Known as The Healthy Hypnotherapist, Lisa Forsberg is one of Australia's leading specialists in narcissistic abuse recovery. A survivor of narcissistic abuse herself, Lisa brings both lived experience and deep clinical expertise to her work, creating a space where clients feel truly understood, often for the first time. She works with adults, teens, and children across Australia and worldwide, helping them heal from toxic relationships, rebuild their sense of self, and break free from repeating cycles. Lisa also mentors fellow hypnotherapists who want to work confidently in this deeply nuanced field. Lisa Forsberg, Clinical Hypnotherapist What inspired you to turn your own healing journey into a practice dedicated to helping survivors of narcissistic abuse? It was my own experience of healing after leaving a relationship marked by years of psychological, physical, and financial abuse that inspired the work I now do. Along the way, I saw such a gap in what was being offered to people trying to recover from this kind of experience. I saw psychologists, counsellors, joined women's circles, and more. These things all helped me understand the abuse, but none of them helped me feel any different on the inside or actually move on. I was still highly anxious, stressed, and hypervigilant, always waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. I never felt peaceful or at ease. Hypnotherapy was the turning point that gave me back my peace. Doing the deep subconscious work changed me from the inside out. I gained clarity, my nervous system calmed, I felt safe again, and I was able to trust myself. Hypnotherapy changed my life so rapidly and dramatically that I decided to change my career so I could eventually support others who were looking for the same healing and transformation I once was. What are some of the subconscious patterns that often keep people stuck in toxic relationships longer than they realize? One of the biggest patterns I see is the fawn response, where someone instinctively appeases, people pleases, or shrinks themselves down to keep the peace and avoid conflict. It often develops in childhood as a survival strategy, and without realizing it, people carry that same pattern straight into their adult relationships. It can feel like love or loyalty when, really, it's a nervous system trying to stay safe. Another is trauma bonding, where the highs and lows of a toxic relationship create a powerful, almost addictive attachment. The nervous system becomes wired to crave the relief that follows the pain, which makes leaving feel far harder than it should. I also see people unconsciously repeating relationship dynamics from childhood. If someone grew up trying to earn love or approval from an unpredictable or critical parent, that same pattern can quietly replay itself with a partner later in life. I wrote about this hidden pattern in more depth in my Brainz Magazine article, "The Hidden Pattern Behind Narcissistic Relationships, and How to Break the Cycle." These patterns aren't about weakness or poor judgment. They're learned, often very early, and that's exactly why subconscious work can be so effective in unlearning them. Why has hypnotherapy become such a powerful tool in your work with narcissistic abuse recovery? Hypnotherapy works at the subconscious level, which is exactly where these patterns live. Talking therapies are incredibly valuable for understanding what happened and why, but understanding alone doesn't always change how we feel or react. You can know, logically, that you deserve better and still feel anxious, unworthy, or drawn back into familiar dynamics. That's because the patterns formed by trauma sit beneath conscious thought, in the nervous system and the subconscious mind. Hypnotherapy allows us to access that deeper level directly. By guiding someone into a relaxed, focused state, we can gently work with the beliefs, emotional responses, and protective patterns that were created during the abuse, often without them even needing to consciously relive it. We can calm an overactive nervous system, soften old beliefs like "I'm not good enough" or "I can't trust myself," and help someone reconnect with a sense of safety and self-trust from the inside out. What do you think the wider mental health conversation still misunderstands about emotional and psychological abuse? There's still a common assumption that the abuse ends the moment someone leaves the relationship. In reality, for so many of the women I work with, it doesn't stop there. It can continue for years through custody battles, financial control, stalking, smearing their reputation, or refusing to settle property matters. This isn't a typical separation. When a narcissist loses control, their need to destroy becomes one of their greatest motivators, and that drive often intensifies once the relationship ends. So often, family and friends say, "Just move on." But you can't, not in the way they mean. For women co-parenting with a narcissistic ex, parenting itself becomes another arena for control, turning this precious phase of life into a constant, exhausting battle with the other parent. Because this can continue until the children reach adulthood, or even longer, many of these women are eventually diagnosed with CPTSD and other stress-related illnesses, such as autoimmune conditions. Recovery, in these cases, isn't just about the past. It's about learning to protect your peace in a situation that's still ongoing. Have you noticed any common themes among survivors from different backgrounds and countries? What's struck me most, working with women from so many different countries and backgrounds, is how similar the underlying experience is, even when the cultural context looks completely different. The specific pressures might differ. For some women, it's family expectation. For others, it's religious or cultural beliefs around marriage. For others, it's financial dependence or visa and migration status. But underneath all of that, the emotional experience is almost identical. The same self-doubt, the same hypervigilance, the same slow erosion of identity. I also notice the same sense of isolation everywhere I go. Narcissistic abuse tends to slowly cut someone off from friends, family, and support, regardless of culture, so by the time a woman reaches out to me, she's often felt truly alone in her experience for a long time. There's also a shared sense of shame and self-blame, the belief that she should have seen it sooner, left sooner, or somehow done something differently. What gives me hope is that the path back is also remarkably consistent. No matter where a woman is from, reconnecting with safety in her body and rebuilding trust in herself look much the same, and that healing is absolutely possible. What is one practical step someone can take to start rebuilding their self-worth after leaving a toxic relationship? One practical step I offer to anyone, whether they're a client or not, is a free hypnosis audio on my website called "Learning to Love Yourself." It's designed to gently rebuild self-worth at the subconscious level, and I always recommend starting by listening to it every day. Consistency matters here. Even a few minutes a day begin to shift the old beliefs that toxic relationships tend to leave behind. Longer term, I'd also encourage finding a trauma-informed therapist who specializes in narcissistic abuse recovery specifically. This part is vital. Well-meaning friends, family, and even some practitioners can unintentionally give advice that's unhelpful, or even counterproductive, simply because they haven't necessarily experienced, or been trained in, the specific dynamics you're navigating. Rebuilding self-worth after this kind of relationship takes both. Something you can start today, and the right support to walk alongside you as you go deeper. How can people tell the difference between healthy self-reflection and taking responsibility for abuse that was never theirs to carry? Healthy self-reflection always begins with compassion for yourself. It's important for growth, and it's what allows you to actually move forward. Taking on responsibility for abuse that was never yours does the opposite. It keeps you stuck in the same cycle, replaying the same questions without ever getting anywhere new. A simple way to tell the difference is to ask yourself, "Would I ever say this to a friend?" If she told you the same story, would you really be sitting there picking apart everything she did or didn't do? Or would you just want to hold her and remind her she's human, that mistakes are part of that journey, and that she's on the road to recovery now? We're so often much softer with the people we love than we are with ourselves. This comes up again and again with the self-blame that lingers after narcissistic abuse, women asking themselves why they didn't leave sooner, or what they did to cause it. That's not a reflection. That's the abuse still talking. Real self-reflection asks, "How can I grow from here?" Taking on responsibility that isn't yours asks, "What did I do to deserve this?" What has your own experience taught you about healing that no professional training ever could? A real turning point in my healing was realizing that nobody was coming to save me, that I was the one responsible for turning my life around. I had to ask myself, "Do I want this to define me? Do I want to stay here for the rest of my life?" For a long time, I stayed angry and bitter. It felt justified, and in many ways it was. But eventually, I had to face a choice. I could keep blaming my trauma, or take responsibility for my own healing and make the choice to be happy. That also meant being honest about the people I was spending time with. I noticed some of my closest friends weren't in a place to grow alongside me, and I had to accept that I wasn't responsible for saving them. I could only focus on my own path. Once I could see that, I made the conscious decision to let certain people go and surround myself with others who supported the life I was building. No training teaches you that. You have to live it and then have the courage to act on what you see. If someone is reading this interview while questioning a relationship in their life, what would you want them to remember? I come back to this question again and again because so many of my clients arrive questioning a relationship they're in. I know how disorienting that can feel, to sit with doubt and still not be sure what it means. But often, the fact that you're wondering is worth paying attention to. Something I gently ask my clients is this, "How much precious time do you have left on this planet, and how do you want to spend it? Do you want to keep tiptoeing around someone, always trying to read their mood, always hoping things will change? Or is there a part of you that's longing for something more peaceful, more easeful?" You don't have to have the answers right away. But if you're questioning it, I truly believe some part of you already knows. Trust that part of you. It's usually right. You deserve love, happiness, and respect, exactly as you are, not as a distant possibility, but now. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Lisa Forsberg

Written by Jyllin, Holistic Health Coach & Somatic Educator Jyllin, founder of the Holistic Liberation Method, weaves Five Element theory, meridian yoga therapy, and EFT to restore emotional balance and embodied resilience, drawing on nearly two decades of teaching experience across four continents. You may not think of anger as part of hormonal health, but your cycle reveals more than hormone levels. Tendencies toward avoiding conflict or feeling responsible for maintaining harmony can show up in your cycle as PMS, irritability, bloating, or breast tenderness. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the Liver system is responsible for the smooth flow of energy throughout your body. It supports not only detoxification but also expression, direction, and your ability to move forward. When that movement becomes restricted, whether through stress, pressure, or suppression, it can intensify your emotional experiences and surface as symptoms of overall hormonal imbalance. When hormonal imbalance isn’t just physical Hormonal health is commonly approached through a biochemical lens, but the body doesn’t operate in isolated systems. Emotional responses directly influence circulation, digestion, detoxification, and hormone regulation. This shifts how we understand hormonal imbalance. It isn’t purely physical or solely emotional. It reflects how both are constantly influencing each other. Every emotional response has a physiological component. Your breath changes. Muscles engage. Circulation responds. When anger arises, your body prepares for action. But without expression or resolution, that activation has nowhere to go. Instead of discharging, it lingers, shaping how your body holds tension and responds when something feels off but isn’t fully expressed. You may not register it as anger. It might feel like frustration, a braced abdomen, or muscular tension that your system organizes around over time. In TCM, this is where Liver Qi stagnation begins to take form. How suppressed emotions become Liver Qi stagnation Liver Qi stagnation occurs when energy becomes constrained and held in the body instead of being expressed through it. You might feel this as a kind of internal pressure that shows up as irritability, resentment, or feeling easily triggered. It may appear as physical tension, especially through your shoulders, hips, or chest. You may notice bloating, headaches, PMS, or changes in your cycle. This gradually develops through small, repeated moments, such as softening your words, not saying what you really want to say, letting something pass even when it doesn’t feel right, and experiencing moments of tension that move inward instead of outward. These adaptations aim for connection and safety in the moment, but they reduce your capacity for direct expression. This unresolved anger can accumulate and does not remain isolated in your muscles or mood. It also influences the regulation and processing of your hormones. What estrogen dominance symptoms reflect Hormones don’t function in isolation. They depend on circulation, detoxification, and nervous system regulation to move in their natural rhythm. As estrogen rises and falls throughout the menstrual cycle, it eventually needs to be metabolized and cleared, primarily through the liver. When Liver Qi flows smoothly, this process is supported. When there is stagnation, this clearance process can become less efficient, allowing estrogen to recirculate throughout the body. This can place additional demand on the systems responsible for detoxification, particularly when combined with ongoing stress