Start your Return to Wellness® journey to help you in living well with pain and illness or injury
Coaching helped me to separate the feelings of panic from the uncomfortable and scary feelings associated with my dizziness symptoms and be more proactive in managing them. I realised that I’m more adaptable than I previously thought!
We did an online session on a very powerful and emotional dream I had. Barbara got straight to the point and directly addressed the issue. This helped me grasp and illuminate the meaning of the dream. I felt very supported and amazed by her clarity and confidence.
1-1 support to help you
Navigate the many changes
Restore your sense of control, an emotional balance and confidence
Manage your symptoms effectively
Learn to live with the uncertainty of fluctuating symptoms and/or relapse
Return to work
Help people close to you understand the impact on you and how they can help
Restore communication and connection in your family
Get the most from your medical team
Design how you want your life to be and implement a plan to achieve that
You’ll work with someone who knows what it’s like
Having had an unexpected serious neurological illness and been in the caring role for my partner, I’ve experienced the life-changing impact a challenging health issue can have and move to place where living well with pain and illness (or injury) is possible.
In addition to working with people like you through my coaching practice, I’ve also supported many people with rare medical conditions through a charity I once led and conducted research in this area for a masters in coaching psychology.
You’re here because you want to move forward
In a series of purposeful conversations, we’ll work collaboratively on the area(s) of your life where you want to make a change. You’ll:
Reclaim the essence of who you are and recognise how you’ve changed.
Re-learn your strengths and capabilities and identify what is important to you.
Let go ways of being in the world which no longer serve you and develop new approaches.
Leave behind the emotional struggle and take back control.
Create choices for yourself and develop a plan, moving yourself forward into action.
So you return to that sense of wellness you’ve been seeking.
Get started in 3 steps
Step 1 – What do you want to change?
Issues clients often come with are listed in these categories. Click on each to learn more. If you feel your issue isn’t listed here, mention it in the contact form in step 2.
Manage your health issue
- Figure out how to live in a changed body
- Design a holistic recovery/rehabilitation plan for the non-medical side of things
- Develop non-medical approaches to managing your symptoms (pain, fatigue, etc.)
- Develop collaborative partnerships with your healthcare team to get your needs met
Reclaim your emotional health
- Make sense of what has happened
- Move beyond feelings of anger, loss and fear
- Feel balanced emotionally
- Take back control
- Regain your independence
- Minimise and manage stress in your life
- Develop a positive self-image
- Learn to live with the uncertainty that comes with many serious illnesses and chronic conditions
- Decipher what your day and night dreams are telling you
Reclaim your relationships
- Make sense of and manage change in your relationships with family, friends and/or work colleagues
- Stay socially active
- Balance the roles of spouse/partner and carer
- Redefining your relationships with your children, siblings, and/or parents
- Restore communication and connection in your family
- Get out of unhealthy relationships
- Get into healthy relationships
- Respond to people’s reactions to your or your loved one’s health issue
Click here to learn about an innovative approach called Family Constellations which I often use to help you in dealing with family and health issues.
I offer Family Constellations on a 1-1 basis which you can read about below in step 3, and also as a group workshop which you can read about here.
Reclaim meaning and purpose in your life
- Explore how you want to live your life going forwards
- Understand what is really important to you, so any future decisions you make are aligned with that
- Find ways to contribute, be useful and productive
Return to work
- Return to work, volunteering, and/or education
- Develop strategies for a successful transition back into work
- Manage relationships with colleagues, your line manager and HR
- Discover ways to use your skills, strengths and interests at work
- Find alternative employment
- Develop a new career which takes into account the impact of your health issue or caring responsibilities
- Do an inventory of your skills, strengths and passions as part of developing a new career for yourself
I take a broad view of what ‘work’ means. It doesn’t have to be a typical 9-5 job. It may be paid or volunteer.
Reclaim your hobbies and interests
- Get back to your interests and hobbies
- Find new interests and hobbies
Step 2 – Get a free consultation to discuss your needs
Get in touch by completing this contact form and I’ll respond to arrange a time. We’ll talk for up to an hour about what you want for yourself, how coaching can help, how many sessions you will need, and how we would like to work together. But if you know what you need and want to get started now, go straight to step 3.
Step 3 – Select your health and wellness coaching package
I offer four 1-1 coaching packages. If you would like something that you don’t see here, get in touch by completing the contact form just above and we can discuss the possibilities.
