About Lynda

       My qualifications and experience are listed below.
       They are obviously important.
       But unless the 'chemistry' is right we are unlikely to have
       a successful coaching relationship. 
       It's essential that you experience me as someone that
       you can talk to freely and openly, about anything and
       everything; as someone that you trust. 

       The best way to check this out is to have a 
       free sample session (face-to-face or telephone).

Qualifications :

• Trained with CTI - one of the two longest established coach training organisations in the world - and am a Certified Co-Active Coach, an accreditation recognised by the International Coach Federation.
• Licensed Fireworks^TM Career Coach.
• Degree in Psychology (although this is mostly irrelevant unless you are a rat or a pigeon and I don’t think they benefitted much (though we did sneak into the lab to feed them)- this was in the old days of ‘behaviourism’) 
• Qualification in Counselling & Hypnotherapy; Trained in Mediation & Conflict Resolution
• Over the past 25 years, have participated in, and delivered, many Personal Development/Empowerment Workshops (as well as many others - see Consultancy, Training, Teams.
• Long-standing practitioner (20+ years - on & off!) of insight and mindfulness meditation. Many clients choose to incorporate this into their lives as, by increasing their 'in the moment' awareness 24/7, it enables them to become much more skilfull in managing their thoughts and feelings and therefore their behaviour. I am not a 'religious' Buddhist but dharma teachings (the teachings of the Buddha) are the most powerful transformational 'technology of the mind' that I know. If you can’t manage your mind you are unlikely to be able to manage the more challenging aspects of your life.

Experience :

• Completed formal Coaching training over 11 years ago and coaching, mainly telephone coaching, now forms the bulk of my work. 
• Prior to that formal training, 1-1 work as a mentor & non-managerial supervisor
• 27 years as an Independent Management and Personal Development Consultant/Trainer/Team Facilitator, specialising in areas such as :
  • building confidence and self-esteem
  • womens' development
  • assertiveness
  • leadership
  • managing change
  • stress management/well-being
  • interpersonal skills
  • team development
  • leading project teams

Personal : Snippets.

• I'm now 71 and intend to live to 102. I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic over 20 years ago., very interested in health and nutrition and how we can take responsibility for ourselves to avoid toxic medications. This interest included a 2 year training in Natural Nutrition in the mid-90s. I'm fascinated by consciousness and the relationship beyween the mind and the body. 
• The most important person in my life is my daughter. She and her husband are consultants "Working to support the emergence of regenerative culture and the recovery of healthy ecosystems through innovative design, stakeholder engagement, multidisciplinary education and deep nature connection". Part of this is her role in the 8 Shields Organisation with which I am also involved, mainly as an Elder at the annual Art of Mentoring camp in the UK. This Eldership journey is important to me. I first heard it defined as a time to harvest all the experiences and learning from our life and to offer it as 'wisdom' (I prefer the word 'compost' ie it's not just the 'successes' that have value!) in service to our community and particularly to younger people, many of whom feel a real lack of elders in their life. (Many of the attributes of eldership are the same as those required for coaching eg non-judgemental deep listening).
• Meditation retreats have also been a significant part of my life, including two 3 month personal silent retreats in the last few years. Seeing how the mind works, how we use it skilfully and unskilfully, is fascinating. I could write so much about this, and how it relates to personal transformation, that it's probably best to write nothing here!
• I love books - browsing bookshops (especially ones with a cafe attached), buying books, reading them, buying them and not reading them! Mainly non-fiction but well-written detective/crime novels are a form of relaxation. As are jigsaws.
• And living in the north of Scotland I am surrounded by stunningly beautiful scenery and like to take off in my Romahome campervan and alternate wild camping with the comforts of a campsite. I also enjoy birdwatching but only in a very low key way eg "Oh look, is that an eagle?". So far it never has been!

And it would also be true to say that I am interested in, and curious about, almost everything.