Hello I’m Helen, I’m delighted to be working with Attigo as an Associate – let me tell you a bit about me and why working with Attigo sits so well with my own values, the work I do and the things I care about.

I am a qualified coach with ACC accreditation with the International Coaching Federation – this means I have gone through a rigorous training programme and have a recognised accreditation with a global organisation.  I keep my training up to date and have regular supervision and both of these make sure that I am able to work with clients in a safe and productive way to help them identify their own goals and actions and work towards these.

My background is in community work and specifically in family support.  I worked in Sure Start Children’s Centres for 12 years, managing the development and delivery of what was at the time a new initiative in Hertfordshire and working with a range of different organisations to deliver the services needed for families.  My days were varied – I could be at a strategic meeting with leaders and managers in the morning and having a meeting with parents and carers who were running local  toddler groups in the afternoon – both meetings were of equal value to me and both represented different models of leadership.  The Children’s Centres I managed ran on a model of distributed leadership – looking for opportunities at every level to develop leadership skills and support personal development.

I now have my own coaching and training business and have been lucky enough to work with Kristi on a number of programmes.  Whilst we both have our own ways of working, we have found that our key values and drivers are similar and our shared commitment to working with people to recognise their own strengths, develop personally and professionally and feel supported to grow as individuals has led to me joining Attigo as an Associate.

I’m an accredited Protective Behaviours trainer – ‘what’s that?’ I hear you ask! That’s exactly what I said 20 years ago when someone mentioned it to me.  I’ve been on a journey with Protective Behaviours ever since, both personally and professionally, and it underpins all of my work.  I’ve gone through various training programmes to move from practising through to being an accredited trainer with the Protective Behaviours Training Partnership and I now deliver the 2 day training workshop in a variety of settings.  Protective Behaviours is a practical down to earth approach to personal safety that encourages self-empowerment and develops skills to raise self-awareness and avoid being victimised.  We focus on the F word – what? Feelings – we are not always good at that are we!  Recognising and trusting how we are feeling in different situations enables us to develop strategies to manage the tricky times.  This is key in leadership at whatever level and taking the time to stop and recognise what’s going on, both internally and externally, is a skill that often needs to be developed.  If you’d like to find out more about training and how you can use Protective Behaviours with your team and/or for yourself, let us know and I will contact you to discuss further.