Lizz
On leaving school I spent 2 years training to become an Instructor and Groom and completed a 3 year course in Horse Management, a BTEC National Diploma in Agriculture (Thoroughbred Horse Management). This paved the way to an exciting international career as an Event Groom.
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Deciding on a change of pace I took on a new role as a Riding Therapist at a school for children with autism. This gave a very different perceptive on teaching and how horses can be a great facilitator.
Here I wanted to develop a greater understanding of how the human mind works and develops so completed a BSc (Hons) in Psychology with the Open University whilst having my 3 boys. I made the decision to move out of the Horse industry in terms of career and an MSc in Occupational Psychology followed then BPS Chartership and a 12 year Corporate career as a Consultant primarily with Tribe Culture Change Consultancy (formally JOMC). Here my role was helping companies to develop their culture around Health and Safety as a Principal Consultant see my Linkedin profile for more details.
Wanting to expand and update my Stress Management knowledge, I undertook a Certificate in Stress and Performance Management Coaching using CBT theory in 20016/7, to become up-to-date on current research into how our bodies respond to the stress response and how this can be managed. Now bringing together horses, stress coaching and psychology into a combined way of working, I founded Harness Coaching in 2017 and is a practitioner with LEAP in Equine Facilitated Learning.
By founding Harness Coaching I feel I have finally ‘come home’ and love how all the different aspects of science, my education and experience all come together to benefit individuals and teams. Clients to date have all gained so much more than I originally expected and I look forward to working with many more in the years to come.
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Steph
After leaving University, with a BA Hons degree, I worked in the corporate environment but I always felt that I wanted to combine my life-long love of horses with a passion for helping people. In 2009 I made the life changing decision to travel to the USA to study and train in horse and human psychology at The Natural Horsemanship University. I graduated as a 3* Instructor and enjoyed teaching people and helping them with their horses.
In 2011 I assisted one of my students as she set up ‘The Horse Course’, which was initially delivered as an intervention in prisons, and is now a leader in well evidenced high impact equine intervention. We rolled out the programme to the wider community and saw great success with young people being able to make powerful, long lasting changes that enabled them to build life skills to achieve a brighter future.
After having my two wonderful children, I made a move back to the Midlands in 2017. There an opportunity to team up with Lizz, a Chartered Psychologist, to deliver sessions to secondary school children who were struggling to stay engaged in main stream education, was so successful that it seemed a natural progression to combine our skills and expertise to form Harness Coaching CIC. I enjoy supporting people of all ages with my unique and effective style of coaching.