We will meet for a 45-60 minute session.

🧸Comfort first

I want you to feel as comfortable as possible during the session. At the start of the session, I will ask about your preferences for:

• Camera use

• Eye contact

• Stimming

• Transitioning in and out of the session, through grounding and mindfulness techniques.

🎯The aims of the introductory session are to:

• Get greater clarity on the topics you’d like to explore in coaching and how they relate to the goals of our coaching partnership (building on your answers to the reflective questions).

• Confirm your expectations from me as your coaching partner – and vice versa, what I expect from you as we work together (building on your answers to the reflective questions).

• Explain my data protection, confidentiality and safeguarding policy.

• Agree on practicalities, such as the date and time of future sessions (if you’re happy to proceed).

• Answer your questions.

➡️We then decide whether to proceed with our coaching partnership. You can share your thoughts at the end of the session or take a few days to process.

Note: there’s no pressure to proceed if you don’t want to. There’s also no cost to you if you decide not to proceed.

🖊️Contract

I will send you a coaching contract by email to review, sign and return (usually within a week).

💰Invoicing and payment

• Once you’ve returned the signed contract, I will email your first invoice for a set of 3 sessions / 2 months of support by email.

• You will have until our first session to make the payment via a UK bank transfer (preferrable) or a credit/debit card.

• I will also send you instructions on how to make a claim via Access to Work grant (if applicable).

📄VIA character strengths survey

If relevant to your coaching objectives, I will share the details of how to complete the VIA character strengths assessment (I’ll explain more about it during the introductory session).

🐻Comfort

At the start of each session, I will ask about your preferences for camera use, eye contact, stimming and transitioning in and out of the session (through grounding and mindfulness). I understand your preferences may change over time.

1️⃣First session

In session 1, we either spend more time clarifying the topics you’d like to explore during our coaching partnership or go straight into the first topic, following the usual session structure (see below).

📋Usual session structure

1. Check-in: How are you right now?

2. Reflection on what's changed since last time we spoke / learning from actions you've taken (based on the partnership topics and goals)

3. Intention-setting: What would you like to achieve out of the session today?

4. Deep-dive into the topic of today's session

5. Close: reinforcement of actions / next steps

6. Check-out: What have you learned from the session?

❔How often will we meet?

We will meet regularly every 2 weeks (on average), at the same time and day of the week if possible. There will be an option to reduce the frequency of the last few sessions to help you transition.

💭Preparing for coaching sessions

To make the most out of the sessions, I recommend that you come to each session with:

• An update on any recent changes in your life that would be helpful for me to know to best support you (if applicable)

• An update on the actions you set for yourself last time (if these were agreed)

• An idea of what you want to explore and progress with (based on the partnership topics and goals)

To help you prepare in a structured way, feel free to make use out of My Coaching Journey template.

☑️Pit-stop reflective questionnaire

Before our session number 3 / 6 / 9 (as applicable), I will send you a short questionnaire to help you reflect on your experience of coaching with me - what you enjoy about our partnership[ and what we could do differently in the future.

We will also review your progress against the original coaching partnership goals and decide whether to continue with another set of three sessions or not.

☑️Closing reflective questionnaire

Prior to our final session, I will ask you to complete a closing questionnaire.

THE WHY: The aim is to help you reflect on what has changed since we started working together (tangibly in your life, or maybe simply in how you think or feel) and what has helped you with that – including any strategies that you’ve experimented with and have now integrated in your life.

In our final session, we will build on your answers: what you’d like to focus on next and think of some ways / resources that can help you on your onward journey.

🙏 Testimonials and sharing of new learning

As part of the closing survey, I’ll ask for your permission to turn your thoughts into a coaching testimonial for my promotional materials, including the website and blog articles.

Note: I take confidentiality seriously - I will not publish a testimonial without your permission (and you’ll be able to review it beforehand).

Here are some ways for you to stay connected after our partnership has ended:

For my knowledge and wisdom:

• Sign up to my monthly email newsletter (work in progress)

• Connect with me on LinkedIn (I will not tag you in any posts without your permission)

• Engage with articles on my blog

• Join me (and the rest of our lot) at Autscape, a conference and retreat by autistic people for autistic people

For pictures of cats, nature and occasional reflective prompts: follow me on Instagram

🤗Spreading the joy and paying it forward

Finally, if you’d like to support me in spreading my message that everyone can thrive in the right environment, you can help in the following ways:

• Share your experience of coaching with me in a longer blog article as part of the Success Stories series. We can keep it anonymous and change details to ensure you’re not identifiable eg name, industry, etc.

  I appreciate this requires some effort, so in return you’ll receive a complimentary 60-minute coaching session with me.

• Recommend me to your employer as a neurodiversity speaker for an internal event (online or in person). Just connect us by email and I’ll take it from there.