Coaching in London and Worldwide
coaching for creatives - professionals, entrepreneurs and all creative people
in-person in East London UK
online or by phone, anywhere
Coaching For Creatives
Coaching is a process of inquiry, deep thinking and new awareness.
It helps move you from passivity to activity, from taking whatever comes to making things happen – and so it can be of particular help when you’re looking to change jobs or to start something up of your own.
Coaching isn’t about scratching the surface, or at least not with me. It isn’t about motivational talks or productivity hacks. It’s about new insights, identifying hidden agendas or outdated allegiances, or seeing the fears and desires that are really influencing you. Coaching can highlight the gaps in what seems logical to you. It can uncover blind spots and find new ways forward that you’re unable to see alone.
My coaching clients are people who want to do good work and make an impact. They might be in the middle of a life transition, forced by circumstances far out of their comfort zones. Or they might be people who see themselves as creative and want support working through their latest project.
The questions people bring to coaching, often start with the practical –
How can I make better decisions?
How can I have more confidence in myself?
How can I earn what I really think I’m worth?
Is this work viable?
Will this choice be the right one?
How can I improve my work relationships?
What’s really going on here?
Then if we look underneath, these questions may become more existential –
How can I be happier?
Am I ridiculous for even hoping for something better?
Why do I feel alone?
Who am I now?
Some Feedback
“I would highly recommend Stephen…I am a 3D animator and I sought Stephen’s guidance for a personal animation project to enhance my portfolio and improve my employability. Feeling stuck in my career, I needed someone impartial and experienced with a creative background to explore options and identify the right courses of action for me. Stephen is a very friendly, encouraging and understanding coach. After multiple sessions with him, I feel more open, organized, and active. I experience fewer low moments and am able to identify the causes of my challenges, helping me get back on track more easily. I’ve been able to make progress… consistently, with his help.”
“Stephen’s approach is caring and careful; he listens intently and with compassion. His approach is wide ranging…He’s skilled at analysing practical problems and suggesting practical solutions, but also at exploring deeper emotional problems and their roots. He’s sensitive to the mood of the moment, and brings imagination, creativity and (where it fits) playfulness to the discussion of both practical and emotional questions. There’s a good balance in the sessions between an ongoing conversation about long term issues, and attention to the current moment and what’s happening now. I look forward to our sessions…”
“Stephen and I defined five goals from our first session, coming out of the problems I perceived with my work and creative practice. We spent (the next) sessions discussing and breaking down what I think of now as surface blocks, and how I responded to challenges, and within a few months I could see both my enthusiasm and results rising…”
I’m Stephen
I’m a counsellor as well as a coach, so the work we’ll do together inevitably will go deep – I won’t provide answers or solutions that you could have found for yourself on Google or ChatGPT. In fact I won’t usually provide answers at all, but create the right circumstances and ask the right questions so that you can find your own answers.
My interest is in people and in how they tick. For over twenty years I’ve worked as a clinical therapist seeing clients 1-1 and supporting them through times of challenge, pain and hardship. In counselling our main focus might be on ‘healing wounds’ created through difficult or traumatic events. In coaching the main focus is different – we’re looking at the present day and the future, at helping you move from a passive to an active stance in life, so that you can make happen whatever you want to make happen.
I know from my work both as therapist and coach, the value of sustained reflection, which deepens awareness and insight. I also know the importance of a quiet space, physical or virtual, where things can be explored honestly and openly – without towing the party line, without a specific agenda, and without fear of reprisals.
I also believe in the value of slowing down. So much of the time we’re told to hurry up and of course pace can sometimes be vital. But working out how things really look, clarifying values, or deciding what needs to happen next, for example, are complex questions which need time and focus for you to find the answers which really satisfy you.
