About Philip
About Philip
About Philip
I’m a coach, psychologist and university academic based in Oxfordshire.
I’m a coach, psychologist and university academic based in Oxfordshire.
I’m a coach, psychologist and university academic based in Oxfordshire.
For more than thirty years I’ve worked in psychology and higher education, teaching, researching, supervising and working with people at different stages of their development.
For more than thirty years I’ve worked in psychology and higher education, teaching, researching, supervising and working with people at different stages of their development.
Why Coaching?
Why Coaching?
Why Coaching?
One of the things I have always enjoyed most in higher education is seeing people develop, become more confident and discover what they are capable of.
One of the things I have always enjoyed most in higher education is seeing people develop, become more confident and discover what they are capable of.
Over time, that interest began to extend beyond academic development and towards a broader question: what helps people make meaningful changes in their lives and work?
Over time, that interest began to extend beyond academic development and towards a broader question: what helps people make meaningful changes in their lives and work?
Coaching gave me a way to work with that question directly.
Coaching gave me a way to work with that question directly.
I’m particularly drawn to an approach in which the client retains ownership of the thinking and the decisions. Ideas about agency, authorship and ownership have become increasingly important to me, both through coaching and through my wider work in higher education.
I’m particularly drawn to an approach in which the client retains ownership of the thinking and the decisions. Ideas about agency, authorship and ownership have become increasingly important to me, both through coaching and through my wider work in higher education.
I’ve also increasingly found myself bringing a coaching mindset into my University teaching, particularly by helping students think for themselves rather than simply giving them answers.
I’ve also increasingly found myself bringing a coaching mindset into my University teaching, particularly by helping students think for themselves rather than simply giving them answers.
Psychology and Coaching
Psychology and Coaching
Psychology and Coaching
My coaching is psychologically informed.
My coaching is psychologically informed.
Both my academic background and my professional coach training have exposed me to a wide range of ideas about how people think, behave and change.
Both my academic background and my professional coach training have exposed me to a wide range of ideas about how people think, behave and change.
I don’t work from a single psychological model or fixed method. Instead, I draw on relevant ideas and approaches where they help me understand the conversation more fully and support the client’s thinking.
I don’t work from a single psychological model or fixed method. Instead, I draw on relevant ideas and approaches where they help me understand the conversation more fully and support the client’s thinking.
“Working with Philip has been genuinely transformative. He has an incredible ability to create a safe, supportive space where you feel completely heard and never judged. He listens deeply, remembers the details that matter, and asks thoughtful questions that help you uncover things you didn’t even realise were there.”
“Working with Philip has been genuinely transformative. He has an incredible ability to create a safe, supportive space where you feel completely heard and never judged. He listens deeply, remembers the details that matter, and asks thoughtful questions that help you uncover things you didn’t even realise were there.”
“Working with Philip has been genuinely transformative. He has an incredible ability to create a safe, supportive space where you feel completely heard and never judged. He listens deeply, remembers the details that matter, and asks thoughtful questions that help you uncover things you didn’t even realise were there.”
Coaching client
Coaching client
My Background
My Background
My Background
I trained as a personal and business coach with Barefoot Coaching, completing their ICF Level 2 accredited coach training programme. My coaching is grounded in the ICF Core Competencies and Code of Ethics.
I trained as a personal and business coach with Barefoot Coaching, completing their ICF Level 2 accredited coach training programme. My coaching is grounded in the ICF Core Competencies and Code of Ethics.
Alongside coaching, I’m a Reader in Psychology at the University of Buckingham, where I’ve worked since 1996. My academic work has included teaching, research, supervision and university leadership, with a particular interest in cognitive psychology and individual differences.
Alongside coaching, I’m a Reader in Psychology at the University of Buckingham, where I’ve worked since 1996. My academic work has included teaching, research, supervision and university leadership, with a particular interest in cognitive psychology and individual differences.
Beyond Coaching
Beyond Coaching
Beyond Coaching
Away from psychology and coaching, I’m happiest doing things that absorb me completely: playing music, performing, running, being outdoors and writing. I’m also endlessly curious about people, ideas and the sometimes rather messy business of trying to live well, and have a particular weakness for quizzes, puzzles and anything that gives me something interesting to think about.
Away from psychology and coaching, I’m happiest doing things that absorb me completely: playing music, performing, running, being outdoors and writing. I’m also endlessly curious about people, ideas and the sometimes rather messy business of trying to live well, and have a particular weakness for quizzes, puzzles and anything that gives me something interesting to think about.
Away from psychology and coaching, I’m happiest doing things that absorb me completely: playing music, performing, running, being outdoors and writing. I’m also endlessly curious about people, ideas and the sometimes rather messy business of trying to live well, and have a particular weakness for quizzes, puzzles and anything that gives me something interesting to think about.
Footnotes for Flourishing
Footnotes for Flourishing
I also write Footnotes for Flourishing, an independent blog about psychology, agency and the everyday questions involved in living well.
I also write Footnotes for Flourishing, an independent blog about psychology, agency and the everyday questions involved in living well.
Although it isn’t primarily about coaching, many of the ideas I explore there also inform how I think about change, choice and possibility. If you’d like to get a further sense of how I think, it may be a useful place to wander.
Although it isn’t primarily about coaching, many of the ideas I explore there also inform how I think about change, choice and possibility. If you’d like to get a further sense of how I think, it may be a useful place to wander.
Read Footnotes for Flourishing →