Supporting Your Well-Being and Quality of Life

As a health psychologist transitioning into health coaching, I provide specialized guidance for navigating chronic illness, chronic pain, and persistent symptoms. Coaching combines education, compassionate emotional support, practical strategies, skills development, behaviour change, and self-management to help improve quality of life. Drawing on health psychology and evidence-informed cognitive and behavioural approaches, I help clients develop practical tools for coping, adapting, building self-compassion and resilience, and working towards meaningful personal goals. Coaching is not psychotherapy and does not involve the assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of mental health conditions.

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My coaching is grounded in over 25 years of experience in health psychology, behavioural medicine, and the science of behaviour change. The focus is not simply on managing symptoms, but on improving quality of life, building skills and resilience, and helping you live as well as possible despite the challenges you may be facing. ​Whether you are living with chronic illness, chronic pain, persistent physical symptoms, or navigating a major life transition, coaching provides a structured, collaborative space to better understand your experiences, develop practical skills, and move towards goals that are meaningful to you.

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Together, we explore the biological, psychological, social, and lifestyle factors that influence wellbeing. I may help you develop insight, strengthen existing resources, and identify realistic, sustainable strategies that fit your life. Where appropriate, I may suggest practical exercises, reflective activities, or evidence-based resources between sessions to help reinforce new skills and support lasting change.

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My Coaching Approach

My coaching is informed by a deep understanding of evidence-based behavioural science and human psychology. Rather than providing clinical treatment, I draw on proven psychological and behavioural principles and adapt them into practical tools that support personal growth, self-awareness, skills development, resilience, and sustainable change.

Depending on your goals and circumstances, our work may draw upon concepts such as:

• Values-Based Action: Clarifying what matters most to you and aligning daily choices with your core values.

• Mindfulness and Stress Regulation: Practical tools for managing stress, regulating the nervous system, and staying grounded during difficult periods.

• Somatic Awareness and Self-Regulation: Developing greater awareness of body signals, stress responses, and physical sensations while learning practical techniques to support regulation, pacing, and responding to symptoms in a more balanced way. This approach focuses on present-moment awareness, body-based skills, and building confidence in managing day-to-day challenges.

• Self-Compassion and Resilience: Developing a more supportive inner dialogue and strengthening your ability to navigate challenges, grief, and life adjustments.

• Cognitive and Behavioural Strategies: Identifying unhelpful patterns and developing more effective ways of thinking and responding.

• Behaviour Change and Habit Formation: Designing sustainable routines and tracking progress towards meaningful goals.

• Pain Management Support: Education and practical strategies informed by modern pain science, pain reprocessing principles, and nervous system regulation to help you better understand persistent pain and symptoms, reduce fear, build confidence, and improve quality of life.

• Motivational Strategies: Building internal motivation, strengthening commitment to change, and identifying realistic next steps.

• Healthcare Communication and Self-Advocacy: Developing skills to communicate more effectively with healthcare providers, prepare for medical appointments, ask questions, express concerns, and become a more confident participant in your healthcare decisions.

Every session is tailored to your unique circumstances within a structured, collaborative, and forward-focused coaching framework.

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Trauma-Informed Coaching

My coaching is trauma-informed, meaning I recognize the ways in which stressful or adverse life experiences can influence physical health, emotional wellbeing, behaviour, and the nervous system. Many people living with chronic illness or chronic pain have also experienced medical trauma, childhood adversity, difficult relationships, or prolonged periods of stress. While coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy, understanding these experiences can help explain why certain patterns develop and identify practical ways of moving forward. Where appropriate, I incorporate education about the mind-body connection, stress physiology, nervous system regulation, and resilience, helping clients develop greater self-awareness and effective coping skills.

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As your health coach, my role is to help you develop practical skills, self-management strategies, and sustainable behaviour changes to better navigate chronic illness, chronic pain, and persistent symptoms. Coaching provides a collaborative, forward-focused space to build knowledge, skills, confidence, and resilience while working towards goals that are meaningful to you. If, during coaching, it becomes clear that you would benefit from mental health treatment, I encourage you to work with an appropriately licensed mental health professional.