Coaching masterclasses

Deep transformational work can be life changing. However, getting there can be daunting, challenging and require effort. As coaches we can play a role in helping  support and resource those we are working with, and in this session we will be examining how fun can be a part of that.

In this two-hour online masterclass, we will examine what fun could mean in a coaching context. We will start by reflecting on how each of us relates to fun and how it could be appropriate in coaching (and when it is not). We will then explore different ways to bring it into coaching conversations.  Finally, we will examine how we can role model lightness and fun, and how to help our coachees learn and take it away for themselves.

While this will not be a session on how to be a stand-up comic or even how to tell jokes, it will be interactive, experiential and discursive. The session will help you explore how and when you may bring a sense of fun to your practice – and the impact it could have to transform your conversations.

Paul is a member of the Catalyst14 faculty who enjoys continually aiming for the right balance between having fun and enabling transformational work.

Paul is a senior practitioner with the EMCC, holds an advanced diploma in Coaching and is Hogan and Spotlight accredited. He is a fellow of the ICAEW. 

He has over 20 years experience with one of the “Big 4” as a restructuring professional working with organisations in distress and as an internal executive coach. In the last five years he has worked with coaching clients in the private, public and charity sectors.

How to purchase a place on this masterclass

This is a paid-for online workshop costing £50 + VAT / applicable taxes. It takes place on January 20, 2025 at 10:30am (UK time). You can purchase your place on it here.

15-20% of the UK population are neurodivergent. The saying goes that when you have met one autistic person, you have met one autistic person – this is true of all neurodivergent conditions, because every individual’s experience of their neurodivergence is different. The strengths and associated challenges that each neurodivergent person experiences are unique.

Creativity, hyperfocus, problem-solving skills and abstract thinking styles are associated with neurodiversity — something that may be reflected in the fact that least 25% of entrepreneurs in the UK are thought to be neurodivergent.

And in a recent survey, 65% of neurodivergent respondents explained that the greatest barrier they faced to disclosure in the workplace was fear of stigma and discrimination from management. This was closely followed by fear of stigma from colleagues. (Source: Neurodiversity in Business.)

As professional coaches, we can expect to meet neurodivergent clients who are experiencing these worries and facing associated challenges in realising their potential in the workplace.

Being a professional coach, you may be interested in learning more about neurodivergence, so that you can ensure that you can support your coaching clients appropriately — and respond to their individual needs.

As a result of our recent survey on this topic with our alumni, this Masterclass on Coaching and Neurodiversity has been developed to meet this CPD need. During this 90-minute session, we will explore and share experiences, research and best practice on the differences that present when coaching neurodivergent clients. You will also receive practical advice and insight on managing the coaching relationship, contracting and the container for inclusive coaching.

This session will be delivered by Laura Nielsen, Registered Occupational Psychologist, Senior Coach Practitioner and Catalyst14 alumni.

Laura is autistic and has two neurodivergent children and is currently completing a Professional Doctorate with Birkbeck University, researching the utility of workplace coaching for emotional regulation and social cognition in autistic and ADHD adults.

How to purchase a place on this masterclass

This is a paid-for online workshop costing £35 + VAT / applicable taxes. It takes place on March 5, 2025 at 10am (UK time). You can purchase your place on it here.

“Believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.” – Brene Brown

Being enough as a coach creates a powerful presence that is steady, open and receptive to the client in each moment. Enoughness creates an innate humanness in the encounter that enables both the client and coach to let go of being perfect, relax and open up to unseen possibilities and potential.

Why is this important? We consistently hear that the main barrier for coaches in utilising creative methods is belief about their coachee’s perceived willingness to engage with such techniques. Yet when offering a creative technique if the coach is authentic, present, and steady, their client rarely questions experimenting during the session with a novel approach.

In this CPD session, we will explore how coaches can develop the capacity of being enough, congruent and authentic within their work. This experiential session integrates wisdom and approaches from Eastern and Humanistic Psychology – a Person Centred Approach.  It aims to support you to deepen your enoughness, authenticity and congruence within the coaching relationship and use of creative methods within your coaching practice.

This session will be delivered by Damion Wonfor, Founder of Catalyst 14. He is an experienced Executive Coach, Coach Supervisor, Mindfulness Teacher and Constellator. He has been involved with Executive Coaching and People Development for over 25 years.

Damon’s focus is on supporting clients to develop a deep sense of presence and impact within their work so they can live meaningful lives. His practice is underpinned by Mindfulness, Humanistic and Eastern psychology and Embodied Systemic Methods and Constellations. 

How to purchase a place on this masterclass

This is a paid-for online workshop costing £50 + VAT / applicable taxes. It takes place on March 13, 2025 at 11am (UK time). You can purchase your place on it here.

There is a famous quote attributed to Fritz Perls, the father of Gestalt psychology, and sometimes referred to as the Gestalt prayer:

“I do my thing and you do yours. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can’t be helped.”

Perls articulated that one of the most important concepts of a Gestalt approach  is that to be present is to unite our attention and consciousness. This leads to “awareness” — an awakening, where attention and consciousness come together in the present moment in order to further our personal growth.

Join Liz and Sally to explore how we can use the ideas and approaches from Gestalt to support our clients, ourselves and our comfort with the unknown.

Liz is a Partner at Catalyst 14, works as a professional coach, coach supervisor and coach trainer and has worked alongside Damion for many years. Liz’s coach training was underpinned by a Gestalt approach and she has enjoyed playing with, and being challenged by, the principles and practices of Gestalt over the years. Liz blends these principles into her work, particularly in the use of creative approaches in her coaching, and in trusting in what is emerging when working with her clients.

Sally works with individuals, teams and organisations, to develop their potential to lead, to manage and to effect change. In all her work, Sally endeavours to meet people where they are and to create with them a safe and supportive space in which they can pause and really notice what is going on. Sally has spent many years using the ideas and approaches of Gestalt in her work as a coach and facilitator and runs an annual Gestalt retreat in Devon.

How to purchase a place on this masterclass

This is a paid-for online workshop costing £50 + VAT / applicable taxes. It takes place on 8 May 2025 at 10am (UK time). You can purchase your place on it here.

In her book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men,’ Caroline Criado-Perez writes that the gender data gap is “not generally malicious, or even deliberate. Quite the opposite. It is simply the product of a way of thinking that has been around for millennia and is therefore a kind of not thinking.”

In this session, we work from the assumption that we are all steeped in ways of thinking — often invisible to us — that shape us and our actions and ways of being as well as our attitudes and beliefs.

We then explore how our attitudes towards difference and others have also been shaped by the narratives and ways of thinking in which we have been immersed. We think together about how we can work to go beyond what we have learned, so that we can be better advocates for diversity and equality in our coaching and with our coachees.

Aboodi Shabi has been working in executive coaching and coach training since the mid 1990s and has several years of international coaching, training and leadership development experience. He has delivered ontological coach-training programmes all over the world. He is currently on the faculty of Henley Business School’s coaching programme, and also plays an active role on Henley’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He is a regular speaker on the international coaching circuit and an invited guest tutor on mastery in coaching at several European coaching schools. He has been on the ICF global coaching board and was founding co-president of the UK ICF Chapter. He is currently on the Association for Coaching’s UK leadership team and on the editorial board of Coaching at Work magazine.

How to purchase this recording

This masterclass is recording of a recently-held webinar. You can purchase the recording here.