April 20, 2025

393: Coaching and Learning to Coach

34 minutes

What would it be to learn to help other people turn deeply towards their own lives? We’ve been asking this question in many ways over the past more than seven years, and this week we turn towards a great love of ours, the Thirdspace Professional Coaching Course, which is designed around this very question.

This year’s course begins in June and applications are coming in. In this rich conversation we talk together about what it is to be an attentive, compassionate and wise support for the development of others, and what it might be like to learn with us over the course of a year.

You can find out more about the programme on the Thirdspace website wearethirdspace.org

This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview

00:00 Introduction to the Thirdspace Professional Coaching Course

03:03 The Heart of Integral Development Coaching

05:59 Navigating Life's Interruptions with Creativity and Compassion

08:47 The Role of Community in Learning to Coach

12:03 Coaching is Learning to Turn Towards Life

14:58 The Importance of Belonging and Contribution

17:51 Embracing Creativity and Courage in Difficult Times

21:06 The Journey of Self-Discovery

23:55 Practical Skills for Life and Coaching

27:00 Conclusion and Invitation to Join

30:38 Taking Up Our "Right Size" in the World

Here's our source for this week:

Coaching and Learning to Coach

Every so often in life we pause and make note of the person we have become and the one we are becoming. Sometimes this reflection is prompted by professional circumstances, like a promotion, performance review, job change, or firing. Just as often it emerges from the “rest of life” – as through an illness, death, or the beginning or ending of a relationship. Whatever the origin, these experiences can feel like an opportunity or a burden, a chance to develop or a painful lesson…and often both. How we make sense of these experiences often determines what actions we take, and this, of course, influences our competence and fulfilment in life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, in these moments, to have someone by our side to ask skilful questions, listen deeply, be fully present with who we are and what we say, point out our blind spots, and custom-design practices to help us move forward? And wouldn’t it be marvellous, too, to be this person for others?

The Professional Coaching Course (PCC) exists in large part due to the primacy of these questions for ourselves and the people we serve.

Integral Development Coaching is what happens when two people develop a professional relationship that is grounded in mutual trust and respect, directed toward a set of clear outcomes, guided by presence, and informed by broad models about what it means to be a human being. It is a methodology. It is an integration project. It is a moment when you feel deeply connected to yourself and others, with a deep acceptance of everything, and you take practical steps to move forward in life. It is both simpler and more complex than it sounds.

James Flaherty and Amiel Handelsmann

From ‘Integrating Rigour, Compassion, and Creative Design - an Introduction to Integral Development Coaching and the PCC’

Join Us Live in 2025

On Sunday 8th June 2025 it will be our 400th episode and we are planning a Turning Towards Life live gathering on Zoom. You're all very welcome to join. It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet us and to meet others. If you are at all interested and you would like to join us, please keep watching out and listening out on the podcast or you could head over towards our website turningtowards.life and sign up for our weekly emails there and you will get all of the information directly into your inbox.

We also have the launch of our Turning Towards Life live programme which is going to run in six month seasons. It's going to be in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice. If you go to turningtowards.life there is a button you can press to register your interest in this.

About Turning Towards Life

Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.

Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe

Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife

Join Turning Towards Life Live: www.turningtowards.life/ttl-live-interest

...more