An exploration of the lived experiences of coaches who adopt a mindfulness-informed approach when dealing with difficulty in their coaching practice

All coaches face difficulty during sessions, from discomfort and distraction to the emotional labour of handling deep challenges. While all coaches know the importance of ethical boundaries, difficulties often arise for either coach or coachee. Sometimes, these issues must be held and acknowledged. But how do coaches develop these holding skills? This thesis explores coaches' lived experiences using mindfulness to address difficulties in coaching sessions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was employed to develop an understanding of the experiences of coaches who engaged with mindfulness-informed approaches to support them in managing difficulties during coaching sessions. Semi-structured interviews and follow-up interviews were conducted with eight coaches, and the transcripts were compiled. Following a seven-step process of analysis (Smith et al., 2022), personal experiential themes and group experiential themes were identified and explored. The analysis elicited a rich tapestry of the lived experiences of these coaches, with four group experiential themes emerging from the first round of interviews and one clear tenet emerging from the follow-up interviews. Coaches highlighted how mindfulness, in moments of difficulty, supported them in bringing strong attention to the coachee and their story, which enabled a strong sense of presence. They emphasised the importance of grounding, which brought calm and opened up choices. A third group experiential theme touched on turning towards the difficulty, which led to a sense of holding. Finally, a sense of moving forward was facilitated by finding balance and enabling values to be explored. The follow-up interview emphasised the importance of regular mindfulness practice outside of the coaching session. The findings suggest that a mindfulness-informed approach is not the only way to hold difficulty in the coaching session; however, it is one way that coaches can develop holding skills when required. It also emphasises the importance of not treating mindfulness as a tool but rather recognising it as something that the coach should embody, much the same as coaching, so that it is an authentic extension of who the coach is and how they deal with difficulties in their own lives outside of coaching. The research has implications for the training of coaches, supervision, and the coaching alliance.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

DCM

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Oxford Brookes University

Author dc:creator

• O'Leary, Pat

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Gannon, Judie
• Myers, Adrian

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.24384/r8v5-5s94

OAI record oai:identifier

https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=uketd_dc&identifier=tle%3A70521097-4179-4e29-b0c6-c7423f640b30%3Ad6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca%3A1