“Winter Space” - A mindful and therapeutic retreat for reflection & development 23 January 2019 at Tofte Manor, Bedfordshire

This “Winter Space” Workshop is aimed at professionals, and others who engage with people on a regular basis, and who would like to recharge and reconnect with themselves to deepen their self-awareness and plan for the future.  

Winter is the season in which we see more clearly the structure and shape of things in nature.  This Workshop will explore a parallel process in ourselves.  It offers the opportunity to examine and reflect on your life, including your work life, to identify scope for transformation and plan for the changes you may wish to make.  Using Tofte Manor’s beautiful grounds and rooms, our venue offers the capacity to work both in groups and as individuals, spending time outside as well as indoors.  Utilising coaching, counselling and mindfulness, this workshop aims to provide space to refocus and consider what you would like to do to enrich your life during the year ahead. 

In a series of four seasonal workshops, each individual retreat day will bring awareness to one of the senses.  This sensory focus will support delegates tuning in to the natural world.  The first Workshop, ‘’Winter Space’’, will focus on the sense of Sight to facilitate a sharper nature connection.  We will explore questions like:  ‘How do you see yourself?  What are you blind to, within yourself?  What is your Vision for yourself in the future?’ We will turn to our visual exploration of the outdoor environment to observe the winter world as we glimpse and crystallise our insights too. 

Facilitators: The Workshop will be facilitated by Margaret Walsh and Katharine Peel.  Margaret is a qualified psychotherapist, coach and supervisor who integrates nature into enhancing understanding of ourselves and how we can learn from nature to cope with change and become more resilient.   Katharine is a qualified Mindfulness Coach and mental health first aid instructor, committed to supporting people to become more embodied (finding and trusting what lies within us) in a world where we are increasingly lost in thought.

Practicalities: Although the weather may be cold and unpredictable, a key aspect of our Workshop will be working outside.  Amongst the grounds at Tofte Manor is found a calm and perfect space to tune back into yourself and into nature.  Please come prepared for the weather and to walk outside - not always on hard paths!  Finally, the sensory experience that will be a feature across all 4 workshops will be taste.  And so, you can expect seasonal, tasty, food and drinks.

Pricing: The cost of this Workshop, which is limited to 15 participants, is £195 with an early-bird discount of £165 if booked by 23 November 2018.

Food and refreshments: are included in the fee.

To book or for further information: please contact Margaret on 07799 661995 or by email on margaretswalsh@gmail.com  

Four Workshops involving coaching and mindfulness in nature, to deepen our connection to ourselves, across the four seasons

These Workshops are aimed at professionals, or others who engage with people on a regular basis.  The aim of each Workshop is to create thinking space and allow you the opportunity for time away from your daily routine.  Working in and with the natural environment, away from your normal role will enable your connection with nature to revitalise yourself and to identify and take forward new ideas and insights into your life.

Each Workshop has a seasonal theme and we will examine ourselves and our world through exploration of a core sense during our time together as follows:

·        Winter Space on 23 January 2019 – we explore the shape and structure of the landscape and that of ourselves.  The sense of Sight will be our lens, sharpening our awareness of ourselves and others.

·        Spring Echoes on 10 April 2019 – new possibilities become abundantly clear in Spring and this is where we place our attention.  What new changes or ideas do you wish to nurture?  It is our auditory sense – that of Hearing - that we tune into.  What is our own inner voice saying to us?  When we are in nature, what do we hear?

·        Summer Scent on 31 July 2019 – this can be a time of abundance in nature or also one of stress.  What is our ‘internal summer’ like?  Do we enjoy who we are, and the gifts we possess?  We take the sense of Smell and explore what this evokes in us.  What do we notice when we are curious?

·         Autumn Touch on 9 October 2019 – the time of harvest and of mists, as well as golden light. It is a time when the changes in our natural world are most visible and where nature discards what no longer serves it.  Whilst, hidden beneath the ground, resources are stored for later replenishment.  We explore our feelings about ourselves in this Workshop.  What are we touched by?  What is restorative and nourishing for us?

As well as linking to nature through our environment, we also seek to activate the senses (and access our natural world) through carefully chosen pieces from literature, poetry and through music.  We will work with you to facilitate an awareness of your ‘hidden nature’ by being more consciously aware of how you think and feel.

These Workshops will be facilitated by Margaret Walsh and Katharine Peel.  Margaret is a qualified psychotherapist, coach and supervisor who integrates nature into enhancing understanding of ourselves and how we can learn from nature to cope with change and become more resilient.   Katharine is a qualified Mindfulness Coach and mental health first aid instructor, committed to supporting people to become more embodied (finding and trusting what lies within us) in a world where we are increasingly lost in thought.

