How Therapeutic Coaching Works in Practice

Here are a few composite-style examples based on common themes that therapeutic coaches may encounter:

'Rachel' – The Overwhelmed Team Leader

Challenge: Rachel is performing well as the team leader for events in a large company. She is known for her excellent organisational skills, and being calm under pressure. But 'behind the scenes', Rachel was crumbling—working late, loss of sleep, constantly questioning herself, starting to panic prior to presentations, and becoming short-tempered at home with her partner and their two young children.

Coaching breakthrough: Through therapeutic coaching, Rachel began recognising the deep-rooted belief driving her desire for perfectionism. She was thinking, "If I'm not the best, I must be a failure." With coaching support, Rachel learned to separate self-worth from work outcomes, and to carve more space into her work and home life. She worked out how to implement realistic boundaries (including tech-free evenings) within her workplace, as well as new ways of communicating to her line manager what were realistically do-able tasks and which were not, without feeling a sense of guilt or failure on her part.

Result: Rachel's team noticed her calmer presence and more positive communications. At home, she became emotionally stable and was able to enjoy more family and partner time. Also, she finally started sleeping well again.

James – Caught Between Career Ambition and Family Demands

Challenge: James, an engineer and father of three, was offered a promotion that required relocating. It was an ideal role—but the idea of uprooting his family brought intense feelings of guilt and a fear of potential resentment from his partner.

Coaching breakthrough: In coaching, James explored the values driving both his ambition and his need for harmony at home. He realised that he was assuming the burden for everyone's happiness, without involving them in the decision making process. He practiced reframing the situation—not as a dilemma, but as a shared, and more positive conversation.

Result: Through open dialogue with his family, they together found a compromise: James took the role, but started it 3 months later than first anticipated, which gave his family more time to prepare. He then moved 3 months ahead of the rest of the family so that he could rent an apartment, whilst gathering useful information for his family to base decisions on their move on.

His wife and children were all involved in choosing where to live, the house to buy, and which schools sounded the most suitable. In addition, his wife had time to find a similar job which offered better prospects for her. The guilt lifted, replaced by a deeper sense of alignment across all family members.

Leah – Emotionally Drained by the "Invisible Load"

Challenge: Leah, a project lead and carer for her ageing mum, was quietly exhausted. She never said no, always jumped in to help colleagues, and felt like she was "failing everyone." Her work was suffering, and her confidence was slipping.

Coaching breakthrough: Coaching helped her identify her core patterns: people-pleasing, self-sacrifice, and fear of conflict. With coaching support, Leah designed scripts for saying "no" kindly but firmly, and created a weekly "non-negotiables" list for self-care.

Result: Leah stopped apologising for taking up space. Her performance bounced back, her home life felt less strained, and her relationships became more positive and honest.

Takeaway

Every client story is different—but has a common thread. Therapeutic coaching brings back your 'Ready Brek' glow! It allows you to 'bounce back' – it gives you permission to press pause, peel back the layers, and reconnect with yourself. And that shift doesn't just change in the workplace. It ripples out to your families, friendships, and overall wellbeing.