Frequently Asked Questions about Coaching

Coaching is a collaborative endeavour, between a Coach and Coachee, in service to the latter’s growth and development. It is generally non-directive, which means your Coach doesn’t tell you what to do, but helps you find your own clarity, confidence, and direction. A variation to this may be if your Coach has specialist knowledge that may help you. In this instance, your Coach might offer you suggestions and ideas, in a similar way to mentoring.

Integrative coaching with me (Donna Burgess) goes beyond traditional coaching. It explores your cognitive, psychological and relational patterns, whilst keeping historical and systemic influences in mind. These cannot be separated from your personal and professional development if authentic and sustainable growth is to occur.

This approach to coaching draws on socratic questioning, learning models, behavioural and humanistic psychology. You are supported to understand yourself better, through challenges and change, to achieve personal growth and your professional goals. This often includes exploring your values, identifying your strengths, and surfacing where you might need additional help, before mapping out concrete strategies/plans that move you forwards.

Coaching can help with both personal and professional development. This includes leadership development, career change, life transitions, and neurodivergent-specific challenges.

From a professional development perspective, Coaching can help you change careers, find a new job, return to work, get promoted, expand your skillset, step up in leadership, or start a business. It can also help you make the most of your current role, without making any big moves. And support you with work-related anxiety, work-life balance, organisational change, work relationships, and stressful events like redundancy and TUPE. 

For mid-career professionals, and aspiring executives, Leadership Coaching can provide you with the tools and skills to strengthen your confidence, gravitas and impact; hone your communication, negotiating and influencing skills; understand how your personal life experiences impact your leadership style; deepen alignment between your values, strengths and career path; and map out your growth roadmap.

From a personal development perspective, Therapeutic Coaching can help you navigate transitions, decisions, and challenges. You can build confidence, improve your motivation, understand your nervous system, manage your anxiety, nurture your relationships, tackle self-doubt and mitigate burnout. 

For ADHD/AuDHD individuals, Neurodivergent Inclusive Coaching offers support with communication, executive functioning, task initiation, organisation planning, prioritisation, self-monitoring, emotional regulation, impulse control, and flexible thinking.

The beauty of Integrative coaching is that the approaches can be combined and tailored for your specific needs.

No, coaching, counselling and psychotherapy are distinct disciplines with different training requirements. Coaching shares some traits with Counselling or Psychotherapy, but it is not the same.

Most accredited coach training is 6-12 months long. Accredited counselling training averages 3 years, and accredited Psychotherapy training (at Masters level) takes between 4-5 years. The duration correlates with depth of training, scope of mentoring/supervision, and how long practitioners spend in the client seat, working on themselves. 

It is worth noting that the terms ‘Coach’, ‘Counsellor’, and ‘Psychotherapist’ are not protected in the UK, meaning anyone can use them, regardless of training or experience. Therefore it is worth choosing a practitioner who belongs to an accreditation body.

Coaches can be accredited with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), and/or the Association for Coaching (AC). Whilst Counsellors and Psychotherapists can be accredited with the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy), BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council), NCPS (National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society), or HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).

Accreditation has specific criteria related to the quality and duration of training and the number of client hours completed. It also requires practitioners to undertake ongoing mentoring/supervision, continued professional development (CPD), and to abide by the accrediting body’s Code of Ethics.

Whilst coaching is a wonderful way to support personal growth and professional development, it does not replace professional counselling, psychotherapy or mental health care. 

If you are looking for Counselling or Psychotherapy

In Autumn 2026, I will be opening my Counselling & Psychotherapy private practice. Through this I will offer in-person sessions in South London, and online sessions UK-wide. Whilst working towards the top tier of accreditation, sessions will be discounted (below market rates). If you would like to take advantage of this early bird offer, please join my mailing list, so that I can let you know as soon as the service is available.

Coaching with me is primarily for professionals navigating transitions: stepping into bigger roles, redefining career identities, or facing unexpected change; with tailored options for mid-career professionals, aspiring executives, and neurodivergent individuals.

However, a diverse collective of people, along with organisations, have had coaching with me. See the full list on the Clients page.

You can also read about others’ experiences of coaching with me here: Kind Words, Testimonials & Impact.

Feel free to book a no pressure, no obligation discovery call to see if we’re a good fit.

Coaching with me is Integrative encompassing:

• Career Coaching

• Leadership Coaching

• Therapeutic Coaching

• Neurodivergent Inclusive Coaching

Your coaching can focus on one specific area, or integrate two or more, depending upon your needs, goals, and what emerges during active coaching work.

