In this issue
Features
A state of being: meditation in the workplace
Stuart Bold
Psychodynamics in practice
Dr Catherine Sandler
Thinking global
A coach abroad: reflections on working in China
Dr Brendon Harvey
Silence is golden: holding space in coaching
Paul Kensett
Regulars
Message from the chair
Research
Our regular update from Barry McInnes, BACP Coaching’s Executive Specialist for Research.
On the coach
Tatiana Bachkirova in conversation with Linda Aspey
A day in the life
Psychotherapist, coach and lecturer Frances Masters
In focus: Spotlight on standards
Executive Specialist for Professional Standards, Barry White
Articles from this issue are not yet available online. Divisional members and subscribers can download the pdf from the Coaching Today archive.
Editorial
In her regular column in this edition, our Chair Jo Birch reflects on issues of identity and questions whether our sense of who we are can change over time. Through the process of connection, of growth and development, she describes the revelation that her sense of who she is does not remain static but can change and morph as she continues her journey of self-discovery.
Honouring our own journeys – and those of others – is essential for us coaches, counsellors and therapists, and has emerged as a theme in this edition.
For our cover feature, Dr Catherine Sandler offers an illuminating insight into psychodynamics in coaching practice – an approach that is familiar in the world of psychotherapy but less so in coaching. Until I embarked on my own psychotherapy training, I knew very little about the concepts of transference and countertransference. In the psychodynamics of the coach–client relationship, more questions around identity surface… What of this is mine and what belongs to my client – and what is this thing we are creating together in this moment? How do I empathise with and attune to my client without losing myself in the process? How do I merge enough to be present with my client and still emerge so as to remain witness to what is happening?
It is only through honouring our deep connection with ourselves that we can enter into deep connection with others. This theme of connection and identity is further explored in two key features: on the importance of holding space for our clients, and on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation practice. The significance of defining and evolving the ‘self’ is an area that Tatiana Bachkirova also broaches in her exclusive interview for Coaching Today in our On the Coach series.
But, as we each have our own individual stories, our own journeys and our own identities, we are also creating stories and journeys together in our relationship with others. And in terms of our relationship with each other, as members of the BACP Coaching division and of the wider coaching profession, what is the story we are creating together? What is our journey?
I encourage you to share yourself, your experiences, skills, talents, joys and struggles – to use your experiences with those of our contributors and our colleagues to define our division, to build our identity as whole. We are a new group of exceptionally skilled professionals… and yet who are we? As we build our own unique professional identity, our relationship with other coaching professionals will become clearer, revealing and creating our unique place as therapist-coaches.
Let’s keep communicating – and growing and learning together.
Diane Parker
Editor
editorial@bacpcoaching.co.uk