Coaching Outdoors

“It feels such a privilege when you get to walk literally and metaphorically; walk beside people in these kinds of transformations. It’s an incredible thing to do” ~ Ruth Steggles Rose Dixey and Ruth Steggles teamed up in 2013 to breathe life into the collaboration known as “Fresh Air Fridays”. Online, in-person, community-based or corporate, Fresh Air Fridays offers a range of programmes to creat...

“The real healing happens outside”  Susan Joachim is the President and Founding Member of the International Nature and Forest Therapy Alliance (INFTA) and her purpose in life is to promote public health through the preventive health practice of Nature and Forest Therapy.  Her career stretches from project management work for US Aid in the rural areas of Sri Lanka, where she witnessed the simple li...

“As my vision quest guide always said, “don’t press the panic button too early”” – Penelope Mavor This episode of the Coaching Outdoors Podcast brings a number of our past guests back to answer 4 of the top questions we are asked the most by our followers. Our guests are international, joining us from the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and the US, as well as from across the UK. Their backgrounds are e...

“Trust in connection with outdoor coaching…this starts to build way before your clients even reach out to you. It starts in two pathways. The first, if a client considers outdoor coaching they are going to stalk you potential longer than they would do another coach because they need to have a bit more trust in you because you’re taking them to a place they’ve potentially never been before” This ep...

“I wanted to be the pebble in the pond that is the ripple of change, it means something to me” Paul Jefferies, of Pebbles Associates, joins us for the next episode of the Coaching Outdoors Podcast from his home in the Peak District.  Paul’s made the decision to become a coach following a health scare which lead to a realisation that a change of career was needed and, by using the Ikigai Framework...

“Bluebells are such a hardy little plant; underground for three seasons and then they come back in spring. Strong, vibrant, green… It’s magic.” Cat Boersma, former social worker, coach, founder of ‘Bluebell Coaching’ and outdoor person at heart works predominantly with members of the expat community in the Netherlands. We interrupt her two-month retreat to England to learn about her recent career...

“One of the questions is ‘and is there anything else?’, that’s a clean language question” New Zealander, John Farrell, joins us for this podcast episode which focuses on Clean Language and Equine Coaching – two very interesting topics. John got into coaching 20 years ago thanks to his wife and a rather unexpected fire walk, and hasn’t looked back since, developing his practice into outdoor coachin...

“I’m facilitating that time, space and place for people to have that higher quality internal conversation” Our next podcasts takes us to Sweden to meet the inspiring Toby Cowern, who’s list of qualifications and achievements is long and extremely varied. From wilderness survival and bushcraft skills, to canoe, mountain biking and dog sledding tours, and on to outdoor coaching. Toby shares his back...

"What is your compost?"  Life. Death. Birth. Rebirth. Growth. Decay.  The cycles of life and inevitability of change lie at the centre of our conversations with the remarkable Penelope Mavor. Through her business ‘Earth Converse’ she encourages individuals to move beyond our cultural denial of death and engage in real conversations with themselves and the earth.  Leadership coach and con...

"I can see niche markets evolving and I think that’s where there’ll be a variety and a strength; and coaching outdoors is one example of that"   Professor Jonathan Passmore muses over the wider coaching profession reflecting backwards over 2021; then forwards into 2022 and beyond. He delves into the accelerated growth of digital coaching, the democratisation of coaching and the unique sk...

“Realising the transformative and powerful experience of feeling that resilience from being able to gather things from the natural world and provide for yourself…it’s a really important thing I try to encourage, that it’s not an exploitative relationship, that it’s a reciprocal relationship, that you give back” Robin Bowman is a true inspiration. The co-founder of The Old Way programme, mentor of...

"The ‘Clearing’ is an oxygenated space where anything is possible. It is linked to the improvisation mindset ‘’yes and…” I use this as a space to coach in"  Comedy meets coaching with trained actor, teacher and comedy improvisation performer, Chris Grimes who blends these three performance disciplines to inform his engaging, innovative and powerful approach to Personal Impact coaching. ...

“It’s in a small woodland, that used to be a quarry nicknamed NLP - Natures Loving Palm - because you’re in a bowl of space with our fire within it… for me it's magical, because I get to see it in a snap shot every two weeks, through the years, through the seasons, through different climate… it’s gorgeous, a real special place because of the location and the work we do” Mental health awarenes...

