I had a seed of an idea when I was planning my retirement from the QARANC that I could pull together elements of both my military career and my experiences gathering knowledge from various corners of the earth. This seed was to formally acknowledge my own experience and skills with a post graduate certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. I could win awards for the muscles acquired from lugging my own portfolio of certificates, it could be renamed “the Luggage” (Pratchett, 1983) due to its reputation for eating a fair woodland of trees, a ton weight of paper reflecting three decades of knowledge gathering. I was asked once “how come you have so many different strings to your bow, you have a very diverse selection of abilities in your CV?” I reminded the querent that I was in my mid 50’s and it was likely that even if I kept within the NMC recommendations I would be collecting a few trees worth of paper, but I recognised I was a perpetual student with a curious mind, learning was a hobby for me, I enjoyed explorations of ideas and new topics.
A Quest to be Helpful
My quest for knowledge did have a theme. My theme was being ‘helpful’ I would hear that cry for help, and I would jump to like a Disney knight in shining armour. I wanted to ensure that I was a theoretically knowledgeable nurse, and I wanted to be a nurse who could always support patients or clients to make informed choices. Being an advocate for my patients is integral to my development from student nurse and continued throughout my career.
Developing as a Coach
The seed of my coaching ability and experience started in this foundation of providing a space for others. The concept of learning to engage with others to ensure that the team worked and provide the best possible care was a transferable skill to supporting communication in many situations. Believing in myself and my own abilities took longer and it is easy to look back and pick out those elements that I feel reflect the skills I continue to use now. The formal part of developing as a coach is grounded in exploring yourself, I never thought I would hear myself quote famous psychotherapists but it felt like the theories I was becoming accustomed to started with the concept of self and it was important to recognise this before inflicting these processes upon others. Every tool that I use with clients I have applied to my own thoughts and plans. As I said at the start, the PGCE was a step of recognition and it required me to spend significant time recognising who I was.
Using my Experiences to Support Others
My journey into understanding myself, was the first step into really understanding other people and I am still learning about others as we are all unique.
Reference
Pratchett, T. (1983) The Colour of Magic. Buckinghamshire:Colin Smythe.
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