You don't need to know before we speak; many people come with a mix of professional and personal challenges, as the two are rarely separate.

Book a free, no pressure, no obligation discovery call and we'll figure out together what will help most.

Fees vary depending on coaching options and offerings. Please see individual pages for details:

Mid-Career Coaching
T‍herapeutic Coaching

If for some reason, no fee is listed, please feel free to get in touch and ask.

There is a 15% discount for returning clients and Charities/Social Ventures.

Each year, I offer a very small number of low cost coaching sessions to those facing financial challenges. Please get in touch to check availability, if you would like to be considered for one of these slots

A discovery call is simply a conversation in which we explore what's going on for you, what you're hoping to get from coaching, and whether we're a good fit to work together, it’s free with no pressure to sign up afterwards.

You can find a spot that suits you here: discovery call.

If coaching isn’t for you, I'm happy to point you toward other resources or support if useful.

This varies depending on what you're working on, and the coaching option selected. Either way a regular cadence is key to momentum and getting the most from coaching.

Some people come weekly for short-term coaching. This suits people who wish to focus on a singular, specific matter/issue/decision.

Some people come fortnightly for medium-term coaching. This suits people who are navigating transitions, making significant changes, or tackling deeper personal or professional challenges. As well as those who are feeling stuck or unclear, and need clarity on direction and actions. 

Some people, who have clarity on their needs/direction, opt for longer term coaching, making use of monthly coaching sessions, to hold them accountable and help them achieve their goals.

Coaching sessions are for 60 minutes.
Bespoke, extended coaching sessions are available upon request.

We'll discuss what makes sense for you during our discovery call.
Extensions are always possible.

Feel free to have a look at the coaching options and programmes to see what is included in each package, before we chat.

Sessions are held online, usually over Zoom, with a link sent when you book.

If your employer is funding your coaching, it may be possible to hold coaching sessions in-person, at your place of work. Subject to location.

From Autumn 2026, I will be offering in-person coaching in South London.

Your first session covers three things: Contracting (the coaching agreement, ethics, how coaching works, confidentiality, and support between sessions), Contextualising (understanding your background), and Committing (exploring what you're bringing to coaching and the outcomes you're working towards).

Yes, I (Donna Burgess) am a certified neurodivergent-inclusive coach with specific experience supporting clients with ADHD in the workplace, including coaching through Access to Work applications and Reasonable Adjustment requests.

Yes, what you discuss in sessions stays confidential and is never shared with an employer, even where they fund the coaching.

To ensure an ethical and high quality practice, coaching work is discussed with a supervisor. The work is anonymised, so that no identifying details are shared.

Furthermore, coaching confidentiality and data protection is covered by:

• Registration with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

• Accreditation and registration with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and compliance with their Code of Ethics

• Accreditation and registration with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and compliance with their Code of Ethics

The exceptions to confidentiality are:

• There is concern of immediate risk of harm to yourself or others. This will always be discussed this with you first. 

• If information is requested by a court order. This will always be discussed this with you first. 

• For ICF or EMCC audits with respect to accreditation. In this case, a coaching log is shared with them. This is simply a list of all coaching sessions, and does not contain any specific details related to the content of coaching sessions. 

The scope of confidentiality, and how your data is handled, is covered in your Coaching Agreement and the Privacy Policy. 

The easiest way to get started is to book a free, no-pressure discovery call.

You can also send an email or WhatsApp message if you have questions, and prefer to ask them in writing.

You can sign up with or without a discovery call by emailing to say which coaching options you'd like. From there, you'll receive a coaching agreement for e-signing, an invoice, and a booking link once payment is received. It's recommended to book all sessions upfront to keep a regular cadence.

Feedback is welcome; and concerns and complaints are taken seriously and addressed promptly, respectfully, and in line with the relevant ethics.

Feedback

At the end of your coaching, you’ll be sent a request for feedback, in the form of a questionnaire. It is not compulsory to complete and is not a condition of coaching. It is simply a way to understand your experience and improve the services being offered.

Nothing you provide by way of feedback will be used publicly (e.g. as a testimonial) unless you have given explicit written permission.

You will also be invited to leave a review via Google. This supports the visibility of coaching and enables more people to be reached and helped.

I very much appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

Concerns or Complaints

I am committed to creating a harmonious, supportive and safe space for everyone who accesses my coaching services.

Concerns and complaints are addressed promptly and in a mutually respectful, human-to-human way, and in alignment with the relevant Codes of Ethics of accreditation bodies.

You can raise a concern, or lodge a complaint via email.