Life Coaching FAQs

A life coach helps you work out what you actually want, and then stays with you while you move toward it. It is forward-looking, practical work. You bring the situation, the coach asks the questions you have been avoiding, and together you turn a vague sense that something needs to change into clear next steps.

In a session I listen, ask questions and reflect back what I hear, so you can see your own situation more clearly. Between sessions you try small, practical steps, not homework. Over time you build a clear picture of where you are heading and the confidence to get there.

Therapy and counselling often look at the past and are the right place for mental health conditions, trauma or crisis. Life coaching looks forward: what you want next and how to get there. If something comes up that needs a counsellor or your GP, I will say so. Many women use both.

A mentor shares their own experience and advice from a path they have already walked. A coach does not hand you their answers. A coach helps you find your own, which tends to stick because it fits your life. If you want direction that is genuinely yours, coaching is usually the better fit.

Books and courses are great for ideas. What they cannot do is notice when you are stuck, ask the next question, or keep you accountable when life gets busy. Coaching adds a real person and a steady rhythm, which is why change tends to last. My longest-running Mastermind group has met for three years.

Not quite. A career coach focuses on your job: CVs, interviews and the next role. A life coach looks at the whole picture, because work, family and how you want to feel are all connected. Many of the women I coach are changing career, so we cover both.

Martha Beck is an American sociologist, best-selling author and life coach, known for her long-running column in O, The Oprah Magazine. Her Martha Beck Institute trains and certifies coaches in her approach, which pairs practical tools with listening to your own inner sense of what feels right. I trained and certified with her. marthabeck.com

Yes. I am a Certified Martha Beck life coach, with more than ten years coaching women through change in life and work. Before coaching I was a Head of Faculty, then worked in a Ministry of Education role focused on wellbeing, then led a girls’ school leadership programme.

I coach women, usually 40 or over, who are ready to make a change in life or work. Often she is the one holding everything together for everyone else, and she has quietly started to ask whether this is it. You do not need to know exactly what you want before we start.

Yes, that is exactly the work I do. Feeling stuck rarely sits in one part of life, so we look at both together. We start by getting clear on what you actually want, then build a direction and small next steps you can take straight away.

Yes. Many of my clients are professional women in their forties and fifties weighing up a career change, often from a role that looks successful from the outside. I made that change myself, so I know what it costs and why staying put can cost more.

My work is life and career coaching rather than business strategy. Many of the women I coach run their own businesses, and we often work on the things that sit underneath the business: direction, confidence, boundaries and how you want your working life to feel.

Both. I coach in person in Auckland and online by Google Meet, so you can work with me from anywhere in New Zealand and beyond. Online sessions work just as well, and many women find them easier to fit around work and family.

Look for a coach with a recognised certification, real experience with people like you, and a way of working that feels right when you talk to them. Most good coaches offer a free first conversation. Use it to ask how they work and notice whether you feel heard.

The BreakFree call is a complimentary 30 minute conversation, in person in Auckland or online. You tell me a little about what is on your mind, I ask a few questions, and by the end you have a clear next step, whether or not that is working with me. There is no pitch and no pressure. Book a BreakFree call

Prices vary widely between coaches. Mine are: the BreakFree call is complimentary, the Vision Board workshop is $85 in person or $69.99 online, Elevate one to one coaching is $799, Thrive is $1,999 or six payments of $340, and the six month Mastermind is $85 a month or $499 upfront. Every price is on the Pricing section, with no hidden extras. See pricing

Yes. Elevate is a focused start: a discovery workshop, two one hour coaching sessions and two check-in calls. Thrive is the full journey: a discovery workshop, six one hour sessions, a wellbeing session, the resource library, your Way Forward Plan and the vision journal. See Elevate and Thrive

A mastermind is a small group that meets regularly to support each other toward their goals. Mine is five to six women meeting for six sessions over six months, by application. It combines warm accountability with real company, so the plans you have carried for years finally get done. About the Mastermind

Yes. The Mastermind is $85 a month for six months, paid by direct debit through GoCardless, or $499 upfront if you prefer to pay once.

Start with the BreakFree call. In 30 minutes we will work out what you need right now, and I will tell you honestly which option fits, including if the answer is none of them yet. Book a BreakFree call

Yes. What you share in a session stays between us. In the Mastermind, the group agrees that what is said in the circle stays in the circle.

My book, The Power to Change, is a six-step framework you can start on your own. It is written for women ready to make a change who want something practical rather than another list of rules. About The Power to Change

I am based in Auckland, New Zealand, and work with women in person in Auckland and online anywhere in New Zealand and beyond.