What is mentoring and coaching?

Do you want to make a difference to your life, at work or at home?  Would you like to gain clarity, seek solutions and bring a deeper sense of meaning and purpose to what you do? Are you a manager, wanting to deal more effectively with organisational issues, such as managing change?

Synthesise mentoring and coaching can help you make the most of your own strengths and inner wisdom. We give you the time and support you need to connect more deeply with your own values. This can help you understand what you need to do for your future direction, and if you are a manager, how to help your staff do the same.

We start by exploring the situation you are facing. This in itself can often provide you with new insights – just spending time with a supportive, experienced mentor can be very powerful. By stepping outside the situation, you may find that apparently intractable problems can be resolved fairly quickly. If you need more time, we can use a range of approaches to help you consider your options. Examples of these are journalling, drawing and guided meditation (if these ways of working suit you) or it may be that being listened to at a deeper level is all that’s needed.

Finally, clients who have used the Synthesise services say that they have developed a new understanding of their difficulties, found unexpected solutions, experienced reduced levels of stress and take away methods of managing stress in the future, with a marked improvement in morale and energy.

More information

If you recognise that is what you want we offer a half hour initial meeting, without a fee, to discuss your needs and how we might work together. Setting the context and checking that you are going to be comfortable with your mentor is important for the success of your mentoring.

After that, meetings with your mentor or coach will be for a minimum of an hour. Many clients find that an hour and a half to two hours at a time is more effective to get to the deeper issues. You will probably want to meet your mentor at least once a month; some people like to meet more often. You may need only one or two meetings or you may want to meet for several sessions – this will be your choice.

Why Synthesise?
 Synthesise offers mentoring as well as coaching, and sees the two as complementing each other, as well as each approach having different strengths.
 
A coach will focus on unlocking your abilities to reach your own goals. In addition, a mentor will have had direct experience of the field you work in, and could therefore offer you more specific advice directly relevant to your role.

John Shiers has been an organisational consultant, mentor and coach for the past ten years with extensive experience of working with senior officers and with interagency multidisciplinary project teams in both the public and voluntary sectors. Prior to this John was responsible for the North West Division in Save the Children’s UK programme and was a senior manager in  local government decentralisation processes. John is also a qualified and experienced psychosynthesis psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer.

Elizabeth Andrew has had 15 years experience as an independent management consultant. Her background is in management development and training. She is an associate member of the Institute of Personnel Development (AIPD) and is a qualified therapeutic counsellor, with extensive experience of mentoring managers and staff in the public sector.

Sue Banks has had over 20 years’ experience as a senior manager in housing and more recently in the health service. She has a Master’s in Organisational Psychology and substantial experience of coaching through work-based and private assignments.

Mary Marken runs her own consultancy business, which she established in 1997 to undertake research, consultancy and training primarily in the youth and children’s ector.  Prior to that, she was Assistant Director (Community Services) with Sheffield MBC.  Her background is in community development, youth and play work in Northern Ireland and England. She is also a BACP accredited counsellor and psychotherapist and currently divides her time between a private practice as a counsellor, supervisor and mentor and consultancy work.

Elizabeth Clarke has fifteen years experience within a multi national private sector organisation facilitating change, team relationships and coaching individuals through the crisis of a developing organisation. Subsequently working within the public and voluntary sector and specialising in violent relationships she is a UKCP accredited counsellor and psychotherapist and has her own private practice in Cheshire.

For more information, or to book an initial session:

email: info@synthesise.org

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