or limited recovery. This pattern is often described as estrogen dominance. You may experience symptoms such as breast tenderness, heavy or painful periods, headaches, or increased emotional sensitivity before menstruation. In some cases, this pattern may also be present alongside conditions such as endometriosis, fibroids, or PCOS. While these diagnoses involve multiple factors, they frequently include aspects of hormonal imbalance, circulation, and impaired clearance. These symptoms aren’t only about how much estrogen is present but also about how well your body is able to move and process it. While they commonly reflect an ongoing process beneath the surface, they are easiest to recognize across the full menstrual cycle. The hormonal cycle of accumulation and release Rather than remaining constant throughout the month, symptoms associated with Liver Qi stagnation and estrogen dominance tend to follow a recognizable rhythm across the menstrual cycle. Many women experiencing this pattern can still feel a greater sense of space or capacity earlier in their cycle. But as estrogen rises toward ovulation, they may notice increased sensitivity, anxiety, difficulty focusing, restlessness, or disrupted sleep. In the luteal phase, the nervous system becomes more sensitive to stress. If tension has already been building, this can give rise to increased irritability, mood changes, or fatigue. Menstruation then becomes a point of release when the body clears what has been building, not only hormonally but also energetically and emotionally. With underlying stagnation and tension, this release is challenged, contributing to pain, clotting, or increased discomfort during menstruation. These symptoms don’t necessarily indicate new imbalances but rather reveal how existing patterns of Liver Qi stagnation and stress accumulation interact with normal hormonal rhythms. As this becomes more visible across your cycle, the focus can shift from managing symptoms to supporting the systems involved. This includes your physical body, nervous system, and the meridians that shape how tension is held and released. How to support liver function, hormones, and the nervous system Supporting your liver, emotional expression, and hormonal harmony begins with allowing flow where there has been holding. Focused activation through the liver and gallbladder meridians is especially helpful. This includes movement through the sides of the body, particularly the waist, rib cage, hips, and inner thighs. These areas are closely linked to both breath and overall circulation, which is why they tend to reflect where liver-related tension accumulates. As these regions open, many people notice not only physical relief but also a greater sense of emotional range and responsiveness. Since symptoms of estrogen dominance are closely tied to both emotional suppression and stress, addressing the nervous system is also foundational. Chronic stress can keep your system in a guarded state, limiting circulation, digestion, and detoxification and directly contributing to Liver Qi stagnation. Practices that emphasize safety and regulation, such as slow, diaphragmatic breathing or gentle, rhythmic movement, help you shift out of chronic activation and restore your capacity to process and release what has been held. As these patterns begin to change, it becomes clearer that they aren’t only about physical tension or hormonal balance. They also reflect how anger has been experienced and expressed over time. When expression restores hormonal balance Anger isn’t the problem. It’s often the part of you that recognizes when something isn’t aligned, when a boundary has been crossed, or when something hasn’t been fully expressed. When it’s consistently held back, that awareness doesn’t disappear. It stays in the body. When it's allowed to move, it creates clarity, direction, and forward momentum. Supporting your hormonal cycle, in this sense, becomes less about managing symptoms and more about restoring your capacity to respond, express, and release what has been held. If this resonates, I support this process through meridian yoga and nervous system guidance. You can begin with my free seven-day Hormonal Meridian Reset, available here, if you’d like to explore this further. Your body is always working toward resolution. With space and support, it knows how to find its way back to balance in its own time. Follow me on YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jyllin Jyllin, Holistic Health Coach & Somatic Educator Jyllin is a holistic health coach and somatic educator who blends trauma-informed coaching, meridian yoga therapy, and EFT to support emotional resilience and embodied healing. Teaching internationally since 2012, she draws from her background in Five Element philosophy, mindful movement, and nervous system regulation to help others reconnect with their innate wisdom. Through her Holistic Liberation Method, Jyllin offers a grounded, integrative approach that bridges Eastern and Western wisdom to restore flow in both body and mind.

Written by Stefania Leone, Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer and Advisor Stefania Leone is a Jyotishi /Vedic Astrologer with 40+ years of experience, blending deep spiritual insight with practical business acumen. She interprets birth charts as sacred maps of karma and dharma, guiding leaders and visionaries to align with purpose, clarity, and conscious growth. On June 1, 2026, Jupiter, the planet associated with expansion, wisdom, and collective growth, moves into Cancer, a sign connected to home, nourishment, family, and belonging. In Vedic astrology, this is considered one of Jupiter’s most powerful placements, amplifying themes tied to emotional security, caregiving, and the systems that sustain human connection. Nearly twenty years later, one simple teaching from a revered Vedanta master continues to shape my life. It is the ancient concept of Purva Punya, the accumulated merit of our actions, and the idea that each thought, word, and deed becomes an investment in our future. Whether you view life through the lens of spirituality, personal growth, or simple cause and effect, this timeless wisdom offers a powerful reminder, the life we experience tomorrow is, in many ways, being created by the choices we make today. In 2006, I embarked on one of the most transformative journeys of my life, a pilgrimage through the Himalayas that forever changed my understanding of suffering, karma, and the purpose of human experience. At the time, Eat, Pray, Love was capturing the imagination of readers around the world. Although my journey began before the book became a global phenomenon, I often smile at the similarities. Like Elizabeth Gilbert, I was searching for something far deeper than adventure. Having raised five children and recently left an abusive second marriage at the age of forty six, I was desperate to understand one question, "Why do we have to suffer heartbreak in this lifetime?" My search for answers had already led me to yoga. I began a serious practice at the age of forty, and it became one of the greatest gifts of my life. Anyone who has committed to a regular yoga practice knows that it is far more than physical exercise, it quietly transforms the way you meet yourself and the world. That transformation eventually led me to India. A pilgrimage into the Himalayas Our group travelled from Delhi to Rishikesh, where we spent our first night at Swami Dayananda Saraswati's ashram. Before dawn, we immersed ourselves in the sacred waters of the Ganges, preparing for what would become the pilgrimage of a lifetime. Accompanied by a young twenty-six-year-old pundit and travelling in a convoy of five buses, we began the Char Dham Yatra, the sacred pilgrimage to four of Hinduism's holiest destinations. Each stop revealed another layer of India's spiritual heart, Yamunotri, where the Yamuna River begins, Gangotri, the source of the sacred Ganges, Kedarnath, one of the most revered temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, and Badrinath, nestled beside the Alaknanda River and regarded as one of India's greatest pilgrimage sites. Our journey continued to Joshimath before reaching the enchanting village of Mana, often described as the last village before the Tibetan border. There, I meditated in the cave traditionally associated with Lord Ganesha, where it is believed he transcribed the Mahabharata as the sage Vyasa dictated the epic. Listening to a Brahmin softly chanting ancient mantras inside that cave remains one of the most profound spiritual experiences of my life. Yet my greatest wish was still unfulfilled. I longed to meet an enlightened master. That prayer was answered at Gomukh, the glacier regarded as the source of the Ganges. Standing in the silence of the Himalayas, I encountered a presence that cannot adequately be described with words. Some experiences simply become part of your soul. The road less travelled If you've ever watched videos of the narrow mountain roads winding through the Himalayas, you'll understand the courage required for this pilgrimage. The roads, originally built during British rule, cling to the mountainsides, with breathtaking drops only inches away. Every bend reminded us how fragile life truly is. It remains one of the greatest adventures I have ever experienced. When the pilgrimage ended, I chose not to return home immediately. Instead, I stayed behind in Rishikesh and returned to the same ashram where our journey had begun. As fate would have it, one of my fellow Jyotish students was living there as a resident disciple. That unexpected decision became the greatest gift of the entire journey. A lesson that has stayed with me for twenty years Swami Dayananda Saraswati was regarded as one of the world's foremost teachers of Vedanta. His classroom brought together scholars, seekers, monks, and students from around the globe. Although I attended his teachings for only a few weeks, one concept has remained with me ever since. It is called Purva Punya. Simply translated, it refers to the accumulated merit created through our past actions. Swami Dayananda described it in terms anyone could understand, imagine an invisible spiritual bank account. Every thought, action, intention, and choice is either a deposit or a withdrawal. Whether we call it karma, samskaras, or simply cause and effect, the principle remains the same, life responds to the energy we consistently create. Some people seem to inherit an abundance of opportunity, resilience, or support. Others appear to begin life carrying extraordinary burdens. Purva Punya doesn't ask us to judge those circumstances. Instead, it invites us to recognize that our present actions are constantly shaping our future experience. We are creating tomorrow's balance sheet today. Applying ancient wisdom to modern life Wisdom is not about deciding whether we like or dislike what life presents. Wisdom is understanding reality clearly enough to choose our next action consciously. Every conversation, every act of kindness, every moment we choose compassion instead of resentment, and every time we forgive instead of retaliating become another deposit into our invisible account. The opposite is equally true. Holding onto bitterness, acting without integrity, or allowing fear to guide our choices creates a different kind of accumulation. Whether or not we fully understand the mechanics of karma is almost beside the point. The invitation is simple, live as though every thought matters, speak as though every word leaves an imprint, and act as though your future is being created by your present. Because perhaps it is. Nearly twenty years after that pilgrimage through the Himalayas, Purva Punya remains one of the most practical teachings I have ever received. It reminds me that while we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can always choose what we contribute to the invisible account we carry within. Perhaps that is where true freedom begins. The Fifth House, your spiritual savings account One of the beautiful aspects of Vedic astrology is that it gives us a symbolic map of these teachings. Whether you have ever seen your birth chart or not, you arrived in this life with one. It is an energetic blueprint that reflects the unique karmic patterns you have brought into this incarnation. While it does not determine your destiny, it reveals the tendencies, gifts, and lessons available for your growth. In Vedic astrology, the Fifth House is traditionally known as the house of Purva Punya, the accumulated merit carried forward from previous lifetimes. It speaks not only of intelligence, creativity, education, and children, but also of the unseen blessings that arise from actions once taken with wisdom and integrity. For me, this understanding transformed the way I viewed karma. Rather than seeing karma as reward or punishment, I began to see it as an ongoing investment. Every decision becomes a transaction. Every thought, conversation, and act of generosity, forgiveness, or courage adds to the account we are continually creating. Perhaps this is why the language of banking feels so familiar to us. We spend much of our lives monitoring financial accounts, yet many of us never consider the invisible account we are building every single day. The encouraging truth is that karma is never fixed. Every moment offers another opportunity to make a new deposit. We are not condemned to repeat our past. We are invited to participate consciously in creating our future. If life is a journey, wouldn't you want a map? For me, the teachings of Vedanta, together with the wisdom of the Vedic birth chart, have become exactly that, a map. Not one that predicts every twist and turn, but one that helps me navigate life with greater awareness, compassion, and responsibility. Nearly twenty years after walking through the Himalayas, I still think about the lesson I learned from Swami Dayananda Saraswati. The greatest wealth we will ever accumulate may not be measured by what sits in our bank account, but by what resides within our invisible one. Every choice matters, and every act leaves an imprint. Perhaps the most valuable investment we can ever make is simply to live with a little more awareness, a little more kindness, and a little more love. Love only. Follow me on Instagram or visit my website for more info! Read more from Stefania Leone Stefania Leone, Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer and Advisor After a lonely, traumatic spiritual awakening at the age of 7, Stefania began what has amounted to a lifetime of study in the areas of consciousness, metaphysics, and holistic healing. The most profound and useful answers came through Jyotisha, the original and most accurate and true source of Astrology. Her mission is to bring Jyotisha mainstream in the West.

