Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast

This is no ordinary episode! This week we hit a remarkable milestone: 300 consecutive weekly episodes without missing a single Monday and to celebrate, the podcast team, Maxine Bell, Smaranda Dochia and Rob Lawrence look back on six extraordinary years of the Association for Coaching podcast. Together they reflect on a journey that has brought together 295 guests, 26 guest hosts, and 33 coaching topics, such as health and wellbeing; marketing; mental health; technology and innovation; creativity; leadership; neurodiversity in the workplace; climate coaching; love; coaching outdoors and getting started as a coach. What began as a show dedicated to the coaching profession has grown into something far greater: a thriving global community where connections, collaborations, and even five international conferences have been sparked by the conversations hosted here.
 
As one listener put it: "I honestly think the podcasts from the Association for Coaching are some of the best quality and content I have ever come across. The range of topics you offer is huge and so relevant to my coaching practice." That spirit of breadth, quality, relevance and genuine usefulness is exactly what this episode celebrates. We have always believed that coaches deserve a space to feel less alone in their practice, a place that champions professionalism, ethics, reflection and growth but also recognises the everyday lives and practice of coaches across the world.
 
And now, to honour everything the podcast has become, comes an exciting new chapter. From this episode, the show officially rebrands as Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast. This new name better reflects its inclusive, diverse, and global reach, and the many coaches it has helped find their own authentic voice within the profession. With new hosts, new topics, and the ever evolving coaching landscape ahead, including AI, systemic change, and much more, the team is as committed as ever to meaningful conversations. New episodes drop every Monday on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. We look forward to the next 300!
 
You will learn:
 
·       How six years of consistent, weekly conversations have shaped and strengthened the global coaching community.
·       Why platforming diverse voices — across backgrounds, topics, and experiences — lies at the heart of everything the podcast stands for.
·       What's next for Coaching Voices, and how you can be part of the next 300 episodes, as a guest or host.
 
"What I find particularly meaningful about this podcast is that it's never been just one voice or one perspective; it's always been a platform for many voices across the coaching profession."
 
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For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-special-episodes-300-coaching-voices

In episode 3 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence speaks with Jamie Robins, a coach specialising in supporting men through some of life's most challenging transitions. Jamie shares his personal journey into men's coaching and how the COVID-19 pandemic inspired him to create Safe Harbour - an online sharing space designed to give men a place to open up without fear of judgment. He unpacks why so many men struggle to ask for help in the first place, exploring the deep-rooted social conditioning that teaches men to suppress emotion and "just get on with it."
 
Jamie dives into the specific fears men face around vulnerability: from the fear of appearing weak, feeling unsafe to open up, lacking permission, to anxiety that decades of bottled-up emotion might come flooding out all at once. He explains how structured men's sharing circles, like Safe Harbour and Andy's Man Club, work to dismantle these fears through simple but powerful ground rules: no advice-giving, strict confidentiality, and ensuring every man gets a chance to speak. Jamie also teaches men to listen on all three levels: head, heart and presence – a way of holding space for others that is transformative.
 
Jamie shares how he is reaching men through social media and from requests there, he started his Thrive nature walks, monthly group experiences where men gather outdoors, with periods of talking, walking in silence, and answering reflective questions. His description of the effects of these walks is moving and hopeful. Throughout, Jamie makes clear that the men he works with typically in their 30s to 60s aren't lacking strength; they're lacking safe spaces to be and discover who they are beyond their roles. His work is a timely reminder that community, connection, and permission to be human are just as vital for men as for anyone.
ou will learn: 
·       Men are far more willing to open up when they feel safe and know there's no risk of being judged, advised, or 'fixed.'
·       Many men have inherited generational patterns of emotional suppression, and unlearning them requires community, permission and modelled behaviour from other men.
·       Nature and ritual have a role to play. Structured outdoor experiences, like Jamie's Thrive walks, offer men a non-threatening entry point into emotional reflection and genuine connection with others.
 
 
"On the outside, everything looks fantastic. On the inside, totally lonely and alone, isolating themselves emotionally"'
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-midlife-community-groups

Have you ever felt the weight of being the "strong one" — the person everyone else leans on, while you quietly wonder who you can lean on?
 
In episode 2 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Vicky Kelly, a coach who has spent over 15 years specialising in working with men. Vicky shares how, after launching her coaching business in 2009, she found herself naturally drawn to male clients and discovered a profound gap in the support available to them. Her insights into why men often delay seeking help, and what happens when they finally do, are both eye-opening and deeply human.
 
Vicky works primarily with high-performing professionals and CEOs, who from the outside, appear to have it all together. But beneath the success, many are running on empty, held back by invisible pressures: societal expectations around strength and vulnerability, stress responses that hijack their best thinking, and long-held stories about who they are and what they deserve. Vicky explains her approach of building genuine psychological safety, regulating the nervous system, and gently but powerfully challenging the narratives that keep her clients stuck.
 
