Care For You Coaching

Helping stretched parents and informal carers navigate their challenges to reconnect with who they are

Are you?

  • Exhausted from being everything to everyone?
  • Worried that you have lost touch with who you used to be?
  • Feeling guilty for not doing enough or not being the best carer/parent you could be?

Coaching offers:

  • A non-judgmental safe place to bring your thoughts, feelings, guilt, questions and challenges
  • A platform to help build your confidence and rediscover who you are
  • A supportive space to gain clarity, work through challenges, and formulate meaningful actions to make positive changes
  • A space where you are the priority with a focus on whatever you need
  • The option to ‘keep in touch’ by email between sessions to support you

Why choose coaching?

Support with managing overwhelm

“If you are feeling overwhelmed with everything and can’t get things done, or don’t know the right thing to do, give it a go. Coaching gives that sense of perspective and some time to reflect and think about what you might be able to do and have a space to explore options. Even if you don’t want to necessarily make decisions you have space to talk through options and what the pros and cons might be and then decide on whether or not you want to take action.”

Supporting you to connect to ‘you’

“I would really recommend it because I feel like when we are carers we lose our identity a bit and coaching’s a really important as part of trying to claw that back. We’ve got space to talk about our own needs in a positive way, which is also something that you can act upon. So you can actually measure and see how helpful it is.”

A safe space to share

“Sharing and what you’ve been doing as a carer, sharing your emotions, sharing your hardships, your triumphs and everything else. I personally I would recommend all carers to go through something like that.”

Care for You Coaching supports many carer groups across a range of different needs and challenges, including:

  • Carers/parents of neurodiverse children and parents of children who need additional support
  • carers navigating the impact of chronic or terminal illness
  • ‘sandwich’ carers who are parenting and caring
  • young people (18+) caring for parents or loved ones
  • those managing work and caring and/or life transitions and caring (e.g. expectant and new parents, working parents, those retiring)
  • people taking or returning from a caring break
  • those who have been a carer and ceased caring.

Book a free initial consultation

Hi, I’m Dr Jo Collins and I founded Care for You Coaching because I wanted to create coaching tailored for people who (like me) are busy parents, divided between caring for children and loved ones and finding it hard to prioritize their own needs.  I’ve been employed as a coach for 7 years and I specialize in supporting parents and carers ditch guilt and reframe their self-talk.  I have a Master’s degree in positive psychology and coaching psychology and I’m a researcher coach: my practice is informed by the latest evidence, and I also research coaching, sharing findings about practice.

What tailored support is available?

We offer a series of programmes to support parents of neurodiverse children:

Coaching to support parents of children in Autism/ADHD assessment pathways

Are you a parent considering or obtaining an autism/ADHD assessment to obtain a diagnosis for your child?

  • You might have noticed behaviours in your child but may not be sure what they mean
  • You might be wondering if assessment for a diagnosis is the right step to take
  • You might be dealing with stress and/or waiting whilst in the assessment process
  • Your child might have received a diagnosis and you’re wondering how to move forward

Assessment and reaching diagnosis can be a stressful, emotional, and lengthy process for you and your child. Coaching can support you. The focus of this coaching is specifically on you as parents, giving you a supportive space to be heard, to gain clarity, and to work through the impacts of decisions and diagnoses.* We offer a discounted rate of £200 for four 1 hour sessions (either for individuals or both parents).

* This service is not diagnosis.

“Jo, was exceptional. She helped me identify my objectives in each session. I have addressed multiple challenges. I have gained confidence in my abilities and understood myself better. I have become more able to talk through barriers I encounter and to find solutions I can take. Jo was amazing, very good at asking probing questions and encouraging reflection.”

Group Coaching to support working parents of neurodiverse children

Are you a working parent of a neurodiverse child?

  • You may be facing challenges around managing and balancing commitments at work and for your family with appointments and needing to take time off
  • You might need support to work whilst feeling exhausted, guilty and overwhelmed

Coaching can support you to work through your challenges. The focus of this coaching is specifically on you as a working parent, giving you a supportive space to be heard by other working parents who share similar challenges and can empathize. You will build support and connection within the group, and gain clarity on what you need and how you might get there. We’ll work as a small group (maximum 8 people) with other working parents. We offer six 90 minute sessions at a rate of £20 per session. To attend you need to be able to commit to the majority of the 6 sessions.

“When you’re a carer you’re never the priority. This is time where the person you’re caring for is put to one side respectfully, because it’s your space and it’s a good space for you for some self-care.”

Free coaching: be part of a research project coaching parents of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

Whilst the term PDA is still debated between professionals, it describes a profile of autism where high levels of anxiety mean demands are avoided; this can look like running off, rejecting requests to dress or eat, to ‘emotion-based school avoidance’. In this project an intervention is offered specifically to parents of children with PDA to investigate if and how coaching impacts on parents’ wellbeing.

In this coaching intervention you would attend 6 coaching sessions (free of charge) and participate in 2 (anonymous) interviews.

Our coaching philosophy

At Care for You Coaching we prioritise you as a person. Our offer is distinct from parent coaching which imparts specific techniques to support parents to interact effectively with their children. Our approach is holistic and works with the whole person – your story, your wellbeing, your motivations. We support you as a parent and a carer and we give you space to be all that you are.

We aren’t an advisory service or a diagnostic service – what we do promise is that we will put you and your needs at the centre of our work, and help you reconnect with yourself and find your own way forward.