisites of good psychotherapy. In other words, I'm not mandated to lie to you or your loved ones by my profession's governing body in order to keep my license. If you care about the truth at all, this is a huge win for coaching. That being said, coaching's unregulated aspect is also a double-edged sword, as coaches can vary widely in their knowledge and level of competence (but this is also true for therapists). International coaching bodies attempt to mitigate this with their accreditation programs, but ultimately, they do not have the final say in what coaches do in their private practice.

2) Therapists and coaches tend to differ in their typical clientele. On average, therapists get more patients with clinical disorders (often with multiple co-morbid disorders) while coaches mostly deal with generally functional people. Therapists also tend to have more pharmacological knowledge (although not by much), as they usually work alongside GPs and other medical professionals in caring for patients. That being said, any coach or therapist worth their salt are eclectics, capable of working with both functional and dysfunctional individuals. The best judge of a coach's competence are the outcomes of his past clients. For me, you can check out my clients' testimonials on my About page, and judge for yourself.

3) Unlike therapy, most mainstream health insurance providers do not currently cover the costs of life coaching. The best thing for you to do is to check with your provider and, at the very least, your asking them will send them signal that they should be covering it.

How does coaching with you work? What should I expect? 🛠️

See here for details. There are essentially 3 steps. The first is the chemistry session, which is basically for you and I to decide if having me as your coach is the right thing for you. This can often be scheduled and completed within the week of inquiring. That's right, you won't find any 52-week NHS waitlist here. Then, after signing some formal agreements, comes the coaching sessions themselves, which are scheduled through email. Lastly, there are optional post-coaching check-in sessions that we can schedule later to see how you're doing.

How much does it cost and how do I pay? 💷

I keep it simple and charge a flat rate of £40 per coaching session, which typically last 1.5 hours. Invoices are sent from PayPal after each completed session to be paid before the next scheduled session. Of course, you're welcome to pay more if you want. I won't complain.

How long does coaching typically last?⌛

While it can differ quite wildly for each person, a "standard" coaching program usually go for 7 months. Keep in mind that for most people, since they're actually improving through coaching, will need less and less of it as time goes on. This translates to longer and longer gaps in-between sessions, until the coaching agreement ends altogether. This is entirely normal and desired; since, unlike some predatory mental health workers out there, I'm not here to farm you. My past clients will tell you how thrilled I was that they no longer needed me. Seriously.

How do I contact you? 📬

You can reach me through email. Click here to send me a message. That being said, once we have entered into a coaching agreement, I may provide you with my personal phone number for calls and SMS/WhatsApp messages if that's more convenient to you. That's up to my discretion. You can also follow me on social media (see the links at the bottom of this page) and message me there, but understand that I can be much slower to replying to them when compared to email. If in doubt, go with email.

How does confidentiality work with coaching? 🥷

Besides life-threatening situations and implicated criminal offences which the law requires me to report, everything you say during our coaching sessions will be kept confidential by me. There are some caveats to keep in mind. For example, if you choose to have your sessions online, know that no digital space is 100% safe–meaning that full confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Likewise, if you choose to have your sessions in-person at a public area, then you'll just have to accept the possibility that others may hear us. Lastly, if you decide to sue me for whatever reason, information from our sessions that are relevant to the case can be disclosed for use in my defense. It's all pretty standard common sense stuff. On your end, you're completely free to tell people whatever you want about our sessions. That's entirely your prerogative. In fact, I would encourage you to talk to others about our sessions as it will help you better integrate your learnings (and help me with marketing).

proper answers to proper questions

What's your late/no-show policy? ⏰

Basically,

• No-show without any notice = £20 + travel fees + the session will be rescheduled

• > 48 hour notice = FREE + the session will be rescheduled

• < 48 hour notice = FREE + the session will be rescheduled (unless I'm fully booked, in which case, it'll be £20)

• > 15 minutes late without notice = £20 + travel fees + the session will be rescheduled

• < 15 minutes late without notice = FREE, unless you choose to reschedule, in which case it'll be £20 + travel fees

Generally speaking, being a bit late (< 15 min) is not a big deal, especially if we're doing the session online. All it'll do is slightly eat into our session time.

How do I attend our coaching sessions? 🚶

Depends. Attendance details will be discussed during our chemistry session. You can choose to meet in-person, or online. If in-person, you are in charge of selecting a venue. This can be a coffee shop, at a park, whatever, within reason of course. Note that in-person meetings are strictly limited to the town of Yeovil, United Kingdom. If I need to arrange transport (Uber) for getting to and from your chosen location, this will be added onto your session cost (agreed beforehand of course). For online meetings, there's WhatsApp, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Discord, X, etc. Name your pick and I can probably do it. Try to make sure your camera and microphone work beforehand so we don't waste session time troubleshooting technical difficulties.

What's in your newsletter? 📰

I'm so glad you asked. It'll consist of:

1) Notifications of new original articles I've written on my Articles Page.

2) Special limited-time discount offers and promotions.

3) Important updates or changes to the business or website that can affect current or future clients.

4) And anything else I think of that would be interesting/useful to know.

I will never spam you with completely irrelevant things. Unsubscribe and resubscribe anytime by sending me an email.

Note that I am new to sending out newsletters, so expect some experimentation and plenty of adjustments along the way. I'll be more than happy to receive feedback on this feature.

How do I end our coaching? 🏁

Easy. Either:

1) Let me know during a session. That'll be the last invoice you receive from me, unless you decide to engage me again for coaching sometime in the future.

2) Let me know through email with at least 48 hour notice.

If the coaching isn't working for whatever reason and you decide to end our coaching with a no-show. You can expect a message from me requesting your feedback. Answering my feedback request immediately waives your no-show fees.

Do you take international clients? 🌎

Yes. Many of my past clients have been internationally-based. The only limitation is that our sessions would have to be online. International clients will receive invoice requests in GBP (£), which may involve a currency conversion fee from your specific bank depending on your deal with them.