News from Beatha Coaching
Dear friends
Welcome to updates from Beatha Coaching, my new look newsletter. For a while now I have been wondering what to do with the blog space on Beathacoaching.org. When I started my practice in 2022 I was writing here regularly, but since November my primary writing space has shifted to Substack. I toyed with the idea of writing longer form pieces on the blog, but let’s be realistic – writing a regular Substack, and a book manuscript, AND a blog is both overkill and unlikely. However, as The Anxious Academic, my Substack platform, has developed into a space for research and reflections on writing, that left room for a newsletter with practice updates. So that is what you will find here now. If you were previously on my mailing list you have been added automatically – but don’t worry, you can unsubscribe at any time and I won’t be offended.
Practice updates
Over the last two years I have loved working (almost) exclusively with academics. But advocating for better mental health support in HE, even from the outside, can be a little draining. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere – my academia specific coaching and workshops will continue, both in institutions and through the community. But after some reflection on how I want to develop my coaching practice into the next few years, I realised I wanted to work with some other clients as well.
I have been genuinely surprised by how my practice has developed in the last two years. We were encouraged to ‘niche’ by the instructors on my coaching programme at Cambridge, which was one of the reasons I focused so strongly on supporting those in academia when I established Beatha Coaching. Knowing the sector from the inside (and knowing its flaws) was an asset when working with clients who were struggling, but who didn’t want to have to explain to a well-meaning coach why writing a monograph was important, or that promotions have to be applied for in HE. I was able to say, ‘that sounds terrible, even for the sector’, and mean it!
But whilst I had a reasonable idea of which techniques I wanted to employ to support over-stretched and over-stressed academics with their wellbeing, I am still pinching myself two years later that I am now being hired to deliver somatic therapy and yoga classes, workshops on mental health for PhD supervisors, and trainings in peer coaching for doctoral students. My therapeutic toolkit has expanded as well, from narrative coaching and CBT when I started, to a much wider range of trauma-informed approaches including Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. I am confidently calling myself a mental health focused coach now, and recently changed my social media byline to ‘writer, coach, and mental health educator’ – academic is gone. I don’t feel like I need it to be there any more.
What has stayed the same is my commitment to offering the most neuroscience-informed interventions that I can to my clients. I know that it is this, not my academic background, that now sets me apart in the coaching field and means I have something unique to offer, not just to those working in HE but also to other coaches, therapists, and counsellors. My research into trauma and collective memory allowed my to take this path, and I am so grateful for it. I continue to research and write as an independent scholar, and you can follow my progress in that arena by subscribing to my Substack, and staying tuned for book updates as they come!
I’m taking new clients!
I currently have a waiting list for new academic clients for 1-2-1 coaching. You can find all the details and my prices here. In the meantime, if you are thinking about accessing coaching support please do get in touch and book a discovery call with me. A discovery call is a 30 minute chat about what you would like support with and how my approach might help. Once we have agreed whether or not coaching with me is the right thing for you, I can add you to the waiting list for coaching appointments.
Meanwhile, I am delighted to announce a new strand to my practice focused on supporting other coaches, as well as therapists and counsellors, with their wellbeing. I am currently offering a three session package of wellness coaching on my website here. My focus, as always, is trauma informed and concentrates on nervous system management and neuroscience based coaching. If you are a coach, counsellor, therapist, or work in the helping professions, and are feeling burnt-out, overstretched, unable to regulate after client sessions, struggling with boundaries, or needing to rethink your practice in any way, please do get in touch. I would love to work with you to refind your balance and self-care in practice.
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What’s happening in July
Do join me and members of the Beatha Coaching Community on Wednesday 24th July at 1pm for this month’s workshop.
Trauma and the Body will give you a definition of trauma, explain the neuroscience behind why memory is so connected to the body, and explore some of the common ways that trauma shows up including through postural conditioning and faulty interoception (our ability to sense and correctly interpret our internal state). If you work or live in a stressful environment (what academic doesn’t?) this workshop should give you a deeper insight into how trauma is affecting you or those close to you.
This workshop is part of the Beatha Coaching Community programme. To join the session as a non-member just visit my Buymeacoffee page, drop me some support, and put ‘trauma workshop’ in the comments:
Beatha Coaching Community
Without a doubt the absolute highlight of my first two years in practice has been the steady growth of an amazing, nurturing, deeply genuine community of women from all stages of their academic careers, supporting one another and supporting me along the way. My shifts in direction as a coach have been significantly informed by working with this community and responding to the issues they brought to coaching and the stories they shared as a group. I hope to see the community continuing to grow and it will remain the main space in which I offer HE relevant content and support.
A full schedule for community events is now available here. Coming up in August we will be doing a deep dive into values on Wednesday 7th at 1pm – join us to learn more about your core values, where they come from, and how leveraging values can help you to make decisions you are happy with for the long-term. Then on the 14th at 2pm former participants of Refresh Your Writing are invited back for a mini writing retreat. Over 2.5 hours this free event will give you an opportunity to reconnect with one another and enjoy some more stimulating writing practices. I do hope you can join us.
Join the community:
It was always important to me that I offer mental health education and career support that is as accessible as possible, that’s why membership in the community offers as much as it does and has different price scales. Members get:
- Monthly group coaching for members only
- Access to a monthly workshop and a say in the topics I offer
- A weekly writing space and check-in point
- Reduced cost 1-2-1 coaching
if you would like to join the membership you just need to sign up for whatever price option suits your budget, no questions asked, and you can cancel at any time.
- PhD candidate: £12 a month
- P/T or precarious: £14 a month
- Permanent F/T: £18 a month
YouTube
I’ve been continuing to make free content on YouTube for my clients – a huge thank you for everyone who likes classes and subscribes to the channel, it is the simplest way to extend the reach of my material. Last week I released a ten minute bedtime stretching practice focused on the low back. If you haven’t tried it yet why not give it a go:
And that’s all my updates for this newsletter. In the future I plan to share more about the workshops and consultancies I’ve been running, and don’t forget you can subscribe for FREE to read my Substack regularly here:
If you have any questions or want to contact me, please do email me or leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you. Wishing you all a lovely July,
Francesca x
Beatha Coaching 
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