Tofte Manor, Bedfordshire, is the beautiful location of these Workshops.  The house is set within 50 acres of gardens containing a labyrinth and mature woodland and we have exclusive use of these grounds.  (See Tofte Manor link https://www.toftemanor.co.uk/retreats)

The cost for each Workshop, which will be limited to 15 participants, is £195 with an early-bird discount of £165, if booked at least two months in advance.  Further discounts are available when all four Workshops are booked as a package.  Food and refreshments are included in the fee.

To book or for further information: please contact Margaret on 07799 661995 or by email on margaretswalsh@gmail.com 

Five ideas how coaching supervision improves coaching practice

Coaches are in a very powerful position, often working with the inner world of the coachee and having to manage the dynamics of a  1:1 working relationship (with much activity happening beneath the surface and out of conscious awareness).  Done well, coaching can transform a coachee, the client organisation, and a coach’s professional practice.  However, done badly, coaching can turn into a cosy chat, in which there is collusion with the coachee.  Or, perhaps, an internal pressure from the coach to ‘prove their worth’ by showing what they know and not forming a strong working alliance from which to understand the coachee’s needs and how best to respond to them.

Looking at this area it is important to focus on what is meant by the term supervision in a coaching context.  Hawkins & Smith (2006) defined supervision as:

‘The process by which a Coach with the help of a supervisor, can attend to understanding better both the Client system and themselves as part of the Client/Coach system, and by so doing transform their work and develop their craft’.      

Although there are many coaches who practice without regular supervision, the three professional bodies in the UK coaching arena (Association for Coaching, International Coach Federation  and European Mentoring and Coaching Council) all recognise the value of supervision to ensure continuing professional development and that coaches are working to the highest ethical and professional standards.  As a coach, (and qualified psychotherapist), and someone who has recently completed a Level 6 Supervision Certificate, I have experienced and witnessed the benefits to be gained from coaching supervision and I offer my insights of the benefits of supervision in this blog as follows: 

1.  Proving a reflection space – In our busy worlds, we can sometimes lose sight of ourselves as coaches and operate on ‘automatic pilot’, using our tried and trusted coaching models.  However, a different perspective, from a well-qualified and skilled supervisor, can breathe new life into our coaching practice as well as help us to learn how to tolerate and work with ‘not knowing the answer’ or being able to ‘fix’ a client.  Transferred back into the coaching relationship, this also shows the client how to work through ambiguity in their lives.  Reflection space provides a space to ‘pause’, to review, reflect and think about our professional practice and provide insights into what we do, in potentially new ways.
2. Learning tools, techniques and new ideas – When we have the space to think, we can often see ourselves and situations more clearly.  Effective supervision facilitates a review of coaching practice and a widening of our perspectives and the options we have in our practice.  The coach might even practice some new ways of working in the learning environment which good supervision provides.
3. Understanding self – We bring our whole ‘self’ into our coaching practice, and so it makes sense that we have a deep level of insight into our own patterns of thinking and how this then shapes the coaching relationship.  From a professional development perspective, it is good to look closely at what influences our thinking, so that it does not unconsciously impact on work with a client.  For example, when working with senior leaders, there can be a reluctance to challenge or identify a blind-spot in the leader and this can be identified, acknowledged and worked through, in supervision.
4. Exploring unconscious processes/dynamics within the coaching relationship – Neuroscientists tell us that over 90% of our behaviour comes from our unconscious processing.  It is therefore in our best interests to know what influences our thinking.  The supervisor can, for instance, use the dynamics present within the supervisory relationship to explore whether there are parallel processes in the coaching relationships.
5. Awareness of the wider system within which coaching take place, including ethical and legal considerations - We operate in a world where there are huge demands placed on workers which include a long-hours culture; always connected through technology; and job insecurity (particularly in the Gig economy).  There are also very practical measures that need careful consideration by coaches like contracting, record-keeping and sharing of information.  How  personal information is managed was brought into sharp focus with the introduction of General Data Protection Regulations in May 2018.  A good supervisor will understand changes in the law that impact on coaches and will proactively advise coaches and check whether their current practice meet any new standards.   

Choosing a supervisor from limited information that appears on web-sites is often hard, and that is one of the reasons why I have chosen to write this blog to provide an insight into my own thinking about supervision.  My current conceptualisation of supervision is one of ‘learning in action’.  I see the supervision process covering a wide variety of theory, skills and practice and these include: reviewing work with clients, professional development, continuing professional education and personal support.  Finally, the words of TS Eliot capture succinctly both the effort and the simplicity of good supervision:

‘We shall not cease from exploration

And at the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know that place for the first time’.     

Margaret Walsh works as a coaching and counselling supervisor and works both face-to-face and over Skype.  She is also developing several CPD Workshops for coaches (both internal and external) to deepen self-awareness and sharpen coaching practice which involve working in nature in the beautiful grounds of Tofte Manor in Bedfordshire: https://www.toftemanor.co.uk/.

If you would like to discuss your requirements, then please contact Margaret directly at margaretwalshcoach@gmail.com or via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-walsh-21ab9b10/