Medical background
Seventeen years as a doctor in the NHS, including as an experienced GP, working across different specialties and countries.
My story
Great on paper. Not, as it turned out, in practice.
If you’d met me in 2016, you’d have thought my life was great. And it was, on paper. I was an experienced GP with a CV reflecting years of hard work and achievements in different specialties and countries. I was practising in a friendly, small surgery in the Cotswolds with great colleagues and a loyal community of patients. But something profound was missing and underneath the veneer I was not happy.
Despite reducing my hours, I became increasingly unfulfilled as a GP. My work-life balance didn’t reflect my values and continued to deteriorate as the demands and constraints of the NHS increased. The impact on my family was palpable. The bottom line: although I was a loved and highly respected GP, I no longer enjoyed general practice. Surely there was more to life than this?
In 2017 I found myself at a crossroads as my surgery, like many small surgeries in the country, was closing. I decided to take a short sabbatical first. In that time I experienced life as I had always hoped it could be: quality time with family and friends, and space for my own reflection. I knew there was no way I was returning to my previous life. Even so, it took me two years, and a rollercoaster of shame, anger, guilt and fear, before I finally removed my name from the GP register.
The emotional response to the loss of identity that came with leaving my medical career was like grief. But, like most, I came out the other end stronger and wiser.
“Let me fall if I must fall. The one I will become will catch me.”
The Baal Shem TovIn late 2018 I discovered my passion and talent for coaching and began my formal retraining with The Coaching Academy to become a professional certified coach. I received coaching myself along the way and used my new skills to support my own family through a difficult period, which fortified my faith in the coaching process.
In early 2020 I qualified with a distinction and set up Cotswold Coaching Clinic. Seeing others overcome their self-doubt and procrastination to avoid the pain of future regrets is humbling and inspiring. As a certified coach and affiliate member of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, I am committed to the highest standard of professional coaching.
My life finally feels authentic and balanced because I am at peace with myself personally and professionally. Knowing who you really are, not who you or others think you should be, and working towards your true potential is liberating and empowering.
