Relational Coaching Conference

Ty Francis

Can an organization be traumatized? If so, how do we identify symptoms and what are the implications for our work as coaches? I suggest that organizational trauma is at the heart of many organizational challenges and yet is largely undiagnosed and unaddressed. Without understanding that cultural trauma affects the performance of individuals and underlies many team dysfunctions, coaching interventions can inevitably be compromised. In this session we will explore a working definition of organizational trauma; share case studies; provide pointers for diagnosis; and a framework for dealing with organizational trauma. There will be opportunities for questions, discussion and co-inquiry.

Anamitra Chatterjee & Avik Mukherjee

This workshop will focus on working with the subjective creations of the mind. Our innate propensity to arbitrarily and subjectively define certain situations and outcomes as normal conditions us to expect those normal outcomes every time. The mind reacts to personal misfortunes when reality does not conform to our notions of normal. Trauma can be the result, playing up shock, grievance, and sorrow in repetitive loops. They can emerge as unconscious physical impulses. It is an inalienable principle of every disturbance field, whether spacetime or mind, that the more you disturb a disturbance the more disturbed the field becomes. The workshop will draw on the teachings of the Upanishads to give a fresh perspective to coaches on overcoming a mind disturbed by trauma.

Jonathan Lake

This workshop looks at how organizations can meet an internal or external critical incident optimally, not only supporting staff with adapting to changes both cultural and structural, but also seeing if there is an opportunity for the organization and its people to develop resilience and grow in the aftermath. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. We will look at bespoke and diverse needs of organizations and how we all best respond onsite from a relational coaching and psychotherapeutic perspective using relational techniques to support individuals, teams and management. More info can be found at jonathanlake.co.uk

Jai Shree Adhyaru

This workshop comprises learnings from a range of projects with a focus on training people to work with those affected by traumatic events e.g. the Grenfell Tower fire and evacuation from conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Ukraine. In such sensitive work, relationships are key. Team cohesion and support is central to preventing some of the occupational hazards for workers, e.g. burnout and vicarious traumatization. I will talk about the design and implementation of services and how we buffer against the potential risks associated with the work. With examples from delivery including a psychological stabilisation program developed by the Children and War Foundation and including how to support staff to engage people in sharing their experiences, bearing witness to their accounts, and managing the impact of hearing horrific and unimaginable stories. 

Marnix Reijmerink

Trauma arises when a meaningful connection is disrupted by a distressing experience. It is compounded by the unavailability of secure support systems that would otherwise facilitate emotional release and recovery. According to John Bowlby, attachment figures - secure bases - are essential in preventing the separation anxiety caused by these broken connections from becoming permanent. Through the presence of a secure base, we can reconnect and experience closeness once more. This proximity allows the negative, stressful effects of disconnection to heal. During this workshop, you will discover how to serve as a secure base for your clients through exploring potentially traumatic events. You’ll be introduced to key secure base coaching concepts, engage in conversations about them with peers, and acquire tools to enrich your coaching practice.

Marie-Anne Chidiac

At the heart of trauma we find loss of contact. Within organizations, this disconnection can be subtle, often felt in experience and yet difficult to pinpoint. For example, behind seemingly impressive mission statements, charismatic leaders, or smooth mergers, we can still nonetheless find traumatized fields with large elements of desensitisation and ruptured relationships. This loss of contact/connection is understood from a contemporary relational gestalt perspective as a loss, or moderation, of contact with self, other and the situation. Coaching in such environments can be challenging as the coaching intervention can feel stuck, confusing, ineffective or, at worst, retraumatizing. This workshop will provide a Relational-Gestalt informed perspective of traumatized organizations and, propose an emergent and relational way to support coaching interventions in such contexts.

Siobhan Peters

Drawing on the research literature and on first-person action-learning inquiry, this session will explore definitions of trauma, concepts of disability, and the complex interlinkages between the two. The focus will be on the lived experience of people living with physical or sensory differences, chronic health conditions, or with the impacts of their mental health or neurodivergence. Why is trauma-informed practice relevant when working with people with disabilities? What might we want to explore (in our own time, at the right pace) about our own felt sense of vulnerability? And how can we hold space for clients to enquire into their inner experience of disability and its relationship to their leadership?

Tammy Tawadros

Adverse childhood experiences and traumas of different kinds and to varying degrees have been present in the lives of many of us. As coaches these are experiences that we may need to heed, honor and integrate into our practice for both ourselves, and our coachees. Drawing on Gwen Adshed's work, we will explore the healing potential of using open letters (Ingram & Perslesz, 2004) to harvest and integrate the germs of wisdom that talking openly about traumatic experiences can surface in this experiential workshop. Please come prepared to write and share, a short piece about how you have coped, moved beyond or otherwise gained a different perspective on a traumatic incident or episode in your life, to support and bear witness to other participants’ stories. In the workshop, we will contract for strict confidentiality within the group and to co-create a climate of safety and support. For this reason, we ask that you commit to attending punctually, for the duration of the (slightly longer) workshop.