 "The work that I do, is in the large part reconnecting people with themselves, through reconnecting them with nature" Gerdi Voerwoert, is a Self-Leadership Coach from ‘Dare Greatly Coaching, a Hiking Guide, Ski Instructor and Host of "Daring Self-Leadership and the Nature Connection" podcast.  She joins us to talk about the impact of the corporate world on her own personal hea...

Ghislain, a coach, teacher and consultant, joins us for this episode of the Coaching Outdoors Podcast, from Sherbrook, near Montreal, Canada. He has been taking his coaching clients outdoors for over 15 years. Ghislain has a background in Urban planning and in retail, but found he lost touch with being outdoors as much as he wanted. Whilst coaching franchisee owners, however, he had a realisation...

"I look up and there’s a bear!" - Jen Wills  Jen Wills, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency attorney turned leadership, well-being and nature coach and instructor from Virginia, U.S shares her coaching journey over a six month period. This episode is slightly different from our usual format with not one - but two (!) interviews in March 2021 and October 2021.    Firm nature advoc...

 “Walking is a natural phenomenon that allows us to access parts of our brain we don’t have access to when just sitting there”  Lennie Noiles joins us from Denver, Colorado, to continue the international theme of series 3 of the Coaching Outdoors Podcast.  Lennie is passionate about co-partnering with nature to create great outdoor coaching experiences for his clients. He steps back and lets natur...

"One thing that’s obvious as you start to connect to nature is that you can’t ignore the climate crisis" - Gwyneth Jones Deep Adaptation Coach, Emotional Intelligence and Positive Psychology coach, aspiring gardener and herbalist, eco-activist, writer and Work That Reconnects facilitator. Gwyneth Jones joins us from the magical city of Prague (Czech Republic), where she tends her small g...

“I could see the impact coaching had on the way people were being really reflective and having an impact on student outcomes” The first episode of Season 3 of the Coaching Outdoors Podcast comes all the way from Sydney, Australia.  Elle Smith met Anna-Marie whilst they were both doing triathlon’s in Sydney and has since also honed her outdoor coaching skills in a slightly different context - the E...

“Ideally, wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody that was running coaching training had a module on coaching outdoors. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?!”  Lesley Roberts is founder of Brave Conversations and Coaching Outdoors and award winner from the 2020 European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) Global Coaching Award for her online outdoor coaching programmes.   We track her initial connection to...

“Many of them (clients) arrive really quite stressed and I can tell as we start walking their pace is quite fast. And gradually they start to slow down a bit as they start to relax, but it’s relaxed in an energised way” Jacqueline Harris has over 25 years of experience as a coach, with the last 15 of them taking her clients into the great outdoors. She joins us from the edge of a lake she often wa...

“The shadow side of coaching…”  Catherine Gorham, coach and supervisor who specialises in working with nature as co-partner joins us on a virtual bench enclosed within a beautiful woodland space. Placing psychological safety centre stage she talks through the 3Cs model (Containing – Contracting – Connecting) which offers a structure for coaches to manage unexpected emotional turmoil which may aris...

What do Sacred Pauses, Wilderness Visions Quests and a true partnership with nature all have in common? They are all part of Christiane Frischmuth’s wonderful approach to outdoor coaching. “These rituals always take place in nature, and there’s a reason for that” From Washington D.C, Christiane shares her unique and thought provoking approach with us in our latest episode of The Coaching Outdoors...

“We’re not the first human being to realise we feel more peaceful sitting next to a tree. People have known this for millennia. This is utter basics.”   Dr James Canton, author, Director of Wild Writing at the University of Essex and lover of Oak trees shares an insight into this personal relationship with the Honywood Oak. This 800 year old tree would which have been a sapling when the Magna Cart...

On a beautifully warm and sunny day on the banks of Loch Fyne on the west coast of Scotland, we finally managed to record our first podcast together!  In this episode, we share our insights into some topics that our listeners have asked us for more detail about.  Firstly, Anna-Marie covers the hugely important topic of risk awareness in outdoor coaching, and how, as outdoor coaches, we must think...