The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential."
As a Co-Active Coach with the Co-Active Training Institute under the ICF based in Basel, Switzerland, I serve the global community and specialize in life and leadership coaching and communication skills development for emerging leaders and entrepreneurs. Co-Active coaching is recognized as the most rigorous training and certification program in the coaching industry. Its proven model - Coach the person, not the topic, makes it a very flexible tool.
As your coach, I'll offer new perspectives to help you view your topic differently and will help you get clarity in your life. With trust and confidentiality, coaching can be a powerful tool to evoke transformation, both personally and professionally.
Coaching is a very practical and empowering process. You'll gain more insights and awareness about yourself that will help you identify goals and set practical steps to reach them. As a coach I will help you focus on how feelings or events resonate with you now and what you want to change to move forward.
As a Co-Active Coach my role is to:
Listen attentively, creating a safe and supportive space for you to explore your thoughts and emotions.
Help you get un-stuck and support you in planning and strategizing, assisting you in developing actionable steps towards your goals.
Challenge you to step outside of your comfort zone, enabling you to unlock new insights and perspectives to support your growth.
Provide support and hold you accountable throughout the process.
We start with a casual chat over a virtual coffee (aka a chemistry chat) to get to know each other and see if we want to work together. If we're a good fit and coaching is right for you, we schedule a time to start your coaching journey. Together we explore what brings you to coaching, your goals, and where you want to go from here.
We meet regularly during the personalized coaching sessions and taking you one step closer to your goals.
Each coaching session begins with you choosing the topic you wish to be coached on.
My clients want a change in their professional life (e.g. new or bigger role, new company, or going freelance) or in their personal life (e.g. starting a relationship, leaving one that no longer serves them, moving to a new country, struggling to find time for themselves).
But I actually don't think that you need a coach as I believe that you already have everything you need to create the life you want. What I can offer you as a coach is to support and guide you in getting where you want to go with less pain and effort and fewer detours. Together, we’ll discover what truly matters to you, empowering you to make choices and take meaningful steps toward the life you want. You don’t have to do it all alone. I’ll be by your side, encouraging and cheering you on every step of the way. How far do you want to go?
I tend to attract the following clients:
The Invisible Expert, emerging female leaders in Tech & Science, who are brilliant at what they do, yet are often overlooked when it matters.
The Stretched Thin Leader, high-performing but stressed leaders who mastered success but feel that something is off and play small.
The Cultural Chameleon, expat leaders navigating cross-cultural leadership where everything feels different in the new country, role, or challenge.
The Aspiring Entrepreneur, corporate employees with a business idea they struggle launching.
I have worked with clients from all parts of the world, e.g. France, the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland.
The coachee sets the cadence of our sessions. Typically we meet every 2 weeks so that we don't lose the momentum. All our sessions are confidential.
The length of the coaching relationship is hard to predict. I have personally worked with a coach for several years, as I reached my goals and identified new ones. It all depends on the nature of the goals the coachee wants to reach and how much work takes place during the sessions. As an example, some of my current clients have worked with me for over 18 months.
When the coachee is ready to end the coaching relationship, I conduct a graduation session. We'll review progress made against the initial goals, celebrate successes, and set the coachee up for success as they continue to grow on their journey.
Mentors share information and experience to help the client grow. Clients ask direct questions and the mentor's answers contribute to the growth of the client. In coaching, the coach helps the clients find their own answers and the coach acts as the compass guiding the client. More information is on the Co-Active Training website.
The simplest and shortest answer is that therapy typically deals with the past, and coaching is primarily concerned with the present and future. Anyone feeling that their health status interferes with their daily living (i.e. experience difficulties with sleep, eating, or social interactions) should consider reaching out to a therapist or psychologist. More information about therapy vs coaching is on the Co-Active Training website.
Neuroscience research has shown that Co-Active Coaching helps clients develop new neural pathways, are more resilient to stress, be more creative, and make choices more easily. More information about neuroscience is on the Co-Active Training website.
I am a coach and mentor with over 20 years of experience working and studying in five countries (French and German-speaking Switzerland, France, Sweden, Belgium, and the US).
