Providing pro bono coaching for healthcare workers

Providing pro bono coaching for healthcare workers

NHS heart poster on a wall

Would you like to offer coaching to healthcare workers? EMCC UK is endorsing the work of Coaching through Covid, to rapidly and effectively deliver high-quality pro-bono coaching to those who need it.

Many coaches and mentors have felt moved to help key workers in organisations such as the NHS and care homes, as we continue to be faced with the Covid-19 pandemic.

That’s why we’d like to let you know about Coaching through Covid, a project EMCC UK is endorsing along with UK ICF, APECS, Academy of Executive Coaching, Ashridge, Henley, Coaching at Work and others. Its aim is to rapidly and effectively deliver high-quality pro bono virtual coaching to key workers impacted by Covid-19.

Coaching through Covid has matched 86 coaches (so far) to healthcare staff, primarily at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. Also, more than 280 coaches have been approved to proceed through CTC’s rigorous on boarding process. All its coaches are highly experienced, later-stage coaches, accredited as EMCC senior practitioners, or equivalent. They operate under personal supervision with the appropriate professional insurance. Coaching through Covid describes its coaching approach as ‘systemic eclectic, relational and compassionate’, with a focus on facilitating, enabling and resourcing key workers.

As a duty of care and for relevant CPD, Coaching through Covid offers the following to each participating coach:

• Trauma sensitization and orientation
• Reflective practice groups
• Resilience and wellbeing coach education
• Mindfulness and compassion training to minimise secondary traumatic stress

Coaching through Covid recently completed a successful five-week pilot at the Royal Free, which received excellent feedback from coachees and from the consultant anaesthetist who’s been championing the programme at the Trust, Ciara Donohue. She says:

‘The past 10 weeks have been incredibly challenging for all in the NHS. In critical care and anaesthesia, working life and conditions became unrecognisable overnight. The physical and emotional toll of caring for sick patients with an unknown disease process isolated from their families, conducting that care in Personal Protective Equipment (that at some points threatened to run out) and in unfamiliar environments under gruelling new shift patterns, has been immense.

‘The sense of overwhelm has been a driver and a challenge in setting up this programme. Those who have found the bandwidth to engage have relayed to me just how precious and resourcing their coaching experience has been. How opening up a safe space with a neutral party has allowed them to organise the chaos, prioritise, regulate.

‘We have been incredibly touched and humbled by the generosity of your offer to care for us as we try our best to care for our patients and colleagues. With the passing of the first Covid surge, our workforce are bruised and weary. In this period, the coaching relationship you are providing to help us to reflect, restore and potentially grow feels like such a blessing.’

Want to get involved?

Coaching through Covid is looking for new coaches accredited to EMCC Senior Practitioner level or equivalent, who would like to offer pro bono virtual coaching to key workers impacted by Covid-19. Please sign up, or find out more, by following these links:

Coach application form
Coaching through Covid LinkedIn page

Other ways you can give support

Coaching through Covid is also looking for support in building its pool of potential coachees. Key workers are weary and may be bombarded with offers, so it’s not always easy for them to seek the support they need. However, building relationships with internal champions in trusts and other organisations such as care homes works really well.

EMCC UK members can support the work of Coaching through Covid in the following ways:

• Help expand the network and identify potential internal champions
• Recruit ‘light touch’ client leads, interface with internal champions, and help manage the relationships
• Point potential coachees towards the help offered by Coaching with Covid

Please get in touch if you can help in any of these areas by emailing Sarah Barlow.

Photo: Tim Dennell under CC BY-NC 2.0