Written by Naomi Pereira, Career and Leadership Coach Naomi is an ICF-accredited coach and HR leader whose 15+ years of experience across Financial services enable a practical, insider's perspective on workplace dynamics, leadership, and career growth. Naomi founded N.Pathcoaching, offering coaching to mid-career professionals on building confidence and lifting performance to drive career growth. Self-doubt at work shows up at every level, even in the boardroom. If you have ever watched others speak up, step forward, or progress and wondered why confidence seems effortless for them, this article is for you. Learn how to give self-doubt a seat at the table without letting it lead your agenda. What is self-doubt? Nearly every mid-career professional I coach comes face-to-face with self-doubt at some point in their career. It is the gap between what you are capable of and what you believe you are capable of in the moment. It is that gap, not your ability, that holds so many talented people back. How does it show up at work? In the workplace, it is amplified by the perceptions of others and can take on a superhuman force that blocks out rational thought. In the race to impress, we put the opinions of others ahead of what we know to be true about our own skills. Self-doubt makes us overthink a comment in a meeting, hesitate before speaking up, question whether we are ready for the next step, or conclude that we are simply not good enough. It even has a seat in the boardroom. This always surprises people, but having partnered with some exceptionally talented executive leaders, I can tell you that self-doubt knows no bounds. The only difference is that these leaders have learned to make their self-doubt work for them. 5 practical ways to make self-doubt work for you Embrace the vulnerability: Self-doubt exists to protect us. It can stop us in our tracks and make us question ourselves, but if we do not let it consume us, it can lead to greater self-awareness. That awareness is an important leadership quality, one that narcissistic personality types tend to lack. So listen to what your self-doubt is telling you and share your vulnerabilities with those around you. It is not weakness. It is honesty. Personify it: One way to reduce the power of self-doubt is to separate it from your identity. Personify it. Give it a name, and notice what it tells you, when it appears, and what it might be protecting you from. This helps you separate the emotion from who you are and from what you are trying to achieve. Reframe it as growth: Self-doubt often creeps in when we step outside our comfort zone, particularly when we do not have all the answers. Maybe you have taken on a new role, are leading a high-profile project, or are simply facing a brand-new situation. Reframe that feeling as part of your growth, and self-doubt becomes a tool for your development rather than a barrier. Stop hiding behind it: When self-doubt takes over, we move into avoidance territory, telling ourselves, “I’m not going for the job because it’s not the right time,” or “I said no to leading the project because it’s just not me.” We convince ourselves that there is a plausible explanation for why we cannot do something when the real driver is fear of failure. If you are anything like me, that offers only temporary relief before it turns into disappointment. When you catch yourself making excuses, note them down so you can see the patterns. This may help you uncover the truth you are hiding from yourself. Validate the story: When self-doubt leads you to a conclusion, such as “I’m not good enough,” “I shouldn’t have said that,” or “I’m not ready,” pause and test it. What are you basing that on? What else could be true? What evidence supports a different interpretation? If the conclusion cannot be validated, it may be self-doubt shaping the story rather than reality presenting the facts. Final thoughts on self-doubt at work Self-doubt at work does not need to determine the direction of your career. In fact, I encourage you to see it as a leveller, shared by an entry-level graduate just as much as by a CEO. When we learn to recognise it, test it, and keep it in perspective, it drives growth and self-awareness. At N.Path Coaching, I work with mid-career professionals to take more deliberate ownership of the inner narratives that shape how they show up. Ready to stop letting self-doubt shape your decisions? Contact me today and quote August in your enquiry to receive 20% off a power hour session. This offer is valid until 31 August 2026. Follow me on LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Naomi Pereira Naomi Pereira, Career and Leadership Coach Naomi Pereira is a senior HR Leader across financial services and media, bringing deep insight into the realities of workplace dynamics, leadership, and career growth. Once a quiet achiever who stayed in the shadows, she set out on a path to support others early on in their careers, to rise above the labels, hierarchy, and limiting beliefs that can hold you back at work. As an accredited ICF coach and founder of N.Pathcoaching, Naomi offers a safe space for her clients to explore the challenges that they quietly carry at work – that boldly impact their potential - like self-doubt, a toxic manager, burnout or workplace change, so they can take their next step with confidence and clarity.

