What I Do and Why I Do It

Well, I do a few different things and my why is slightly different for each of them.

Coaching - I was a lawyer for 27 years but - whilst I didn’t realise it at the time - I was always coaching. I was asking questions, checking out why people were the way they were and supporting people through hard times. 
I believe it’s the relationship with someone that matters and not what they call themselves and I also believe that personal development coaches, counsellors and other healers need to have done their own inner work to support others on their paths without causing harm. Unfortunately the coaching industry isn’t regulated and there are a lot of coaches out there that are unwittingly causing harm. 

I use my life experience, my counselling training and my coach training to help women (in particular HSP women) to find their path to be who they REALLY are and to live the life they want (instead of what they think they should want). This is my big why because I found myself with all the boxes ticked off (the boxes that society tells me should make me happy - husband, kids, dog, house, career) and I was angry, miserable and confused. I want everyone to know that it doesn’t have to be that way. The path to get to a place where you can really be yourself, not the self everyone else expects of you, isn’t easy but it is possible, it is doable and it really is worth it. 

I feel in my heart that it’s an immense privilege to work with women on this path and it is absolutely one of things I have been put here for.  I coach 1:1 and I also run the occasional group programme. 

Podcasting - Podcasting helps me talk about the things I’m passionate about, in an easy way for other people to consume, in the hope they might hear something of their own story and know they’re not alone.

I love spending time with Robbie Leigh having deep conversations (us HSPs thrive on deep and meaningful conversations) on our HSP Connection podcast. Talking together really helps us work out what we feel excited about in our hearts. That’s how we realised we feel so strongly about helping people see the strength in sensitivity. 

You can find out more about the podcast HERE

Community host - together with Robbie Leigh, I co-host the HSP Connection Community. A brave space for HSP women to carry on conversations that have been started on the podcast and we want to delve into deeper. Sometimes we go off piste and talk about other yummy subjects like past lives, we share poetry or we do show and tell. It’s a space where we can be ourselves in all our HSP-ness (say that again quickly and I dare you not to smile!!) and share lots of things other people might think are weird but in the community we just get it. It really is wonderful and I do it because connection is a basic human need and I felt a space was needed for HSP women to come together and be themselves.

Writing - putting my story down in a book and self-publishing my book “I See Me” was a real act of self-love. It honoured my story so far and it was incredibly healing. It reignited my love of writing and I now regularly journal and write blog posts. I often process as I’m writing which helps unravel all the noise in my head. It is also one of my creative outlets - I love seeing the words unfold on the page and transform what was a blank space into something else (even if that something else is not always publishable!!). Writing is another way for me to share what I’ve experienced and things I’ve learned along the way. 

Legal risk and compliance - I was a practising commercial property solicitor for 19 years, then I moved into negligence claims handling and then Risk and Compliance. In 2019, during therapy, I left the position I was in then as it felt untenable to stay. I thought I was done with the law.

In September 2022 I started some legal risk and consultancy work for a very small firm in Bristol only expecting to be there a few months. I am still there because I really like the people and the environment and culture are right for me. For now at least. I’m telling you this so you can see it is possible to be an HSP and still work in a high-stress environment. It also an opportunity for me to use my left brain which is still very much part of me even though I use much more of my right brain these days.