My industry experience spans over IT, software development, finance, automotive, pharmaceutical, construction, event management, both from global companies and start-ups.
My coaching style is warm yet challenging, deeply insightful, and transformative. I create a space where my clients feel safe, inspired, and empowered to grow, using a holistic, high-impact, and professional approach.
Some of the areas of focus I am passionate about include:
Navigating big changes
Growing your career
Finding your balance
Reiki is a Japanese healing technique where practitioners use their hands to transfer universal energy to promote relaxation, reduce stress and anxiety, and facilitate healing on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Although reiki dates back to about 2500 years, I am still learning and consider myself a skeptical reikist as I don’t fully understand how the magic of reiki happens. What I can say is that I keep receiving great feedback on the effects of reiki on my coachees and others who have experienced reiki with me.
Like Co-Active Coaching, reiki addresses blockages and helps you to reach more balance in your life. By combining the two approaches I have found that the conversations go deeper and evoke transformation faster than regular coaching as they often bring up new insights to the surface for the coachees.
To prepare for a reiki coaching session, just as for any traditional coaching session, find a place where you have privacy, free from any distractions, and where you can lie down or sit comfortably. We will start with a consultation and then incorporate reiki energy. You don't have to do anything during the reiki treatment. After the session, we will share our experiences and insights and transition to the coaching session.
Every experience is unique so it's hard to anticipate what you will experience. Most of my clients feel tingling, heat, lightness, a sense of peace, relaxation, or clarity.
The focus-enhancing practices I integrate into coaching are simple yet powerful techniques designed to reduce stress, clear mental clutter, and boost mental clarity. These practices include guided visualizations, grounding exercises, and mindfulness techniques, which can be used to create emotional balance and help you stay centered during your leadership or entrepreneurial journey. These practices are optional and can be tailored to suit your needs and preferences.
Energy work is just one of the tools I offer to help you achieve mental clarity and emotional balance. If you’re open to exploring ways to reduce stress, increase focus, and enhance your resilience, energy work could be a valuable addition to our coaching sessions. However, you’re welcome to start without it, and it can be introduced gradually as you feel comfortable.
Life coaches have flourished over the last few years, the title is not protected nor are there any legal standards to enter the profession, despite the International Coaching Federation's best efforts as an accrediting body. To make matters worse, add the unregulated nature of the industry and one can see why it leaves a lot of people confused. So how do you pick a good coach?
Do your homework and educate yourself about what coaching is, what it isn’t, and what the coaching process entails. This FAQ is a good place to start if you don't want to read one of the 2,000 articles, case studies, and reports about coaching and related topics accessible at the ICF Research Portal.
Use the chemistry call to assess if you want to work with me as a coach. If something doesn't feel right, you don't need to give a reason - just politely decline. We were probably not a good match for whatever reason. Ask whatever question you need to assess if we are a good fit and you would like to work with me for the next 3-6 months.
Read the testimonials provided by past clients.
Research the coach’s training, professional memberships, and credentials. In my case, I have completed rigorous training of over 100 hours with the Co-Active Institute. Once my certification process has been completed, I will be certified by ICF (as an Associate Certified Coach, ACC) and Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).
This is an important decision so don't stress it, let it grow on you, and choose your coach at your own pace.
I primarily work with individuals who are committed to make a real change in their life and are ready to invest time and resources into their growth. This means that I offer 1:1 coaching over 6 months with (12) bi-weekly 1-hour sessions.
I also offer a sliding scale for anyone in a tight spot. Reach out when you are ready. I'm confident we can find a setup that works for both of us.
As a coach I agree to maintain the ethics and standards of behavior established by the International Coach Federation (ICF).
All conversations between the client and the coach, as well as all information (documented or verbal) that a client shares with the coach as part of the coaching relationship, is bound by the principles of confidentiality set forth in the ICF Code of Ethics. As a coach I will treat all information obtained both during and after the end of the coaching relationship as confidential.
However, please be aware that the Coach-Client relationship is not considered a legally confidential relationship (like the medical and legal professions) and thus communications are not subject to the protection of any legally recognized privilege.