Written by Eva M. Gordon, LCSW, Psychotherapist and Mental Health Consultant Eva Gordon works with individuals, families, and organizations to promote safety, well-being, and self-care. Eva is the founder and director of Life Guide LCSW, P.C., a mental health practice providing psychotherapy and community mental health education. During these times, many people are seeking new jobs, new opportunities, or ways to advance their careers. Employers are not hiring as much as usual, so job seekers receive few or no responses to their inquiries. This means getting a new job or opportunity is taking longer than usual. You might feel stuck or stagnant in a job where growth is not valued and professional development is neither encouraged nor provided. How do you navigate your working world or current job when job hunting seems endless or unproductive? Explore the following tips to maintain mental clarity and reduce stress during your job hunt: Know who you are: It is crucial to know your self-worth without a job or career. It is understandable to fall apart when you are laid off or turned down for the job you really wanted. However, you do not have to lose your sense of self because of a tough economy. The main idea is that our self-worth is defined by our beliefs and humanity, not our profession. Assess your skill set: Before you leave any job or finish your education, figure out your skill set. It is one thing to complain about the lack of growth at your job, but it is important to know where you have grown and what you bring to the table. Before you look for work, make sure you know what skills you bring to the table and what skills you want to learn or enhance. Then, you can enhance your resume and cover letter by highlighting your skill set. Once your resume covers the skills you offer, you can look for the jobs you really want and deserve. Identify current opportunities at your job: Is there a new project or event at your company that needs volunteers and could create growth in your career by adding a skill or improving your existing skills? Check with your HR department about training. Or, do you have an idea for a project that could provide growth and enhance your current position? Employers appreciate staff who are proactive and take action to help the company grow. Visit the company’s EAP unit: Many companies have created an Employee Assistance Program, or EAP, to support and improve staff well-being and reduce stress. They might offer wellness days or provide referrals to a mental health provider. Know what job you are seeking: It is not enough to be mad at your boss for micromanaging you or not giving you enough guidance, training, or supervision. When you are upset or stressed about your job, become proactive and explore your dream title. When I ask clients what their dream job is, they know, but they need to define it clearly and make it achievable. Proactivity is key when things seem impossible. Things can change for the better. Research the company you are interviewing with: It is not enough to want a job or escape the stress of your boss or a toxic work environment. When you see a position that interests you, research the company and see whether your skill set and professional identity are in alignment with it. Learn about its services, programs, or products, and connect these areas to your resume and professional goals. This connection can be included in a cover letter. Once you research the company and make these connections, you will be more prepared for the job interview. Cultivate new or current relationships: According to experts, many jobs are not posted publicly. When you attend professional or networking events, you meet executives or managers who might be hiring or need someone with your skill set. You can also create connections through social media or online groups where people connect and share information about their companies. Getting mad at your boss or coworker does not help. It will not reduce your stress or improve your mood. In fact, it takes energy to plot against anyone. Understanding who you are as a person, your professional identity, and your career goals is where you should spend your energy. Take time to evaluate where you want to go in your life and make sure your next professional goal can take you there. This will help you feel better about yourself and feel that you are moving in the right direction. If you feel that you need help strategizing or understanding the obstacles you face in work and life, psychotherapy is a wonderful way to explore this. Psychotherapy is about discovering yourself, and this is what needs to happen to make changes in your life. Contact me to schedule a consultation to see how we can work together to improve not just your work life, but your entire life. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Eva M. Gordon, LCSW Eva M. Gordon, LCSW, Psychotherapist and Mental Health Consultant Eva M. Gordon, LCSW, is the founder and director of Life Guide LCSW, P.C., a mental health practice providing psychotherapy and community mental health education in the New York City area. Her focus is on providing mental health treatment to the Black community as a source of healing and hope. She mainly works with Black professional women aged 30 and up who struggle with unhealthy relationships. The goal is to help these women recognize that self-care is their birthright and not a privilege. Eva uses several strategies, including exploring behavioral patterns, emotional management, and understanding how multiple factors contribute to a person’s mental health during their lifespan. Related article: 11 Reasons You’re Not Getting Hired (and What to Do About It) How to Tap the Hidden Job Market

Written by Michael Fullman, Chief Creative Officer Michael Fullman is a creative executive and design-first leader. As Chief Creative Officer of ACRONYM, he shapes immersive brand experiences across physical and digital worlds, from live shows to large-scale events and environments. For over a decade, we have built our reputation as VTProDesign. The name carried our roots in live production, touring, and the literal pro design of physical spaces. When we were a team of 30 in a warehouse, that name was true. By the time we'd grown into a global studio of nearly 100, building experiences that had become how some of the world's most ambitious brands actually meet their audiences, the name had stopped being true. It wasn't wrong, exactly. It was just ready to evolve. That's a more dangerous place to be than most people realize. A wrong name is obvious. A name that has outgrown its reality is invisible and it sits there quietly telling the wrong story to clients, talent, and culture every single day. The shift had been happening for years, the pandemic accelerated it. We stopped being the team you called to execute a pre-made plan and started being the team you called to figure out what the plan should be. We weren't just the "how" anymore, we were authoring the "why." Joining the Residence network gave us the room to commit fully to that work. Rebranding gets treated as a cosmetic exercise. It’s a new logo, a new mission statement, maybe a coat of paint on the deck. We didn't want any of that. We wanted to use the moment to do something harder, something most brands struggle with, which is to take an honest look at what we actually do now and make our name match it. That's a true craft decision, versus a marketing one. Craft is judgment about what's worth being called what. In a moment when audiences and clients are flooded with hollow brand work daily, the gap between what you say you are and what you actually do is more visible than ever. So why ACRONYM? The name ACRONYM is deliberately ironic. Every one of us has sat in rooms where the work of explaining something simple got buried under three layers of jargon and a slide full of acronyms nobody could decode. The industry has a habit of using complexity to disguise the fact that there isn't always much underneath. We took the name as a kind of rebuke to that. By calling ourselves the thing the industry overuses to obscure, we're committing to the opposite clarity. Make the complex simple. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Build work that doesn't need translation. Because a name, especially in this field, is a promise. If it doesn't match what's actually behind the door, you're lying about the value you provide. When you outgrow your name but refuse to change it, you're selling a version of yourself that no longer exists. That's a lie of omission. It's a disservice to the client who needs your strategy but only thinks they can hire you for your hammer. This applies to any company, in any industry, that has evolved its capabilities past its old label. When your brand still says "vendor," and your team is delivering "vision," you're confusing your clients, your potential recruits, and your own culture. You're building a ceiling into your identity and then wondering why the room feels small. There's a fear around rebranding because the word itself has gotten tied to instability. Companies in trouble are doing a panicked makeover. Done with intention, it's the opposite. It's a growth marker because it’s the moment you stop letting an old uniform decide how big you're allowed to get. The question worth asking isn't "do we need to rebrand?" It's "Does the way we present ourselves still match the reality of what we do?" If the answer is no and you already know whether it is, that's not a branding problem that comes down to being honest. Some leaders worry that reinvention erases their history. This was definitely something we worried about, but in our experience, I think it has accomplished the opposite. It honors evolution. Leveling up doesn’t mean you have to leave the past behind. It's about giving yourself permission to show up as everything you've already become. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Michael Fullman Michael Fullman, Chief Creative Officer Michael Fullman is a creative executive and design-first leader working at the intersection of experience, culture, and emerging technology. As Chief Creative Officer of ACRONYM, he shapes immersive brand experiences across physical and digital worlds, from live shows to large-scale events and environments. Michael believes technology should serve craft and deepen human connection through work that feels tangible, emotional, and unforgettable.

Written by Claire Wilding, Founder of Lead Success Deliver & Leadership Consultant Claire Wilding is the founder of Lead Success Deliver, specialising in identity-led leadership, decision clarity, and execution under pressure. She works with founders and senior leaders navigating complexity, growth, and high-stakes responsibility. There is a point in most founder journeys where the issue is no longer a lack of ideas, ambition, or even strategic direction. The vision exists. The opportunity is visible. The founder knows what they are trying to build. Yet, progress still feels heavier than it should. Important work gets delayed. Decisions remain open for too long. Priorities shift too easily in response to urgency. The calendar fills up, the task list grows, and the founder somehow ends the week exhausted but unconvinced that the right things actually moved. This is the point at which many people assume they need a better productivity system, a tighter routine, more discipline, better time blocking, or more accountability. Sometimes those things help. But often, they are trying to solve the problem too late in the chain. Execution does not begin when a task is scheduled. It begins much earlier, in the quality of the decisions that shape what the founder notices, prioritises, tolerates, delegates, delays, and acts on in the first place. That is the layer I call Decision Architecture. The layer most founders are missing When people hear the word “decision,” they tend to think of obvious moments, such as whether to hire, whether to launch, whether to pivot, or whether to say yes to a particular client or opportunity. Those decisions matter, but they are only part of the picture. Founder life is shaped just as much by smaller, repeated decisions that are rarely recognised for what they are. These include decisions about where attention goes, what qualifies as a priority, what gets postponed, how much emotional urgency is allowed into the day, and whether a founder continues carrying something that should have been delegated three months ago. These choices are often made quickly, partly consciously, and under pressure. But collectively, they create the founder’s operating reality. That is why two founders can have similar opportunities, similar levels of intelligence, and a similar work ethic, yet produce very different outcomes. The difference is not always effort. It is often architecture. One founder is making decisions from a structured internal framework, while the other is making them from noise, fatigue, and whatever feels loudest in the moment. The output may look similar for a while, but eventually, the difference compounds. Why better decisions matter more than better task lists A task list sits downstream of a decision. Before a task exists, there has already been a chain of judgments about what matters, what the work is, whether it is necessary, who should do it, and when it should happen. If those judgments are weak, the list will simply become a record of muddled thinking. This is one of the reasons so many productivity tools fail founders. They are designed to manage tasks, but not the quality of the decision-making that creates those tasks. If a founder has not properly filtered what matters, the list becomes bloated. If they have not separated urgency from consequence, the list becomes reactive. If they have not defined what only they can own, the list becomes overloaded. If they are making decisions from fatigue or identity drift, the list becomes inconsistent with what the business actually needs. In other words, a cluttered list is often a symptom, not the root cause. Decision Architecture is the discipline of improving the layer above it. What Decision Architecture actually means in practice At its core, Decision Architecture is about creating cleaner conditions for action. It is the structure that helps a founder move from “everything feels important” to “I know what matters, what can wait, and what needs a decision from me now.” It does this by introducing filters, frameworks, and simple decision lenses that reduce cognitive load rather than add to it. A strong decision architecture helps a founder answer questions such as, "What is the one outcome that matters most this week? Is this urgent or merely loud? Does this require my judgment, or have I failed to delegate cleanly? Am I blocked by a lack of clarity, a lack of capacity, or a lack of conviction? Is this decision aligned with how I want to lead and what the business actually needs?" The power of those questions is not theoretical. They change behaviour. They stop founders from treating every request as equally important, expose where responsibility has become bloated, reduce the number of decisions made from panic, guilt, or default habits, and create a much cleaner path from intention to action. The founder does not need more information, they need filters One of the biggest misconceptions in high-performance environments is that better decisions come from more input, such as more data, more podcasts, more frameworks, more productivity hacks, and more advice. Sometimes that is useful. Often, it is just another form of noise. The problem is not that founders lack access to information. It is that they lack a reliable structure for deciding what deserves their attention and what does not. Without that structure, more input simply creates more options, more mental tabs, and more opportunities for drift. Decision Architecture is useful precisely because it narrows the field. It helps the founder move from open-ended complexity to a smaller set of cleaner decisions. It introduces constraints that are supportive rather than restrictive. It allows a leader to say, “Given where we are, given what matters, given my capacity and the commercial reality of the business, this is the right move now.” That kind of clarity is operationally powerful. The practical shifts that change execution In my own work, I have found that some of the most useful decision shifts are also the simplest. They are not simplistic. They are simple. For example: From “What do I need to do?” to “What actually matters now?”: This moves the founder out of task mode and back into strategic prioritisation. From “I’ll just do it” to Keep, Delegate, or Delay: This creates immediate visibility around what truly needs founder ownership and what does not. From reacting to urgency to assessing consequence: This reduces the amount of attention lost to noise. From self-criticism to diagnosis: Instead of assuming the issue is discipline, the founder checks whether the real blockage is clarity, capacity, or conviction. From busyness to completed movement: The day is measured by meaningful progress rather than visible effort. None of these shifts requires a 60-page playbook to begin. But together, they create a very different execution environment. Identity is part of the architecture One of the most overlooked aspects of decision-making is identity. Founders do not make decisions in a vacuum. They make them from a particular state of self. When identity is clear, decisions tend to become cleaner because there is a stronger internal reference point for what is aligned, what is tolerable, and what kind of leader the founder is trying to be. When identity is blurry, the opposite happens. Founders say yes too quickly. They overaccommodate. They pursue opportunities that are commercially interesting but strategically wrong. They tolerate standards they would reject if they were thinking clearly. They drift away from the business they intended to build because they are making decisions from pressure rather than principle. Decision Architecture matters because it creates a bridge between identity and execution. It helps ensure that what gets acted on is not just urgent, but aligned. Better execution is a design problem We tend to talk about execution as though it is mostly a character trait, as though some people simply have the discipline to follow through and others do not. That is an incomplete view. Execution is heavily influenced by the environment in which decisions are made. If the founder is overloaded, underrecovered, carrying too many responsibilities, and operating without clean filters, then execution will naturally degrade. This is not because they are weak, but because the architecture is working against them. This is why better execution is often less about trying harder and more about designing better through stronger filters, clearer prioritisation, better containment of mental load, more precise criteria for what belongs with the founder and what does not, and better questions before action begins. That is what Decision Architecture offers. It is not another motivational layer or another demand on the founder’s attention. It is a stronger structure between vision and action, so the business is not being built on whatever feels loudest that day. The founder’s job is not just to work hard. It is to decide well enough that the right work gets moved, with the right energy, in the right order. That is the difference between activity and momentum, and between vision that lives in a notebook and vision that becomes reality. Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Claire Wilding Claire Wilding, Founder of Lead Success Deliver & Leadership Consultant Claire Wilding is the founder of Lead Success Deliver, a leadership consultancy specialising in identity-led leadership, decision clarity, and execution under pressure. She works with founders, executives, and senior leaders operating in complex, high-stakes environments. Claire is known for her calm, direct approach and her ability to cut through noise to the root of performance challenges. Her work focuses on strengthening leadership identity so decisions become clearer, execution sharper, and results sustainable.

