Not every decision marks a new beginning; sometimes it continues what has been there all along.
Over time, I found myself drawn to a different way of working with people — with more room for reflection, deeper exploration, and more clarity about what guides us through life.
The path into coaching
For many years, my professional path unfolded in environments where responsibility, sound judgement, stability, confidentiality and working with people in demanding situations were part of everyday life.
Those experiences taught me to remain calm under pressure, think clearly in complex circumstances, and listen carefully before reaching conclusions.
Over time, I became increasingly interested not only in what was happening on the surface, but in what was shaping it underneath — how people think, what drives them, what holds them back, and how this influences the way they decide and act.
That interest had been present for a long time, gradually becoming clearer and more defined.
The decision to move into coaching marked more than a change in professional direction. It opened a new chapter in which I could connect my previous experience with a way of working that aligned more closely with how I wanted to work with people.
That process also deepened my awareness of my own responses, beliefs and patterns, and of the ways they shape how I see myself and others.
Over time, I came to understand that the depth with which we can support another person is closely connected to the depth of our own self-reflection.
Today, I bring both into my coaching — the experience of my professional path and a deeper understanding of people, developed through sustained reflection and my own personal work.
When you start to see yourself differently
Training as a coach did not only teach me methods and questions.
A large part of the process was the work on myself.
I began to recognise my own reactions, beliefs, old patterns, and the ways I had learned over a lifetime to protect or adapt myself.
Exploring unconscious patterns and archetypes mattered to me particularly.
In time I came to understand how hard it is to truly accompany another person if I am not willing to look into my own inner workings.
That understanding became one of the foundations of my work.
A change that is not becoming someone else
Early on my path, I had the feeling I was turning into a different person.
Today I see it differently.
I was not becoming someone else.
Step by step I was coming closer to a part of myself that had long been covered over by roles, expectations and ways of operating that I had once needed.
So in my work with people I do not start from the idea that they need “fixing”.
The question that interests me far more is this:
What can change, once you begin to understand yourself better?
Why coaching
Coaching drew me in because I experienced for myself how valuable it is to have a space where nobody is trying to correct you.
A space where you do not have to know straight away.
Where you can say something and truly hear it for the first time.
Where someone is with you with enough presence that you begin to recognise your own answers.
That is the kind of space I want to make too.
My approach to the coaching relationship
My decision to make coaching part of my professional path was also shaped by a personal understanding of how important it is to have a space where no one is trying to fix you, where there is no judgement, and where nothing needs to be resolved immediately.
A space where you can give voice to your thoughts, explore them more openly, and begin to recognise more clearly what is shaping the way you think and respond.
That is the kind of space I want to create in the way I work with people.
My approach is guided by principles that I consider essential to a meaningful coaching relationship and to the way I want to work with people:
Present
So that there is space to notice what may otherwise go unseen or unsaid.
Curious
So that we can explore what something means for you with openness and curiosity.
Honest
So that I can name what I notice, even when it opens a more challenging question.
Respectful
Of your story, your pace and your decisions.
Responsible
By recognising the boundaries of my work and remaining committed to my own professional and personal development.
Change rarely happens overnight.
Through my own personal work, I came to understand more deeply that change is not about becoming someone else. It is about understanding ourselves well enough to begin making different choices.
Much of the way we respond and act is influenced by habits, beliefs and experiences that may once have served a purpose, but no longer support us in the same way.
Through this process, I also began to see more clearly how strongly these patterns can affect our reactions and decisions, often before we are even fully aware of them.
Awareness creates the space to notice what is driving us, what may be holding us back, and whether we still want to respond in the same way.
First, we notice.
Then, we understand.
And where we once reacted automatically, we begin to see that another choice is possible.
That, for me, is one of the most meaningful aspects of coaching.