EMDR-informed coaching for confidence and performance
Sometimes you know what you want to do and you know you have the ability to do it, yet something still gets in the way.
You may feel confident in most situations but struggle when you are under pressure, being evaluated or stepping into something new. Perhaps you overthink, lose confidence, freeze, procrastinate or find that your usual skills seem to disappear just when you need them most.
EMDR-informed coaching combines psychologically informed coaching with EMDR to help you work with these blocks and prepare more effectively for future situations.
Understanding performance difficulties
Performance difficulties are not always about a lack of skill or preparation. Sometimes the difficulty lies in the way your mind and body respond to pressure.
You may feel unduly anxious before presentations, interviews or important meetings, or fearful of making mistakes or of being judged. You may find that you struggle to speak clearly under pressure, procrastinate around important tasks, overthink decisions or go blank when you most want to perform well. Or you may find yourself holding back from opportunities, second-guessing yourself or avoiding situations that matter to you.
How EMDR can support performance coaching
Traditional coaching often focuses on goals, strategies, action planning and accountability. These can be very useful, but sometimes insight and strategy are not enough.
You may already know what you should do. The difficulty may be that part of you still reacts as though the situation is threatening, risky or unsafe. This can happen even when, rationally, you know that you are well prepared.
EMDR-informed coaching allows us to work not only with your thinking and behaviour, but also with some of the emotional and physiological responses that can interfere with performance.
What EMDR-Informed coaching may involve
Because this is coaching, rather than therapy, the emphasis of the work will be on the difficulty you are experiencing now and on what you want to be different going forward. We will look at the thoughts, images, beliefs, emotions and physical responses that are activated when you face a performance situation. These are often linked to earlier experiences of criticism, failure, humiliation or rejection, which continue to influence your expectations and reactions in the present, even though you know rationally that things are different now.
Where we identify past experiences that are maintaining a block, these can be processed with EMDR, with the aim of reducing their impact in the present. Once these experiences have been processed, we can return to focusing on present triggers and future goals. This may involve mentally rehearsing an upcoming challenge and strengthening the thoughts, emotions and responses you would like to be able to access in real life.
For example, you might rehearse walking into an interview, giving a presentation, or having an important professional conversation, so that when you encounter the situation in real life, your new responses are more readily available. You may also rehearse your responses should things not go according to plan.
Who might this be useful for?
EMDR-informed coaching may be useful if you are preparing for a presentation, interview, professional assessment, exam, leadership challenge, difficult conversation or career transition. It may also be relevant if you are returning to work after a setback, facing a creative or professional performance, or dealing with any situation where confidence seems to disappear under pressure.
It may also be helpful if you repeatedly find yourself holding back from opportunities because of anxiety, self-doubt or previous experiences, despite knowing that you have the skills and experience to cope.
Allowing Enough Time
EMDR-informed coaching can sometimes bring about significant change in a relatively short period, particularly when a performance block is linked to a specific experience. However, it is not possible to know in advance how much work will be needed.
If you are preparing for an exam, interview, presentation or other important event, it is therefore helpful to contact me as early as possible. More intensive work over a shorter period may also be an option where appropriate, subject to my availability.
If you’re interested in exploring whether EMDR-informed coaching is a good fit for you, please