The conversation also ventures beyond the boardroom. What happens when you've climbed the ladder and find yourself asking, "Is this it?" Vicky shares how she helps clients reconnect with forgotten passions and rediscover who they are outside of their professional identity. She also introduces her upcoming group programme, The Capacity Project, designed to help high performers sustain their success without burning out.
 
You will learn:
 
·       The Safe Space Paradox - Men are often slower to seek coaching but once they commit, they go all in.
·       How your nervous system is running the show. Vicky's work with high performers isn't just about strategy; it's about helping men to learn to regulate themselves, so they can actually access the best of their thinking.
·       Questioning the Stories We Tell Ourselves Vicki offers a deceptively simple but powerful question to start dismantling them: "What am I believing here that might not be 100% true?"
 
  
"So, it's multiple different demands and a lack of resources: how do I carry myself through all of this without dropping the plates that are spinning or without just sort of spontaneously combusting?"
 
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For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-safe-space-high-performing-leaders

What does it take for a high-achieving man to stop, admit he's struggling, and ask for help? In this first episode of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence speaks with Will Johnson, a facilitator and coach who guides men to live and lead with greater authenticity and peace within and about themselves. Will draws on his own experience of burnout in a senior finance role, where he suddenly ran out of energy, but through asking for help, he attended a retreat with the Centre for Courage and Renewal, which awakened a part of himself he had lost and became the start of a transformational journey that called him to a new adventure.
 
Will went on to train as a facilitator with the Centre for Courage & Renewal, and he now runs Circle of Trust® retreats where men are invited to slow down, listen inward, and share their stories without pressure to perform or fix. Working mythopoetically, he uses poetry, mythology, and imagery to help men bypass intellectual defences and reach something deeper. These spaces work, Will explains, because they remove the masculine reflex to solve and compete, creating room for genuine presence and self-awareness instead.
 
At the heart of Will's philosophy is a distinction between the ego story — the CV, the achievements, the ladder climbed — and the soul story, which lives in struggle, failure, and the moments that have truly shape us, and connect us each to our own unique 'thread.' He believes men carry more wisdom than they give themselves credit for, but that it often takes community to help them trust their own inner voice and become comfortable with difficult emotions. He explains why he no longer uses the term toxic masculinity, instead embracing the term 'shifting the masculine mind.' His message is both challenging and compassionate: acknowledging our limits, embracing vulnerability, and going public with our authentic selves is not weakness:  it is where real growth begins.
 
You will learn:
 
·       Burnout is a beginning, not just an ending. Giving yourself permission to ask for help is the first, but best step
1.      Embracing difficult feelings, including failures, and tuning into their inner voice is where men can find their soul story and live more authentically.
2.      Community matters.  The isolation many men experience is one of the biggest barriers to their development so joining safe, structured group spaces is where the real work happens, and where men learn to trust themselves again.
   
 
 
'Now write your soul story. That's the story I want to hear. Tell me about your struggle. Tell me about when you messed up. Tell me when you've disappointed somebody.'
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel-coaching-men-myth-poetry-group-work

In this episode of our Day in the Life podcast series, we meet Françoise Olivier, a life coach who specialises in supporting adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs). Françoise brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work, having grown up with a father who was alcohol dependent, she understands firsthand the deep and often invisible marks that a parent's addiction can leave. With warmth and honesty, she shares her personal journey alongside practical insights, creating a conversation that is moving and informative.
 
Françoise explores the lasting traits many ACOAs carry into adulthood — hypervigilance, low self-worth, shame, and a disconnection from their own needs — and how these patterns, once understood, can become the foundation for profound transformation. She speaks candidly about the ongoing, daily nature of healing: learning to ask what she actually wants, unpicking long-held beliefs, and choosing to own her story with pride rather than embarrassment. She also highlights the vital distinction between coaching and therapy, and the importance of trauma awareness in holding a truly supportive space for clients. Crucially, Françoise celebrates the superpowers that so many ACOAs develop: the resilience, empathy, and strength that emerge from navigating such complex childhoods.
 
Françoise also reminds us, community is everything. Discovering organisations like NACOA (the National Association for Children of Alcoholics) was a turning point for her where she recognised that she was not alone and had nothing to be ashamed of. It's a message she now carries into her coaching practice every day, helping clients move from pain to purpose, and from silence to self-compassion. An inspiring conversation from a coach walking her talk with courage and care.
 
You will learn:
·       Healing starts with owning your story. For many ACOAs, shame and secrecy are heavy burdens carried for years. Françoise's own turning point came when she chose to step into her story with pride.
·       Some of the traits developed in survival can become our superpowers.
·       The unique power of working with a coach who shares a similar background where the story doesn't always need to be told from the beginning, because the coach simply gets it.
 
'I want to make sure that when I am working with other ACOAs that, not only are we acknowledging what's happened in the past, but celebrating all the brilliant, wonderful things, and the superpowers that we've developed as well.'
 
Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review! Your feedback helps us bring you more valuable content.
 
For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: 
https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/dl-hub_podcast-channel_day-in-the-life-of-coaches-adult-children-of-alcoholics-trauma-aware