Alison Yard

Professional Coach, United Kingdom

Alison Yard is an empathetic and solution driven professional and personal development coach. As a former family carer, she has affinity with and is passionate about helping working carers to support and enhance the lives of those they care for whilst also prioritising their own wellbeing and their wider family and work responsibilities.

Background

Alison worked for 25 years as a Chartered Surveyor, reaching a senior position with responsibility for leading a multidisciplinary team. In the later years she was also her father’s main carer. During this time, she was offered executive coaching having been promoted. It inspired her to become a coach some years later following redundancy!  She commenced her training to become an International Coaching Federation approved coach whilst continuing to take care of her increasingly frail father and also  working part time in the real estate industry.

As an ICF Associate Certified Coach, Alison offers clients the opportunity to reflect, examine and alter their perspective in order to grow professionally and personally.

Approach to coaching

In busy, perhaps stressful times, Alison recognises that coaching may be seen as yet another constraint on a working carer’s time and energy. She adopts a partnership approach to coaching. This, combined with her natural empathy and her skill in posing thought provoking, non-judgemental questions enable clients to quickly gain new insights on their situation. It facilitates an exploration on where adjustments are possible and how challenges may be tackled differently. and overcome. Alison encourages and motivates, allowing clients be become ‘unstuck’ and move forward.

Alison’s coaching style is holistic, and she coaches the ‘whole you’, reflecting the reality that different aspects of life impact on each other and compartmentalisation of work and life outside of work is neither  sustainable or productive.

Experience and qualifications

Whilst in a leadership role in the real estate profession, Alison coached and mentored her team, encouraging each member to reach their full potential whilst also acting as a team player.

As a coach, she has worked across a diverse range of organisations in both the private and public sector. These include NHS, further education, finance, technology  and real estate. 

She is an Associate Certified Coach of the International Coaching Federation.

Whilst caring for her father, Alison attended a number of workshops, including  ‘dementia friendly’ training run by The Alzheimer’s Society. She is experienced in liaising with and coordinating health and social care providers.

In her capacity as a  NED for a charity supporting carers, Alison has undertaken training in safeguarding.

“Alison coached me during a stressful period in my life when I was physically and emotionally quite vulnerable. Through her amazing questions and incredible empathy, I managed to get stronger and find my confidence again. Thank you, Alison.”

“I appreciated the non-judgemental, honest and genuinely supportive approach of Alison as a coach. It made me think and opened up some avenues. It also reduced anxiety during difficult and uncertain times of COVID outbreak. I felt more energy to continue my projects as my confidence improved.”

“Alison’s coaching gave me focus and clarity but above all, Alison has helped me to discover things holding me back that I was not aware of and to go beyond. Alison will spark you to reach a new destination.”