Written by Anne Wallen, Director and Founder of MaternityWise Intl Anne Wallen is a respected figure in women’s health with over 30 years of experience and is a leading voice on global change in maternity care, particularly for those at greatest risk. One of the most important questions in maternity care is rarely asked directly, "Who is in charge?" Many people assume the answer is obvious. Some believe it is the physician. Others point to hospital policy, clinical guidelines, or institutional protocols. Yet when we step back and examine the purpose of maternity care, the answer becomes much simpler. The woman giving birth is in charge. Not because she possesses more medical knowledge than her care team. Not because expertise is unimportant. Not because every birth unfolds perfectly. But because it is her body, her baby, her experience, and her life. Every other person in the room is there in a supportive capacity. This simple truth has profound implications for how we communicate, how we make decisions, and how we approach birth itself. Unfortunately, modern maternity care often operates from a different assumption. that birth is safest when managed, directed, controlled, monitored, regulated, and corrected at every turn. Yet birth is not a machine that performs better under constant supervision. Birth is a physiological process, and physiological processes rarely improve when they are micromanaged. The problem with control Human bodies are remarkably intelligent. We trust the body to heal wounds. We trust the body to digest food. We trust the body to regulate temperature. We trust the body to fight infection. Yet when it comes to birth, many systems operate from the assumption that the body cannot be trusted to do what women have done since the beginning of human history. The result is often a cascade of management strategies designed to control a process that was never intended to be controlled. Women are told when to push. How to breathe. When to move. When not to move. When to eat. When not to eat. When to make decisions. How much time they are allowed before a decision must be made. The message becomes subtle but clear, “We know better than your body.” The irony is that many of the hormones responsible for effective labor function best in conditions that are incompatible with control. Oxytocin thrives in safety. Endorphins thrive in relaxation. Labor progress often improves when a woman feels secure, supported, and free to follow her instincts. This is why home is a preferred location for birth for many women around the world. Fear, surveillance, pressure, conflict, and coercion activate entirely different physiological pathways. When we attempt to dominate physiology, physiology often responds by becoming less efficient. This is not because women are failing. It is because birth was never designed to perform on command. The myth of compliance Too often, communication in maternity care is aimed at achieving compliance rather than understanding. The goal becomes obtaining agreement rather than facilitating informed decision making. A recommendation is presented. A risk is emphasized. An alternative is minimized. A timeline is shortened. A policy is cited. Eventually, the woman says yes. The chart reflects consent. But was it informed consent? Or was it compliance? There is a meaningful difference between helping someone understand their options and persuading them toward a preferred outcome. True informed consent respects the possibility that an informed person may make a different choice than the provider would make. That can feel uncomfortable. But autonomy loses its meaning if it only exists when everyone agrees. The CLEAR framework: A better way forward At MaternityWise, we teach the CLEAR Framework as a model for creating communication that preserves trust, autonomy, and collaboration. CLEAR stands for: Centering the birther: Collaborative attitudes Lead with curiosity: Listening well Establish understanding: Educate and discuss Ask for space: Preserving autonomy, and reflect the decision Respectful framing of the Patient’s Choice. These principles shift the focus away from control and toward partnership. Centering the birther: For collaboration Birth is not a hierarchy. It is a team effort. The physician brings expertise. The midwife brings expertise. The nurse brings expertise. The doula brings expertise. The partner brings intimate knowledge of the mother. Most importantly, the mother brings something no one else possesses. She is the only person living inside the experience. She can inform the rest of the team about things that are not measurable by devices and monitoring. Collaboration acknowledges that each perspective has value. Lead with curiosity: Listening centered Many providers are trained to talk. Far fewer are trained to listen. Listening centered care recognizes that information flows in both directions. Providers bring clinical knowledge. Women bring intuition, lived experience, personal values, cultural beliefs, and knowledge of their own bodies. When listening disappears, consent becomes a lecture. When listening is present, consent becomes a conversation. Yes, conversation takes more time, but better outcomes show that it is worth it. Establish understanding: Educational and conversational The purpose of informed consent is education, not persuasion. Education presents risks, benefits, alternatives, and uncertainties honestly. Education empowers people to think. Persuasion attempts to direct what they think. One creates autonomy. The other creates dependency. Ask for space: Autonomy preserving Giving time and space allows decisions to be made without pressure or feelings of duress. The mother’s right to choose must remain intact, even when her choice differs from the preferences of those around her. Autonomy is not something granted by a provider. It is something inherently possessed by every competent adult. The role of the healthcare team is not to hand autonomy to women. The role of the healthcare team is to respect the autonomy women already have. Reflect the decision: Respectful framing of the patient’s choice Repeating the decision helps ensure that everyone understands it. Respect means honoring a woman’s humanity, regardless of whether she agrees with you. Respect means recognizing that disagreement is not defiance. Respect means understanding that questions are not challenges to authority. Respect means remembering that the person doing the work deserves dignity and agency throughout the process. The doula as guardian of the consent process The doula’s role is often misunderstood. Doulas do not control birth. They do not replace medical providers. They do not make clinical decisions. In many ways, the doula serves as a guardian of the consent process itself. When fear enters the room, the doula helps restore calm. When emotions rise, the doula helps create balance. When communication becomes rushed, the doula helps slow it down. When information is incomplete, the doula encourages questions. When a mother feels unheard, the doula helps amplify her voice. The doula is not there to tell a woman what to choose. The doula is there to help ensure that whatever choice she makes is genuinely her own. Trusting women again Perhaps the greatest challenge facing modern maternity care is not a lack of technology, training, or resources. Perhaps it is a lack of trust, a lack of trust in women, a lack of trust in physiology, and a lack of trust in the body’s innate wisdom. Trust does not mean abandoning medical care. Trust does not mean ignoring complications. Trust does not mean pretending that intervention is never necessary. Trust means recognizing that intervention should serve physiology, not replace it. Trust means understanding that expertise should support women, not overpower them. Trust means acknowledging that birth is not a problem to solve, but a process to steward. When we stop asking, “How can we control this birth?” and start asking, “How can we best support this woman?” everything changes. Communication improves. Consent becomes meaningful. Collaboration strengthens. Fear decreases. Women regain what should never have been taken from them in the first place, their rightful place at the center of their own birth experience. The future of maternity care does not belong to greater control. It belongs to deeper trust, trust in women, trust in physiology, trust in informed decision-making, and trust in the extraordinary wisdom of the human body to do what it was designed to do. If you’d like to be part of the difference-making movement in women’s medicine, take a look here for training and certification in doula care, midwifery, maternal health advocacy, childbirth education, and so much more! Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Anne Wallen Anne Wallen, Director and Founder of MaternityWise Intl Anne Wallen is a respected figure in women’s health with over 30 years of experience and is a leading voice on global change in maternity care, particularly for those at greatest risk. She continues to educate and empower birth professionals in more than 20 countries, contributes to a variety of curricula, and shapes the future of maternal health through her impactful role as a speaker and mentor. Anne is the Director and co-founder of MaternityWise International, and her legacy lies in inspiring generational changes around and elevating women's healthcare worldwide.

