Clara Gibson, Therapeutic Coach

my story

All my childhood I watched my mother suffering perpetual misery, serious stress-related health problems and at times, scary reactivity.  So even as a child, less than 10 years of age, I would seek to help my mother feel better and could see that if she was to focus on ‘now’ rather than her history (which was her everyday), that she could be a much happier person.

My search to understand the impact of life experience, our patterns of thinking, what, how and why we eat, began in those early days.  Throughout my life, I have studied, trained, challenged the systems I have worked in, and refused to be controlled by those who wanted to do so.

This passion has taken many forms.  I trained as a nurse – and was very unmanageable - but the patients loved me and got better. I have sung and acted professionally for five years, but realised that I wasn’t going to change the world that way.  I studied Sociology, then Health Education, and even got started on my PHD (into the relationship between women’s childhood experiences and their pregnancy outcomes) - very much inspired by my own experiences of childhood and having my first two sons die.

There is much more to my history and my passion. Politics (no longer party political), trade union activism, environmentalism, my work as a community and specialist health visitor – in some of the poorest areas of London, with families referred into social services and families whose children had severe disability or life-limiting conditions.

What I know is that our potential is unlimited, and will keep growing as long as we keep trying new things, challenging ourselves and being willing to learn.  From my personal life, NHS experiences, my studies and my training, I am extremely questioning of whether ‘institutions’ or ‘the system’ has our best interests at heart.  It is each one of us who has to take action, take charge and transform our own lives. And by doing so, we make our world and our contribution to the wider world a better place.  Sometimes individuals can need or want more support, and others only need a light levering to speedily make an immense difference in their own lives.

My style

As you can see from my credentials (below), I have studied widely.  I have never been someone who sticks absolutely by rules, ideologies or recipes.  I have decades of experience of working with people and challenging thinking.  

I use IEMT to disentangle clients’ negative emotions, memories and sense of identities (we do have several).  I use NLP to help people become aware of their old limiting patterns of thinking and beliefs; to build new resourceful patterns and beliefs.  I use goal-setting to help clients have direction.

Typically clients find that their energy quickly improves, and their sense of possibility, self confidence, self care, relationships and their effectiveness, also transform.

I will challenge clients and disrupt their old patterns.

If you are someone who wants to examine your history in great detail, I am not the therapist for you. No-one needs to remain a victim. I work with people who want to step out of the patterns and history that has trapped them, to live their lives with courage, afresh, positivity and love.

Credentials

Master Practitioner Integral Eye Movement Therapy

Master Practitioner Neurolinguistic Programming

Dip Life Coaching; Brief Solution Focussed Therapy

Family Therapy – Institute of Family Therapy

Counselling – RSA; Pg Dip – Health Visiting; M.Sc. Health Education

B.Sc.Sociology; Registered General Nurse