Payment is made by bank transfer or Paypal. I no longer accept cheques.
You can email me for prices at barbara@returntowellness.co.uk. Payment plans are available to help spread the costs if needed. Please ask about this during our consultation.
Once payment has been received, you’ll receive a Welcome Pack with information about the coaching process and our agreement. You’ll also receive a Getting Started Pack to prepare for our first session and help you get the most out of coaching, including worksheets and tools to use as we move through the coaching process.
Wellness Session
90 minutes
This stand-alone 1-1 session is great if you want a taster, have a very specific issue you want to find a resolution to, or we worked together previously and you want a top-up session.
Email support available for one month after the session.
Family Constellation
90 minutes
This stand-alone 1-1 session is suitable when you are dealing with the impact that family relationships and health issues have on each other. Using an experiential and powerful approach called Family Constellations, we look at your issue through the lens of the various people involved.
This approach gives you new perspectives and awareness which in turn gives you choices on how you move forward to restore balance, connection and wellbeing in your family.
Email support available for a month after the session.
Foundations 4 Wellness
6 sessions
This package gets you started on your Return to Wellness® journey.
6 sessions (6 hours total)
over 3 months
Email support available between sessions.
We’ll agree what you want to focus on and work together towards your goals.
At the end of our sessions, you can choose whether you’d like to continue with another block of six sessions, ‘top up’ with a one-off session, or you might decide you’ve reached the goals you had in mind and end our work there.
Return to Wellness®
12 sessions
This package provides comprehensive and ongoing support over a greater length of time.
12 sessions (12 hours total)
over 6-9 months
Email support available between sessions.
Using the Wellness Appreciation workbook, we look at all aspects of your experience as you adjust to living with the changes brought on by a serious health issue, set goals in those areas important to you, devise an action plan to meet them and implement it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is each session?
A stand-alone session is 90 minutes. If you selected the 6 or 12 session coaching package, each session is 60 minutes. During the first session we go through any pre-work you’ve completed and set our agenda for our work together.
How often will we talk?
We’ll typically speak every two weeks as this allows you to build momentum regarding the change you want to make. If you opt to have more than six sessions, we can review how often we meet after that to determine if moving to meeting every 3-4 weeks would be right for you.
Is there any support outside of our sessions?
In between sessions, I offer email support if something has come up as a result of our work you wish to share, you have a question or want to share a success. If I feel the topic maybe too complex for me to do it justice in an email or there isn’t enough information for me to give a decent response, I’ll respond to the degree I can and suggest it is dealt with in our next session.
What happens at the end of our work together?
We’ll agree what’s right for you. You might decide you’ve reached the goal you had in mind; you might want to book in a one-off session in a few weeks or months, or you might decide you’d like to book another coaching package. You can also subscribe to my newsletter as another way of keeping in touch and being part of the Return to Wellness community.
What do you mean by a "challenging health issue"?
Many people I have work with have experienced the onset of a challenging health issue suddenly, which has been life-changing for them in some way. Other clients are dealing with health challenges that might at first appear “minor” but actually have a significant impact on their day to day life. Or the health issue may be serious and temporary. I don’t have a set of strict criteria about what is challenging and what is not. If a health issue is having an impact on your life, then I’d love to support you to move forward. I’m always happy to have a chat about what you’re going through to find out if I’m the best fit for you.
Do you have expertise in specific health conditions?
I’ve worked with people who have/had
- Cancer
- Parkinson’s
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Transverse Myelitis (TM)
- Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO)
- Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM)
- Diabetes
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
- Lupus
- Heart disease including heart attacks in younger men
- Angina
- Arthritis
- Benign conditions such as dizziness
- Back pain
- Challenging injuries (back, leg, etc.)
I have also supported family members who have had to take on a caring or supporting role.
As a coach, my role is not to give clients medical related advice on how to treat their condition or symptoms of it. I’m not a doctor or nurse so not qualified to do that. Nor is it the purpose of coaching to do that. Therefore, having expertise in specific health conditions is not needed. However, I do read about your or your loved one’s condition so I have an understanding of the issues you face on a daily basis.
If at any time I felt your issue or questions you ask would be better dealt with by a suitably qualified professional, I will let you know that.
Coaching is also not a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment.