Feel better.
Think more clearly.
Perform at your best.
Psychologically informed life coaching for people who want greater clarity, confidence and fulfilment — and to function at their best in work and life.
£95 per 55-minute session · No package commitment required
Book a discovery callIn person in Ferndown, Dorset · Online across the UK
Life coaching doesn’t have to begin with a crisis.
Often the people I work with are already functioning reasonably well. They have careers, relationships and responsibilities, and life may look perfectly good from the outside.
But something doesn’t quite feel right.
You might:
Sometimes there is a specific problem to solve.
Sometimes the question is bigger:
How do I want to live — and what’s getting in the way of that?
That’s where coaching can be particularly useful.
I don’t think performing at your best should mean constantly pushing yourself harder.
Often, the things that affect our wellbeing also affect our performance.
Overthinking, self-doubt, perfectionism and unnecessary pressure can consume enormous amounts of energy. They can interfere with our judgement, confidence, creativity, relationships and ability to perform.
When some of that mental noise settles, people often become clearer, more confident and more effective.
So our work isn’t simply about achieving more.
It’s about helping you function at your best without sacrificing your wellbeing to get there.
That might mean becoming more effective at work, feeling more present with your family, making a decision you’ve been avoiding, changing direction, rediscovering some enjoyment in life or simply feeling more like yourself again.
The goal isn’t somebody else’s definition of success.
It’s working out what a good life looks like for you — and helping you move towards it.
Life coaching can be useful when you want to make changes in how you think, feel, work or live — even if there isn’t one obvious problem to fix.
You may already know what you want to do, but find that self-doubt, overthinking or unhelpful assumptions keep getting in the way.
We can look at the patterns of thinking that create unnecessary pressure and help you develop a clearer, more flexible way of responding.
The aim isn’t to force yourself to think positively.
It’s to stop giving every thought quite so much authority.
Sometimes you’re stuck because you don’t know what the next step should be.
At other times, you’re not even sure what you want anymore.
Coaching gives you space to step back from everyday demands and think properly about what matters, what you want more of, what you want less of and where you want to go next.
You can be highly capable and still question yourself.
That might show up as comparing yourself with others, seeking reassurance, avoiding opportunities, over-preparing or constantly wondering whether you’re good enough.
We can explore what drives that pattern and help you develop a steadier confidence that doesn’t depend on constantly proving yourself.
Sometimes people achieve the things they thought would make them happy and still find themselves wondering:
Is this it?
We can explore what genuinely matters to you, what gives your life meaning and whether the way you’re currently living reflects those things.
Sometimes improving life isn’t about achieving another goal.
It’s about becoming clearer about what is actually worth pursuing.
Your psychology affects how you perform.
Whether you’re leading, building a business, developing your career or working towards something personally important, we can look at areas such as focus, confidence, motivation, decision-making, perfectionism and performance under pressure.
The aim isn’t to push harder.
It’s to perform more effectively and sustainably.
Looking for support for your team? I also offer talks and workshops exploring wellbeing, clearer thinking and performance.
A successful life that leaves you constantly stressed, distracted or exhausted probably isn’t working particularly well.
Coaching can help you look at how you think, work, recover and spend your time so that wellbeing and achievement support each other rather than compete.
My approach to coaching is grounded in psychology rather than motivational techniques or a fixed formula.
I’m a BABCP-accredited CBT psychotherapist and life coach, and a former Senior Lecturer in CBT. Before moving into psychology, I also spent a decade in the corporate world, including senior leadership roles.
More about my background and qualifications
That means I can draw on psychological science, CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness and coaching — while keeping the work practical, human and relevant to real life.
I’m not interested in pushing you towards somebody else’s version of success.
The aim is to understand what is actually getting in your way, help you see things more clearly and support you in making changes that genuinely matter to you.
People often focus on the visible problem without understanding the psychology underneath it.
We start by getting curious about what is actually happening.
Once the real issue becomes clearer, the way forward often becomes clearer too.
I’m not here to tell you how to live your life.
My role is to help you step outside your habitual way of seeing things, challenge your assumptions where useful and notice things that can be difficult to see from inside your own thinking.
Insight matters, but something should eventually change in your actual life.
That might be a decision, conversation, behaviour, boundary or simply a different way of approaching a situation.
We’ll keep connecting what we discuss to the life you’re actually living.
You won’t be taken through a rigid coaching system or a standard set of steps.
Our work is shaped around you: your goals, circumstances, personality and what is getting in your way.
Personal development can become surprisingly complicated.
We’re often encouraged to add more: more goals, more habits, more routines, more techniques and more ways of trying to improve ourselves.
But more isn’t always the answer.
Sometimes we function better when we begin to understand what we can stop doing.
Less overthinking.
Less unnecessary self-pressure.
Less trying to control every outcome.
Less getting caught up in every doubtful or critical thought that passes through our minds.
This isn’t about becoming passive or lowering your ambitions.
It’s about recognising that some of our best qualities — clarity, creativity, confidence, good judgement and connection with other people — often emerge more naturally when there is less mental interference.
That idea sits at the heart of my book, A Clear Mind: The Less Is More Mindset to Wellbeing & Performance, and strongly influences the way I coach.
Rather than constantly asking:
“What else do I need to do?”
sometimes a more useful question is:
“What am I not seeing that I need to see?”
Often, that’s where some of the most useful changes begin.
You don’t need to arrive with a perfectly defined goal or know exactly what needs to change.
We can work that out together.
We begin with a free 20-minute introductory call.
It’s an opportunity to tell me a little about what’s going on, what you’d like to be different and what you’re hoping to get from coaching.
I’ll explain how I work and we can decide whether it feels like a good fit.
There’s no obligation to continue.
If we decide to work together, we’ll start by understanding where you are now, where you’d like to be and what may be getting in the way.
That might involve a specific goal or decision.
Or the work may initially be about stepping back, making sense of things and becoming clearer about what you actually want.
From there, we’ll use our sessions to explore what’s happening, challenge assumptions where useful and look at different ways of approaching things.
Insight is important, but we’ll keep bringing the work back to your actual life.
That might mean trying something differently, making a decision, having a conversation, changing a habit or responding differently to thoughts and situations that previously kept you stuck.
We’ll regularly review what you’re getting from the sessions and whether continuing is useful.
You don’t need to work this out before contacting me.
There can be overlap between coaching and therapy, but the main difference is usually what we’re trying to achieve together.
Coaching may be the better fit if you want to work on things such as greater clarity or direction, confidence and self-belief, mindset and overthinking, fulfilment and purpose, performance, important decisions or personal development.
You don’t need to be struggling for coaching to be useful.
Sometimes the starting point is simply knowing that you could be functioning — or living — better than you currently are.
Therapy is generally more appropriate when a psychological difficulty is causing significant distress or interfering with your everyday life.
That might include difficulties such as anxiety, depression, OCD, panic, excessive worry or other persistent patterns of thinking, feeling or behaviour that are becoming difficult to manage.
My therapy work can draw on CBT alongside Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness where appropriate.
That’s completely fine.
Because I work as both a life coach and a BABCP-accredited CBT psychotherapist, we can use the introductory call to talk about what’s happening and work out which approach is likely to be most useful.
You don’t need to choose the label before we have the conversation.
“Chris has a unique ability to get to the nub of an issue or problem. He helped me, in just a couple of sessions, to overcome some struggles — quite extraordinary really. I would highly recommend Chris to anyone who needs support to develop themselves.”
“You won’t find anyone as dedicated to helping people as Chris is. I feel so much lighter, less stressed and my heart and my brain are so open that it’s so easy to enjoy and live life. All parts of my life — my work, my business and my relationships — are the way I want them to be.”
“Chris stands out as an exceptional therapist and life coach. I refer to him with confidence and hear great feedback from clients who’ve benefited from his broad skills and experience. I would always turn to Chris in my time of need.”
I offer face-to-face life coaching from my practice in Ferndown, Dorset, within easy reach of Bournemouth, Poole, Wimborne and the surrounding area.
For a more personal introduction, read about life coaching in Ferndown and what it’s like to work with me.
I also work with clients online across the UK, so location doesn’t need to be a barrier to working together.
Whether we meet in person or online, the focus is the same: helping you think more clearly, understand what may be getting in your way and make meaningful changes in how you live and perform.
In person
Ferndown, Dorset
For clients from Ferndown, Bournemouth, Poole, Wimborne and surrounding areas.
Online
Across the UK
Secure online life coaching from wherever you are.
Life coaching is a collaborative process that helps you look at where you are now, where you would like to be and what may be getting in the way.
The focus might be your mindset, confidence, career, relationships, wellbeing, performance, fulfilment or simply becoming clearer about what you want from the next stage of your life.
Good coaching isn’t just about setting goals or being held accountable. It can also help you understand yourself and your patterns more clearly, so the changes you make are genuinely right for you.
Coaching may be useful if you’re functioning reasonably well but feel stuck, unfulfilled, lacking direction, overthinking decisions or simply know that some aspect of your life could be better.
You don’t need to arrive with a perfectly defined goal.
Sometimes becoming clearer about what you actually want is an important part of the work.
Yes.
Much of our work may involve understanding the thoughts, assumptions and patterns that influence how you respond to situations.
Rather than trying to replace every unhelpful thought with a positive one, I’m more interested in helping you relate differently to your thinking — so that it has less power to restrict what you do or how you feel.
Yes. That’s one of the central themes of my approach.
Wellbeing and performance are often treated as separate things, but they influence each other constantly.
Overthinking, self-doubt and excessive pressure can affect how well we perform. Equally, feeling clearer, more engaged and psychologically well often allows us to function more effectively.
The aim isn’t simply to achieve more.
It’s to help you function at your best in a way that is sustainable.
Individual coaching sessions are £95 for 55 minutes.
There is no requirement to purchase a package or commit to a fixed number of sessions.
We’ll review the work as we go and continue for as long as it’s useful to you.
The introductory 20-minute call is free.
Yes.
I offer online life coaching to clients across the UK, alongside face-to-face sessions from my practice in Ferndown, Dorset.
Online coaching can work particularly well if you have a busy schedule, travel regularly or simply prefer the convenience of meeting from your own space.
You don’t need to have everything worked out before you get in touch.
Perhaps you know exactly what you’d like to change.
Or perhaps you simply have a sense that you could be clearer, more fulfilled, more confident or functioning at a higher level than you are now.
Either is a perfectly good place to start.
We can use the introductory call to talk about where you are, where you’d like to be and what may currently be getting in the way.
In-person life coaching in Ferndown, Dorset · Online life coaching across the UK