WHAT IS COACHING?

Coaching provides a non-judgemental, collaborative and confidential space between us, focussing on your thoughts, challenges, values and goals. My aim as a coach is not to advise or diagnose, but instead to facilitate change by listening deeply and asking incisive questions with positive intent.

The Second Wind course and the Navigate Drift matrix are offered as an exploratory framework for your own process, rather than any prescriptive tool for coaching, and you are free to focus elsewhere if this is more helpful to your development.

My coaching style is supportive, playful and empowering. My experience is that approaching even the most troublesome issues with curiosity and understanding can free us up to move forward in creative and unexpected ways. Whatever your situation, we will work together to explore your particular needs and goals in a timeframe that works for you, and regularly review our progress.

Coaching is not a substitute for counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, mental health care or substance abuse treatment. Operating under the Code of Ethics of the International Coaching Federation, I will suggest referring you to a more qualified professional if it becomes evident that your needs lie beyond my coaching qualifications.

MY PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS

I have a Diploma in Coaching, accredited by the Association for Coaching and International Coach Federation, with which I am credentialed as Professional Certified Coach (PCC). I am also a coach trainer and supervisor, and work in accordance with the ICF Standards in Ethical Conduct, with more than 1000 hours' coaching experience. 

For many years a newspaper journalist and author, I have a particular interest in the power of narratives in our lives. As a coach I love to work with clients to reimagine the stories or roles that unconsciously disempower or cause suffering. 

I am a graduate of Oxford University and City University London as well as Animas Centre for Coaching and the International Centre for Coaching Supervision. For more background, feel free to check out my websites at: www.nickthorpe.co.uk or www.navigatethis.net or my LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickthorpewriter/.

APPOINTMENTS

Each 60-min session will take place on Google Meet or by phone and is booked using my online calendar by you the client at a frequency that suits the rate of progress you wish to make. For example, some clients find a weekly session helps with momentum and accountability, while others prefer a monthly check-in – particularly if you’d like to use the monthly cadence of the Second Wind course to explore themes we’re covering there. Whatever your chosen frequency, committing to and scheduling in a series of sessions at the outset will usually help limit drift and deliver the outcomes you’re seeking. 

A block of six sessions should be used within a year of the first session booked, unless we agree an extended period in advance. Booking sessions is your responsibility — I don't chase bookings between appointments – but you should receive automated reminders for sessions already in the calendar. 

Please be punctual to all sessions and check your internet connection in advance, as late starts will usually be treated as time coached. 

BETWEEN SESSIONS

The coaching happens within the session, not around it. To protect the focus that gives our time together its value, I don’t send check-ins, prompts or updates between appointments. Outside of sessions I’m reachable for practical matters – rescheduling, technical hiccups, that kind of thing – rather than ongoing conversation about the coaching itself. 

This is distinct from the Second Wind course itself. Its own prompts, exercises and material will keep reaching you as normal between our sessions, through the live Meet calls and the course structure – as will whatever you exchange with fellow cohort members. 

CANCELLATION POLICY

With the best of intentions, life can get busy or deal us unexpected conflicts, so either one of us may on occasion need to rearrange or cancel appointments. As client you can rearrange appointments online using links in the automatic emails generated after booking, or by contacting me directly, giving as much notice as possible. Please note: if you give less than 48 hours’ notice I’ll usually ask you to pay for the session, or count it against your prepaid block, as it’s difficult to fill an appointment at short notice.

CONFIDENTIALITY

What you say in coaching is confidential. No information will be passed to third parties without your express permission. The only exceptions are: 

a) If I was seriously concerned for your safety, or that of another person. I would always seek to discuss it with you in the first instance; 

b) If I was required by law to do so; 

c) as part of my professional development I may discuss sessions with my own supervisor (who is also bound by confidentiality), taking care to disguise your identity; 

d) I occasionally use the services of a VA (virtual assistant, also operating under agreement of confidentiality) who may have access to my calendar and mailing list but never to my session notes; 

e) I am required to log all my client hours, as part of my professional accreditation and accountability with the ICF/EMCC or other governing body. This is also subject to confidentiality and GDPR regulations.

f) As a trainer of coaches, and occasionally as a writer, I may draw on anonymised examples/issues from coaching sessions. In such instances I carefully disguise, fictionalise and blend any identifying details to ensure complete privacy, or seek the explicit permission of the client. I’m happy to discuss this further if you would like more information.

CONFIDENTIALITY within SECOND WIND

In addition to the above, if you are taking the Second Wind midlife course, rest assured that I will not disclose to anyone else in the cohort that you are being coached by me (though you are of course free to say so yourself). I will also not make any reference to something you have disclosed in coaching within the wider group, unless you explicitly introduce it yourself. Coach and group facilitator are distinct roles and I take very seriously my duty not to blur them.

GDPR

In keeping with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I’d like to be clear on the kind of personal information I hold and why, and what your rights are:

I gather personal information to enable me to provide a professional coaching service to my clients, and to enable me to keep in contact and maintain records. The information I process may include personal details.

I am committed to ensuring that your personal data is secure. I keep some notes from our sessions, which are on my password-protected computer and smartphone, along with any emails or other electronic correspondence we have exchanged.

All records will be kept for a maximum of 7 years after the final coaching appointment - to comply with my professional insurance - and then securely destroyed.

You have rights under GDPR including the right to request to see your records, and to have them corrected or erased in certain circumstances. I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can check the register and find out a detailed description of your rights on www.ico.org.uk.

Nick Thorpe

Edinburgh, Scotland