Some of our most frequently asked questions

Similarities between Coaching and Mentoring

• Both are about increasing the effectiveness of individuals within a workplace.
• Both are developmental interventions.

Differences between Coaching and Mentoring

• A coach does not need specific experience of the field of employment of their coachee as they are skilled in questioning and listening to help the coachee find the answers themselves. Mentoring usually involves a level of expertise within the specific field of employment to enable the mentee to benefit from specific advice and support.
• Coaching is usually an intervention designed to assess and improve a particular area of an employee’s performance with focus on specific issues, identified as goals with clear outcomes. Mentoring however, is usually part of a development plan or part of an induction process. It forms part of a longer-term professional development path, which involves shared experiences and widening individuals’ networking systems. Outcomes are not as clearly defined as those specified for coaching.
• Myles Downey (Effective Coaching 2003) defines Coaching as “Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
• Kram (1983) described mentoring as “providing psychosocial support that includes role modelling, and offering career or instrumental support that includes providing challenging work toward skill development”.

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Coaching is generally a shorter intervention and the number of sessions required varies according to the demands of the client. Some professionals may only require one or two sessions in order to set them back on track in their career, or our services could be called upon to help preparefor an interview, or when starting a new role. If you were considering a change of direction and wanted to clarify your options to help you decide what to do, this could be qchieved in between three and six sessions. However, it may be that the process of coaching reveals some issues, professional or pewhere you booked a block of rsonal, that are impacting on your choices and we would then recommend a more open approach  where you would book a block of six sessions with the possibility of extending if you felt the need.

Mentoring can be a longer commitment so we would recommend an introductory period of four weekly metings for the first month. This could change to fortnightly for the next two months and go to a monthly basis for the next nine months. This would give a potential amount of sebenteen meetings during the course of a year. However, each client and their requirements differ and so we can tailor our offer to suit varying circumstances and schedule evaluation points throughout the journey.

In all cases, a free consultation session would be the starting point and we would set our direction from there if the client decided to engage our services.

Yes, and we are also planning a block group therapy, where the group meets for 5 therapy sessions over a Friday evening & Saturday on ten weekends a year which is sometimes more suitable for people.

A therapy group may seem daunting – talk about the private or troubling aspects of your life with a group of strangers!  Our therapy groups are conducted by experienced Group Analysts, who understand the dynamics of groups, and that difficulties individuals have in their day to day life are often best worked with, as part of a therapeutic group process.

The Group Analyst will meet with you for an assessment individually, so that we can together think about whether a group therapy would be the most suitable approach at the moment. If we agree that it is, then we will have a further 2-3 individual sessions to ensure that you are ready to join a group. Once members are in a therapy group, and begin to understand this unique group experience, they often look forward to the session each week. Talking with your group is the best place to talk about how you are feeling so that you can make any decisions to cya

Being in a therapy group is a space to listen, and be listened to.  Every person in a therapy group, including the group analyst will be contributing to the dynamics in the group in different ways, and we can understand how we are in a group, as much as what material or information is brought to the group.

No.  Everyone in a therapy group brings their own unique experiences and knowledge, and it is the apparent differences that often add the most richness, opportunities for growth and insight to the therapy experience.

Each session would last for 90 minutes, and attendance is very important.  When you join an analytic therapy group you would be expecting to stay for at least 30 sessions, but this can be much longer depending on your situation at the time and the focus of the group.

Yes, most people learn to join an on-line group though experience.   We have 20 minute group sessions which run alongside our group services for anyone who wants to practice using the on-line format.   If you are joining the Diabetes education group, or another of our groups you are welcome to join for free before you start.