Written by Mica Armstrong, Integrative Transformation Coach Mica Armstrong is a multidisciplinary health professional with a BSc in European Public Health and an MSc in Health Education and Promotion. She explores the intersection of behavioural science, brain health, and holistic wellbeing to advance a more integrated future for human and planetary health. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, on paper, making a simple behaviour change should be straightforward, yet in practice it is quite the opposite? You are not alone. Every year, millions of people promise themselves that they will finally make healthier choices, only to find themselves stuck in the same patterns months or even years later. Throughout this article, an Integrative Transformation Coach helps you understand why knowledge alone is often not enough to create new habits and what behavioural science teaches us about sustainable change. 1. Why knowing better is not enough As someone trained in Health Education and Promotion, one of the most common difficulties I have encountered among individuals, myself included, is the belief that the right education alone can change an outcome. We often believe that once we have information, making healthier choices will be easier. Yet, in this age of information, many of us still find it difficult to eat healthily, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, quit smoking, or reduce our alcohol intake. The challenge is not obtaining information about the intended behaviour change; it is transforming that knowledge into consistent action. This disconnect is known as the intention-action gap, the space between wanting change and living a changed life. While gathering information is an important step towards behaviour change, our decisions beyond this are shaped by our habits, emotions, confidence, social settings, and external environment. Understanding the complexities behind our behaviour and learning which next steps are right for us individually are crucial to ensuring a smooth and sustainable change process with as little self-blame as possible. 2. Are you trying to change the wrong way? Health advice is now constantly available at the press of a button. A quick search or question posed to an AI tool can provide us with unlimited workout plans, nutrition guides, or wellness routines, yet many of us still struggle to make lasting behaviour changes. One reason is that we often receive generalised advice that assumes the same solutions will work for every individual. Realistically, behaviour change is an extremely personal process. Our lifestyles, values, personalities, responsibilities, motivations, and mindsets are all unique. What works well for one individual may be unrealistic or ineffective for the next. Before deciding how to change, it is crucial to first understand who you currently are and what influences your behaviour. In my journey from “not an exercise person” to “frequent gymgoer,” it was necessary for me to analyse my mindset specifically and understand how that mindset had developed throughout my childhood and adolescence. For years, I genuinely believed I simply was not “a gym person.” Looking back, that was not a personality trait; it was a story I had built from years of negative experiences in physical education. Once I understood the roots of my beliefs, I could begin to understand how to change them. What really motivates you? To begin, it is important to understand what drives you. For some behaviour changes, we may have an internal desire to change, known as intrinsic motivation, such as wanting to improve our health, become stronger, or live in alignment with our values. In other situations, motivation may come from external sources, known as extrinsic motivation, such as losing weight for an event, avoiding criticism, receiving praise, or responding to economic factors. Although both can encourage action, behaviours driven by intrinsic motivation are often easier to sustain because they are personally meaningful rather than dependent on external rewards. Even with the strongest internal motivations, the barriers that hold us back cannot simply be ignored. Whether it is time constraints, financial issues, daily responsibilities, poor sleep, stress, or a lack of encouragement and support, each barrier should be acknowledged not as an excuse but as a reality that can be adapted to or taken into account. The most effective health changes are realistic and sustainable, and they take your life into account rather than attempting to alter it radically. It is helpful to remember that our motivations are also flexible. In my case, I was able to redefine what motivated me by getting creative. Initially, my motivations surrounding exercise were more external. I wanted to impress my dad, a triathlete who competes frequently and has even raced for the national team. I was able to reframe this and transform it into an internal motivation: wanting to remain fit and active in the later years of my life and continuing to push my boundaries and capabilities to new levels as I age. 3. Does your brain even believe the risk? Knowing that a behaviour is unhealthy does not always provide enough reason to change it. We may recognise that a risk is present, but we can downplay it by asking questions such as, “How likely is it that this would happen to me?” or “Is it really that big an issue?” When we perceive a risk as less severe, we are less likely to make a change, even when we know that changing would be best for us. In the case of eating a healthier diet, most of us understand which foods are considered healthy or unhealthy and what constitutes a balanced diet. However, the consequences of eating unhealthy foods can often go unnoticed, become the new “normal,” or seem to lie in the distant future. The comfort of staying the same, however, is certainly the path of least resistance. Overall, behavioural science suggests that people may be more ready to make a behaviour change when they believe a risk applies to them and understand how changing could improve the outcome. You can assess how you perceive a health risk by asking yourself whether you believe the risk of not changing truly applies to you, what would make the risk feel more personally relevant, and whether you are focusing on the short-term inconvenience or the long-term benefit. 4. Confidence comes before consistency Once you have navigated your personal motivations and adjusted your perception of risk accordingly, the next question becomes: do you believe you can actually change? This concept is known in behavioural science as self-efficacy, and it plays a key role in whether we take action and sustain that action. It is not just about being confident in yourself or optimistic about your abilities. It is about truly believing that you will be able to overcome the challenges and barriers that may arise during your behaviour change process. The more capable we feel, the more prepared we are to change, persist, and recover. On the other hand, if we feel overwhelmed or feel that a goal is out of reach, we are more likely to quit along the way. Luckily, there are many ways to strengthen our self-efficacy. For example, you can break a big goal into smaller, more achievable goals; learn from and speak with others who have navigated similar challenges; monitor your progress; and celebrate your wins. Building evidence that behaviour change is possible and that you are capable of changing is far more effective than marching into battle unarmed. Perfection is not something that should be expected instantly, nor is it something we should wait for before we start acting. It is something we develop because of our actions. Throughout my exercise transformation, working on my self-efficacy has been, and continues to be, a major factor. At first, I was clueless about the gym, and my confidence was extremely low. With support from an experienced friend, I began attending the gym when I could and slowly built my confidence with different techniques and machines. It was not until months later that I felt prepared to get my own gym membership, and even with my newfound confidence, I still felt anxious about attending alone. 5. Your habits are shaping many decisions for you Once we believe in ourselves and our ability to change, the next step is to maintain the behaviour change we are making. We may assume that our daily choices are directed by conscious decisions, but many of our behaviours are influenced by automatic and nonconscious processes. Our habits are strengthened through repetition, and the more a habit is repeated, the less conscious effort may be required to complete the task. This is why conscious decisions alone are often not enough to ensure lasting behaviour change. Instead of trying to eliminate an unwanted behaviour, you might try to create a new routine that is simple and easy to repeat. For existing habits that you may need to adapt or eliminate, start by reflecting on them. At what moment do you feel compelled to act? What triggers the behaviour? What replacements seem reasonable and aligned with your goals? Small, consistent actions may seem insignificant at first, but when repeated, they can become automatic and require less energy. Ask yourself: what small, healthy behaviour is repeatable on a daily basis? 6. Stop relying on motivation We are often sold the idea that motivation is the key to successful behaviour change, yet motivation alone is not a reliable foundation for long-term, sustainable change. Motivation is a crucial starting point for behaviour change, helping us create new goals and begin a new habit. However, our motivation fluctuates daily, depending on the demands of our everyday lives. If we rely solely on motivation, maintaining consistency can become difficult. When inspired, focus on establishing a personalised system that supports your goals. Establish routines that require little decision-making, prepare for barriers and obstacles, and build them into your existing schedule instead of redefining everything. Consistency can also be encouraged by creating accountability and having a support system. Sharing goals with friends, working with a coach, monitoring your progress, and celebrating wins with your community and peers are all great methods for supporting sustainable change and building positive habits that become part of your identity. Throughout my exercise journey, I have had to learn how to work with my natural cycles and adjust my workouts based on how I feel. I frequently found that around the time of my period, I felt more tired and less willing to go to the gym. For me, this means that I still attend the gym during this time, but I treat myself with more grace if I do not feel as successful as I usually would. Attending the gym becomes a win to celebrate rather than achieving a personal best. 7. Your environment is shaping your behaviour Your everyday environment is also a powerful influence that often goes overlooked. Your surroundings shape the decisions you make, from the foods you eat to the people you spend time with and the habits you develop. Making small adjustments to your environment can support your goals, such as placing healthy foods in visible locations, leaving your sports gear by the door, or surrounding yourself with others who engage in healthy behaviours. In behavioural science, these types of small environmental changes are often called nudges. They can make desirable behaviours easier and less desirable behaviours harder. Elements of your wider environment, including your neighbourhood, friends, family, workplace, and culture, can also influence your health behaviours. When you work with your environment and adapt it to promote healthier choices, those choices can become easier to make. Once you begin to recognise less healthy influences in your environment, it becomes easier to develop a plan for managing them. For example, when you recognise that the sweets and chocolate aisle is on one of the main routes to the checkout in the supermarket, you may find it easier to consciously take a different route and avoid temptation. 8. Sustainable change is designed, not forced Building change that lasts can take time. It is rarely achieved through short bursts of motivation or an entire lifestyle restructure. Small, intentional, repeated actions are the foundations of lasting change. Life can be unpredictable, and sustainable change allows for that. During difficult times, old habits can resurface, and momentarily falling back into them does not equate to failure. It is how you respond to these moments that matters. Staying flexible and adapting to your capabilities and circumstances at each moment are key parts of the learning process. Above all, acknowledging and celebrating your progress is essential. Celebrating smaller milestones reinforces your healthy behaviours and reminds you that behaviour change is taking place. Longer-term reflection can also be helpful as you navigate your journey towards healthier behaviours. Over time, this can help you recognise a more significant achievement. The next time you feel that you are not successfully making the changes you wish to make to your health behaviours, avoid blaming yourself or speaking negatively to yourself. Instead, ask yourself, “What system have I built to support me through this period of change?” Behaviour change is not about completely redefining who you are; it is about creating a life in which your healthiest behaviours are the easiest to perform. Are you feeling inspired? If this article has encouraged you to reflect on your own health behaviours, perhaps it is time to take the next step. Creating sustainable behaviour change does not require more willpower; it requires the right strategy, support, and a deeper understanding of what drives your behaviour. Through personalised coaching, brain health analytics, and a holistic, evidence-informed approach to wellbeing, I help individuals move beyond short-term motivation to create meaningful, lasting transformation. If you are ready to better understand yourself and build habits that truly support your health, I would love to support you on that journey. Visit my website to learn more about my coaching services or book your consultation. Your future self will thank you. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Mica Armstrong Mica Armstrong, Integrative Transformation Coach Mica Armstrong is a multidisciplinary health professional with a BSc in European Public Health and an MSc in Health Education and Promotion. Combining expertise in behavioural science, brain health coaching, and holistic wellbeing, she explores evidence-informed approaches to lasting health and sustainable behaviour change. Through her writing, coaching, and educational work, she advocates for a more integrated future where human and planetary health are recognised as deeply interconnected. Her mission is to empower individuals and communities to create meaningful, lasting transformation.

