Catherine Macadam

Having experienced first-hand the physical, mental, and emotional stress that so often accompanies working while caring for a loved one, and through our experience of coaching carers, we have seen how coaching can offer a safe space to talk and much-needed support to

• manage the stress of caring and maintain motivation and resilience
• juggle the demands of work and caring
• improve quality of life
• counteract the negative impact of social isolation and much more.

A recent coaching client told us she found the coaching to be invaluable to her as a working carer: “you get time to talk about your challenges, but you go away with something to try out which gives you hope. It was a real lifeline to me at a time when I felt really alone and fearful of losing control of being able to work full-time and manage my home-life situation. It has given me encouragement and hope that I can tackle the situation and continue to achieve in my career despite it all.”

As a person with a hidden disability, I also have an interest in and experience of working with people who are managing a disability or long-term physical or mental health condition at work.

My personality profile suggests that I am tolerant, accepting of others, practical, realistic, dependable. I listen and always try to understand, I like to think before acting, make up my own mind as to what is needed and work towards it steadily; I have a quiet but efficient manner and monitor work carefully and thoroughly.

By trying to understand myself, I can help my clients understand themselves and find ways to be their authentic selves. I want to increase my own and other people’s capacity to use the experiences gained through loss, adversity and struggle to create meaning and move forward.

I use a range of tools and models, based on what works for you, your learning style and preferences. I use psychological coaching approaches to help you understand the beliefs, emotions and behaviours that underly your choices and blockages, as well as developing practical strategies to move forward towards whatever is important for you, whether this is to do with your health and wellbeing, your life or career, personal or professional challenges and opportunities.

I encourage people to develop their own solutions to situations and problems they may be facing, to feel valued for who they are, using their lived experiences to make a positive impact. I can help you to increase your awareness of your own personality, strengths and preferences and the impact these have, to build effective relationships, confidence and self-belief in order to achieve success, be proactive and manage change positively.

I worked in local authorities in front-line, managerial and strategic roles for 20+ years, with 7 years as the lead for Leadership and Management Development for a large London council. In that role I first trained as a coach, introduced coaching and mentoring programmes and supported senior management teams as an organisational development consultant. I left that job when caring for my mum and two small children became too much.

In 2007, I became an independent coach and started coaching carers shortly after. Lately I have been working as a lay board member in the NHS, leading on patient and public involvement, equalities, diversity and inclusion and sustainability. I have been running coaching and development programmes for staff, managers and service users for charities in my local area, with a particular emphasis on helping people with mental health problems back into work.

I have qualifications in coaching and mentoring including in Psychological Coaching, Health and Wellbeing Cognitive Behavioural Coaching and Coaching Supervision.  I am also accredited to use Facet5 personality profiling tool.  I am a member of the European Coaching and Mentoring Council (EMCC) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and abide by the EMCC Global Code of Ethics.