The Coaching Forest: Helping Make Coaching More Accessible for All

Coaching as we define it as Earthself Community Interest Company is a thought-provoking process informed by our relationship with the natural world that helps optimise personal and professional potential so that we can create transformational change in our lives, the lives of others and Earth itself.

The Coaching Forest is our latest pilot within the NatureProcess Coach Training programme. One of the biggest challenges a trainee coach faces is to do 100 hours of coaching and gain their ICF ACC accreditation. We aim to not only address this challenge but make coaching more accessible for people who might not be able to afford the typical coaching fees of ￡150+ per session.

The Coaching Forest

This is an online space we’ve created where people interested in affordable nature-based coaching can sign up and find a NatureProcess coach to work with. In the Coaching Forest, you’ll find a number of coach profiles that share a bit more about who they like to work with and how their coaching services can help.

The Coaching Forest is based on a nature coaching tool I developed when I first started coaching. Originally called the Tree of Transformation, it’s now evolved into the TreeJourney – for personal and professional growth – and the TreeMap – for business/project growth. Using the TreeJourney, participants on the NatureProcess Coach Training programme offer eight sessions for ￡160 / $207.

It’s also based on mutual reciprocity. The NatureProcess trainee coaches gain the necessary hours they need to become accredited while their clients are able to access quality coaching at a fraction of the usual price so that we can help people who might not otherwise be able to afford coaching access its benefits

NatureProcess Trainee Coaches: A Pathway to ICF Accreditation

Right now, coaching as a profession isn’t regulated. This means that anyone can call themselves a coach. Not only does this harm the profession but it also means that people are paying for coaching and sometimes receiving a bad service. Becoming an International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited coach helps set you apart from the amateurs.

That’s why I took the time to ensure that the NatureProcess Coach Training programme met ICF standards. I wanted to provide a level of security to the coaches I trained. As well as ensuring that the programme I offered had a standard of excellence throughout it.

By the time the NatureProcess coaches enter the coaching forest, they have completed all three training modules within the programme and have already started practising coaching. They’ve been observed coaching and are all capable of coaching at an ICF ACC standard. The Coaching Forest simply allows them to accelerate this practice while offering affordable coaching to those who want it.

How Low Bono Coaching Works: Accessible and Affordable

Traditionally, coaching has been exclusive and expensive. It originally belonged in the realm of business as a tool to help leaders who didn’t want therapy become more effective. Even worse, it’s been offered a way to improve performance for people who are struggling.

Now, before I go off on a tangent about my opinions on the above, I truly believe that coaching is one of the most powerful tools we have to create transformational change in our lives, the lives of others and Earth itself. When I first experienced coaching, I moved forward more in six months than I had in the previous six years of personal development. And I was lucky enough to be able to afford the ￡1,800 investment in the group programme I took part in. That price was 16 years ago!

There is research that shows you need approximately eight sessions to see results from coaching. This comes from work done by Nancy Doyle at Genuis Within who work specifically with neurodivergent clients. In my own experience, I know clients have needed a minimum of six to start seeing results.

If you think about coaching at ￡150 per session, that’s a total of ￡1,200 at a minimum. Making this totally inaccessible for large number of people! In contrast, the Coaching Forest offers eight sessions for essential the price of one!

That’s why I’m so excited that we can offer this service and offer an affordable coaching service provided at a reduced rate. In a way where both the trainee coach and the client win. The money you pay for the coaching goes directly to the coach.

How to Access Coaching Through the Coaching Forest

If you want to access The Coaching Forest, you can do so through this link: https://coachingforest.sutra.co

You’ll be asked to enter your email address and sign up for the platform, if you’re not already a member. Once you arrive, you’ll find an introduction and an overview of the TreeJourney. Underneath this are a number of coach profiles categorised on location, language and speciality. You click on a coach profile to find out more about them. If you want to explore working with them, then you’re able to book a 30-minute intro chat direct from the profile. There are done via zoom and all coaching is offered virtually.

During this intro chat, the NatureProcess trainee coach will explore what you want to get from coaching and if you want to work with them. Once you agree to work with coach, they send through a coaching agreement with a payment button. After paying, you’re taken into an online space where you’re able to access pre-coaching and post-coaching reflections so that you can get the most out of your TreeJourney.

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Earthself’s L1 NatureProcess Coach Training Programme is an ICF accredited training programme that’s designed to help you master the art of coaching with and as nature outdoors, indoors and online in a way that’s neuro inclusive while your investment helps develop a Scottish community food forest.

Next cohort starts Autumn, October 2nd with further intakes every season. Get in touch if you like to explore if the programme is right for you…

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