Written by Eljin Keeling-Johnson, Personal Development Coach Eljin is a transformative personal development coach from the Midlands, England, and the visionary behind the Alignment Method programme. For over 16 years, Eljin has guided people to release what’s holding them back, rediscover their purpose, and create life-changing transformation. As human beings, this is something many of us experience. I’ve felt it myself, and I hear it consistently from clients: “I can do so much for others, but when it comes to doing it for myself, I really struggle.” The frequency of that statement is remarkable. So, why is it so difficult to love ourselves? 1. Self-love is misunderstood Socially, “self-love” is often perceived as cringey, egotistical, or selfish. These labels are largely defensive, serving as ways to avoid vulnerability or the discomfort of looking inward. For many, it’s not resistance. It’s confusion: “I don’t actually know what self-love looks like.” Others believe it requires time they don’t have, so it never becomes a priority. 2. Emotional suppression and conditioning Many people grew up in environments where they weren’t truly allowed to be themselves. Authenticity wasn’t encouraged. Conformity was. Emotions were dismissed with phrases such as “Stop crying,” “Don’t be silly,” and “Get on with it.” Instead of empathy, there was correction. Over time, this conditions a person to believe that their emotions are wrong, their needs are inconvenient, and their authentic self is unacceptable. Self-love begins with reversing this by understanding your thoughts and emotions without judgment and meeting yourself with compassion. 3. Prioritising others over yourself Some people have unconsciously learned that others are more important. Repeated messaging such as “Think about them” and “What about everyone else?” can create a belief system in which your needs come second. This often leads to people-pleasing, over-giving, and rescuing behaviours. Self-love here means saying no when needed, setting healthy boundaries, and saying yes to your own well-being. 4. Trauma and identity On a deeper level, some individuals have experienced unhealthy dynamics or trauma, leading to beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not worthy.” The key truth is this: You are not what happened to you. Self-love in this space means seeking support from a coach or therapist, reframing the narrative you’ve been living by, and challenging and changing limiting beliefs. 5. External validation and worth Many people attach their worth to external factors such as appearance, achievement, status, and material success. “I’ll be happy when.” “I’ll be successful when.” This is an external locus of evaluation. Self-love requires shifting inward. Your worth is not dependent on outcomes. Growth is important, but not as proof of your value. 6. The myth that self-love is selfish A common belief is “If I focus on myself, I’m being selfish.” In reality, people who say this often haven’t learned how to meet their own needs. Meeting your needs is not selfish. It’s essential. Guilt often shows up here, but it’s misplaced. Guilt means doing something wrong. Self-love means doing something necessary. What you’re often feeling is shame rooted in conditioning, not truth. 7. What self-love actually looks like Self-love isn’t ego. It isn’t arrogance. It isn’t perfection. It’s asking, “What do I need right now for my mental, emotional, and physical well-being?” and then acting on it. Practical foundations of self-love The practical foundations of self-love begin with sleep, nutrition, and movement, which are non-negotiable. They also include healthy physical, emotional, and mental boundaries, emotional awareness that allows you to feel without judgment, and self-acceptance, recognising that you are human, not perfect. Self-love also involves managing your energy rather than absorbing everything from others, building a supportive network by surrounding yourself with the right people, and investing in personal development, mindfulness, learning, and growth. It means embracing new experiences and taking ownership of your life and choices. Final thought Self-love doesn’t require more time. It requires a shift in mindset and belief. If you can’t meet your own needs, it becomes difficult to truly meet the needs of others without dependency or burnout. Interestingly, those who genuinely love themselves often show more compassion, not less, because they are no longer operating from a place of lack. We are human. We are not perfect, and we are always evolving. That, in itself, is enough. Follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Eljin Keeling-Johnson Eljin Keeling-Johnson, Personal Development Coach In 2005, Eljin walked into therapy battling anxiety, depression, and drug addiction. What began as a search for healing became a profound journey of self-discovery. Emerging with a renewed sense of purpose, he dedicated his life to helping others find their true selves and step into their full potential. Over the past 16 years, Eljin has delivered more than 16,000 hours of transformative coaching, blending conscious, subconscious, and unconscious work to create deep, lasting change. As the visionary behind the Alignment Method programme, his mission is simple yet powerful, to help people connect, grow, and thrive.

Written by Diana May, Neuro Somatic Practitioner & Yoga Teacher Diana May integrates somatics, applied neurology, and yoga to help clients relieve chronic pain and reconnect with their bodies. Her work empowers people to regulate their nervous system and move with confidence at any stage of life. For two weeks, right outside my window, I watched a mother robin guard her nest, three soft blue eggs, each no bigger than a thimble. When the babies hatched, they were tiny grey blobs, their hearts beating so hard I could see it through their delicate, featherless skin. My own motherly instinct came online instantly. I felt love and awe, and I began to worry. Within the first few days of their lives, they faced three trials. A heat wave, violent storm, and a night of fireworks. With each one, my worry rose, and each time, with a wave of relief, I watched them survive. This experience became a doorway into something deeper. Something I contemplate a lot, our connection with nature isn't just essential for our nervous systems. It's essential to our souls, our resilience, and the kind of world I’m trying to build. What does it mean to reconnect with nature? Reconnecting with nature is another way of saying reconnecting with ourselves. Nature is hard to define, just like we are. It's both a place and a process. The place is Earth itself, or you can get more specific if you’d like. A forest, a lake, a particular trail, even your own front lawn. For us, the place is our own body. The process is rhythm. It's the sun rising and setting every day. It's water moving from the ocean to the sky and raining back down a mountainside. It's the mother robin guarding her nest and raising her young. For us, the process is how we live our lives. Watching those robins is what brought this home for me. The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh writes about "interbeing," which is the practice of looking deeply into even the most mundane thing until you see everything it's made of. He teaches us to look at ink on paper. We might see that as a book, but if we look deeper, we can see the paper is the tree. The tree is also the rain and the sun. I found myself doing the same thing with that nest, the robins, the mulberry bush that shaded them, the rain that nearly drowned them, and the worms their mother pulled from my lawn. This past Fourth of July, the botanist and writer Robin Wall Kimmerer's reframing of the holiday came to mind. Instead of Independence Day, she calls it Inter-dependence Day. Her invitation is to look closely at ourselves and notice how much of what we call "individual" is actually shared, our thoughts and feelings with the people around us, our bodies with the sun, rain, and soil that grew our food. We are nature. We "inter-are" with nature. Three trials, three survivals Watching these baby robins endure their trials, I started noticing what they had in common with what I've endured myself. What could I possibly learn from three small, helpless creatures? As it turns out, quite a lot. The lesson of heat The first trial was a record heat wave, nearly 100 degrees, with humidity up around 80%. Miserable, even for a human with air conditioning. Baby birds can't regulate their own body temperature, they depend entirely on their parents. The mulberry bush gave them shade, and I kept fresh, shallow bowls of water nearby in case they needed it. Like these small robins, we also depend on our parents and caregivers to regulate our nervous system when we are babies. As we age and learn how to tend to our own needs, the need for co-regulation never leaves us. What brings you comfort when you're heated, whether it's from the temperature outside or something that's upset you? What helps you cool down? Who are the people you can turn to when you’re enduring a tough time? Who do you regularly spend time with? The lesson of the storm Right after the heat wave came the season's first big summer storm. I was driving home from Lake Huron when the sky went black in the middle of the day. Winds rocked my car. By the time I reached my neighborhood, entire trees had been uprooted. I worried badly about the birds. When I pulled into my driveway, I saw the mother robin with her wings spread wide, shielding her chicks from the impact. No matter how great our lives may be and how much time we spend cultivating gratitude for what we have, life happens, and it’s not all going to be good. We cannot outrun some storms. Most people have small, fragile parts inside of them that warrant protection. What in you feels precious? What are the ways you might shield yourself from the external storms, whether they be social pressures, an unexpected change, or even an inner critic? How can you tap into the part of you that has wide-open wings? The lesson of fireworks The very next night was the Fourth of July, celebrated with fireworks exploding erratically through the dark. While the dazzling fire display is beautiful to witness, it can be deeply disorienting to animals. Songbirds navigate the world through sound, rustling leaves that mean wind or a predator, songs that signal safety, and alarm calls that signal threat. Fireworks are notoriously dangerous for birds, thousands, sometimes millions, are startled enough to abandon their nests entirely, flying too fast without a plan and sometimes colliding with trees. Birds get scared, and I was scared, too. In the morning, I checked the nest. All three chicks were there, cuddled together. They'd survived. Fear is a powerful force that can make any of us abandon our post. There are many times in my life I’ve acted poorly out of fear and have had to learn hard lessons. Some of my greatest growth seasons have come from facing my fears, sitting with them, and making my way to the other side. What is your relationship with fear? Is it possible to build your capacity to stay with things, even when it’s scary? Nature is not always gentle or peaceful. It can be harsh, unpredictable, even brutal. These conditions aren't by chance, but they're natural. So is the ability to survive them. Resilience is built in, too. The extinction of experience I keep coming back to that surprise I felt, relief, every single time the robins made it through. If I really believed nature was resilient, why did I keep bracing for disaster? I think it's because, even as someone who loves nature, I've grown up in a culture that's almost entirely disconnected from it. The numbers back this up. Human connection to nature has declined by more than 60% over the past two hundred years, according to modeling research out of the University of Derby. In industrialized nations, we now spend the vast majority of our time indoors. Researchers have started calling this "the extinction of experience." I was surprised because, like so many, I don’t have a lot of experience seeing nature thrive in difficult conditions. My house is temperature controlled, as is my car. I see more concrete than I do trees. The supermarkets sell fruit all year long, even in the winter. While intellectually I know that nature persists, I don’t have enough experience to fully trust it in my body. Is disconnection from nature the root cause of our suffering? When we live separately from nature, we may have more immediate comforts like a warm bed, and I am very grateful for that. But we lose something essential. We lose part of ourselves, and we lose connection to our support system. We lose trust in our own creativity and resiliency. We begin to see the world as an object, rather than a subject. We begin to treat the world as something we can take from, rather than seeing the aliveness it carries as something that has inherent value. It is no coincidence that in the last 200 years, as our disconnection from nature has dwindled, the industrialization of our society has reshaped between 75% and 95% of Earth’s ice-free land surface. Cities and suburbs cover just a tiny fraction, but the impact of how we grow food and extract resources has altered a staggering amount of land. It’s estimated that only about 3 to 5% of ecosystems remain undisturbed. The effects of human-caused climate change are the single greatest threat to our survival, and the ecosystems that buffer the impact of climate change are dwindling. When we act as though we're above nature instead of part of it, we don't just damage ecosystems, we cut ourselves off from the very thing that makes us resilient. The robins didn't survive because the conditions were kind to them. They survived because they were built, by nature, to withstand exactly what nature threw at them. We are built the same way. We've just forgotten how to lean on it. How do you reconnect with nature if you live in the suburbs? You don't need a nature-based retreat to start, though more on that below. A few places to begin, wherever you are: Start small: There's nature all around you, even in the most urban environment. For me, it was a robin's nest. For you, it might be a squirrel that shows up at the same time every day, an anthill on the sidewalk, a dandelion pushing up through a crack in the concrete. You've probably walked past it a hundred times without really looking. Start there. Grow something: It doesn't have to be a big garden, one pot of herbs on a windowsill counts. Look up a native flower that's thrived in your ecosystem for thousands of years and try growing it. Watching something rise out of a seed is its own small miracle and can be tracked right in your home. Visit a local farmers market: You might be surprised to find one nearby. It's a good way to get fresh food, grown in season, and meet the people actually tending the soil around you. Try one fruit or vegetable you've never had before. Soak in the sun: Even from the most urban window, you have access to the sky. Take a few minutes each day to watch it. Notice what shapes the clouds are taking and how fast they are changing. Can you feel the sun on your skin? Even on a rainy day, get curious about how far that rain traveled to reach you. It's a visitor. Learn one name: Pick a bird, a tree, or a plant near you and actually learn what it is. Learn the name of your watershed. Go find your nearest stream or creek, even if it's mostly paved over and forgotten. Take a look at what's still moving beneath it, notice the diversity of plants that surround it, and keep your eyes open for wildlife. What does it look like to build a world rooted in interdependence? Imagine a world where the people around you understood, really understood, how every person, plant, and animal contributes to the whole. Where trees are revered for their shade and shelter, not just tolerated for their landscaping or timber value. Where berries are shared freely with the birds and insects who, in turn, pollinate everything the rest of us eat. Where your observations and admirations inspire you to write a poem, give a gift, or share an insight that sparks a long conversation over tea with a neighbor. If we can reconnect with what nature has endured, how it survives, how generous it is even under harsh conditions, maybe we can reconnect with those same qualities in ourselves. I don't know many people whose lives have been only kind to them. Life is full of obstacles, trials, and tribulations. When we face not just what we've endured but how we got through it, we have something real to offer the people around us. We might find we're able to receive their wisdom in return. Reconnect with nature in community If watching those robins taught me anything, it's that none of us are meant to do this alone or from a distance. Nature doesn't ask us to be fearless, just present. If this resonates with you, I'd love for you to join me this September at Whispertree in Northern California, where we'll reconnect with the natural world and with each other, in community. Follow me on Instagram for more info! Read more from Diana May Diana May, Neuro Somatic Practitioner & Yoga Teacher Diana May is a yoga educator and Somatic Experiencing® practitioner who integrates applied neurology, mindful movement, and nervous-system science to help people reduce pain and restore mobility. She holds degrees in environmental studies and urban planning, grounding her work in a lifelong passion for ecology and natural systems. Diana weaves these perspectives into her teaching, connecting the rhythms of nature with the intelligence of the body and brain. Through her classes and 1:1 work, she empowers clients to build resilience, regulate their nervous system, and feel at home in their bodies.

Dr. Sam Ballington is an educator, coach, and founder of The Association of Child and Family Coaches, with a mission to ensure that all children and families are seen, heard, and supported. Inspired by both professional expertise and lived experience, Sam has spent years researching and developing accredited programmes that blend therapeutic play, family coaching, and child development theory into practical tools for practitioners and families. Dr. Sam Ballington, Childhood & Family Wellbeing Researcher, Advocate How does your approach to education leadership help raise standards and create meaningful learning experiences for both students and educators? My approach to educational leadership is grounded in the belief that high standards and human-centred practice must go hand in hand. Too often, leadership in education becomes solely focused on compliance, targets, and outputs, when the most meaningful and lasting change occurs when people feel seen, supported, and inspired. I believe leadership should foster cultures where both learners and educators can thrive, not just survive. Throughout my work, I have focused on developing programmes, qualifications, and professional communities that blend academic credibility with practical application. Whether I am designing qualifications for early years educators, supporting coaches who work with children and families, or establishing new models of leadership, my goal is always to make learning feel relevant, purposeful, and transformative. Strong leadership should not only enhance outcomes on paper but also boost confidence, reflective practice, ethical decision-making, and the quality of relationships within learning environments. For me, raising standards is not about doing more merely for appearances. It is about doing better with integrity. It is about ensuring that what we teach, how we lead, and what we expect of others truly reflect the level of care and professionalism that children, families, and practitioners deserve. What role does ethical practice play in your work, and how do you ensure this is integrated into educational frameworks and training? Ethical practice is central to all I do. In fields like education, coaching, and child and family well-being, ethics should not be an afterthought or a brief section in a manual. They must underpin how people are trained, how they reflect, how they communicate, and how they make decisions in real-life situations. I feel strongly about this because there is an increasing demand for training that is not only motivating but also safe, thorough, and professionally sound. In my own work, I ensure ethics are integrated throughout programme design rather than treated as a separate concept. This involves incorporating safeguarding, boundaries, reflective practice, trauma-informed approaches, inclusion, consent, accountability, and professional responsibility into all learning activities. It also requires asking more probing questions about what it genuinely means to be prepared to support children and families. Ethical training should encourage reflection, not just passing a quiz and moving on. This is one of the reasons I am so dedicated to raising the standards of training in both education and coaching. I want learners to leave with not only knowledge but also the judgement, confidence, and integrity required to apply that knowledge effectively. For me, ethics is not an optional add-on; it is the foundation of credible practice. How does your work with the National College for Care and Education (NCCE) enhance access to high-quality vocational qualifications in child and family wellbeing? The National College for Care and Education was founded with a clear mission: to expand access to high-quality, meaningful vocational education. I have always believed that learners deserve more than generic, inaccessible, or overly academic routes. Many individuals entering child, family, and education-related professions are passionate, capable, and deeply committed, but they need flexible and credible pathways that meet them where they are and support their progress. Through NCCE, I have created and delivered qualifications that are rigorous, relevant, and professionally valuable, while also being accessible to adult learners who may be balancing study with work, parenting, or other responsibilities. This involves careful consideration of course design, learner support, practical application, and opportunities for progression. It also entails developing qualifications that are not just technically compliant, but genuinely useful in real-world settings. My work through NCCE has also concentrated on ensuring that vocational learning is given the respect it merits. High-quality vocational qualifications can transform lives. They can open doors, boost confidence, strengthen professional identity, and enhance the experiences of the children and families that learners go on to support. For me, access is not merely about entry; it is about access to excellence. How does the CALM Approach to Leadership influence values-led leadership practices for leaders, practitioners, and parents? The CALM Approach to Leadership is a framework I developed to help people lead and relate in a more connected, emotionally intelligent, and values-driven way. CALM stands for Connect before you Correct, Accept Emotions, Listen with Empathy, and Make Play Part of Your Work. While it is highly relevant for education and organisational leadership, it was intentionally created to be meaningful across various contexts, including for leaders, practitioners, and parents. What sets CALM apart is its ability to unite professional leadership with relational leadership. It recognises that our responses to stress, behaviour, challenge, communication, and emotion significantly influence those around us. Particularly in education and child and family settings, leadership goes beyond systems and strategy. It also involves tone, trust, safety, and co-regulation. CALM promotes a leadership style that is both grounded and practical, while maintaining warmth, humanity, and clarity. I have found that when people start applying CALM, they often experience a shift not only in how they lead others but also in how they understand themselves. It helps foster cultures where individuals feel more able to reflect, communicate, and respond intentionally rather than reactively. I will soon be delivering CALM through both the Association of Child and Family Coaches and my own Sam Ballington platform, as well as advancing leadership and coaching programmes linked to CALM through CMI approval. For me, this is about creating a framework that is not only inspiring but also professionally robust and scalable. What are the key challenges in child and family coaching, and how do you address them through the Association of Child and Family Coaches? One of the biggest challenges in child and family coaching is inconsistent quality. It is now easier than ever for people to access quick training and present themselves as ready to work with children and families, but the reality is that this work demands much deeper preparation. Anyone supporting children, parents, or family systems needs a solid understanding of safeguarding, child development, trauma, communication, ethics, boundaries, and reflective practice. Without that, there is a real risk of oversimplifying complex needs or inadvertently causing harm. That is one of the reasons I established the Association of Child and Family Coaches. The association was created to promote a more ethical, credible, and professionally grounded approach to this field. Through ACFC, I aim to raise standards, offer robust training pathways, create professional identity, and foster a community based on responsibility and compassion. Our programmes are designed to develop individuals not only in knowledge but also in readiness for practice. I also want ACFC to reflect the reality that many people approach this work with both professional ambition and lived experience. Lived experience can be incredibly powerful, but it must be balanced with safe, ethical training. That is central to the ethos of the Association. My aim is to help shape a field that is respected, trusted, and truly capable of supporting children and families effectively. Follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Dr. Sam Ballington