Your Coach
When it comes to fighting inner battles, overcoming troubles or just getting yourself out of a rut, this lady knows the secrets to moving forward and finding a happier place.
Life Coach Gail Cherry tells us about her journey into personal discovery and explains why all of us could all do with a little bit of help when it comes to searching for that elusive ‘inner peace’. Katie Portman reports.
Some people just have the ‘knack’ when it comes to helping people and relating to them. Gail Cherry is one such person.
Brought up in Barnsley – a South Yorkshire town with a proud mining heritage – Gail knew early on in life that she wouldn’t be taking the traditional career path that most people from her town followed.
Gail, a life coach who specialises in helping people to create balance and make sense of change, works with people from all walks of life, supporting them in overcoming personal challenges and periods of difficulty.
Now 44, she began her working life as a hairdresser, starting her own mobile hairdressing business at 18 and going on to open her first hair salon at just 21.
“When I left college it was really difficult to get a job, as Barnsley was recovering from the miners’ strike. I’d been working at my Aunty’s salon on Saturdays whilst I was at school but even she had to let me go because no-one was having their hair done, so I decided to set up on my own as a mobile hairdresser. Three years later I bought my hair salon and moved in on my 21st birthday.”
In her early hairdressing years, Gail didn’t yet know the path her career would eventually take, but was already showing a natural flair for coaching in her work with young women at a local hairdressing school.
“After selling my salon and becoming a Mum for the first time, I went to work at a local training school. There, I was teaching young women hairdressing but also ended up teaching them life skills.
“I used to help them with their personal problems, listening to boyfriend troubles or supporting them in finding housing. It became a nurturing role and I found that I was successful because I could really understand and relate to them.”
After reaching the pinnacle of her profession as a hairdresser (even performing as a platform artist on stage at London trade exhibitions next to industry names like Andrew Collinge), Gail decided that it was a time for a change and soon found herself working with local businesses as a professional trainer.
In 2002, she decided to set up on her own as a specialist business and start-up advisor and later enrolled as a mature student at Oxford Brookes University to do a Post Graduate Diploma in Coaching & Mentoring Practice.
“I did the Masters degree course because I had the experience but needed the theory to underpin it. At University we did lots of work on ourselves. Every person who entered that course, came out a different person at the end because of it. It was a big learning curve.”
Whilst studying, Gail came across ‘transactional analysis’ – a powerful model for understanding human personality, relationships and communication, that helps to bring about human well being. It is this model which has helped to define and shape her coaching style.
“The one thing that really stood out to me at University was finding out about transactional analysis because the ultimate thing about it is to be solid, to be OK.
“I learnt that I have a ‘sensing preference’ which makes me an intuitive coach, something a bit different from other types of coaches. My work is about dealing with the here and now reality. I have no set formula but instead focus on building up a relationship with my client.
“My coaching style is very adult, very nurturing and very relaxed. I’m not starstruck or overwhelmed by people. I hold a mirror up to my clients and show them their reality, but in an incredibly kind way.”
Gail’s empathic attitude towards her clients stems from her own need to understand herself and her own behaviour. She believes that the desire to ‘sort herself out’ has been the major factor in her continuous aim to better herself.
“I’ve always had a desire to ‘sort myself out’ because I knew that I had potential and that there was more for me to give. I talked to my Dad once, about my aspirations and he told me that I was living in cloud cuckoo land.
“I remember feeling hugely disappointed but my hunger for learning and development was never about proving him wrong, I just wanted to prove things to myself.”
By overcoming her own battles, Gail has had personal experience of how understanding ‘the self’ can help people to take positive control of their lives, giving her a real passion for helping other people to do the same.
“It took me a long time to get to where I am now, so helping people to develop and get to a happier place is my passion. My clients often come to me with a sense that something is wrong or because they’re upset or depressed. People instinctively know when they need help, because things just don’t feel right.
“When I first started working as a coach, I was really surprised at how quickly people can change. Coaching is fast. I’ve worked with people who have had profound ‘aha’ moments in their first session. It’s very powerful.”
She says that anyone can benefit from life coaching and believes that in today’s society, the benefits it offers are needed more than ever.
“Life coaching is for anyone! Years ago people would find support and guidance in their local community but times have changed.
“What I love about being a coach is when people allow me to go on their personal journey with them. It is always emotional and sometimes painful but when my work is done, and my client has gotten to where they need to be, I always give them a big heartwarming hug.
“It is a wonderful feeling and always an honour to share in someone’s journey as a life coach. The best of it is, when I get that hug, I know that they’ll be ok.”
So why tell my story? So that you’ll know what you can expect from me: empathy, experience, professionalism and a great supportive relationship. Coaching is a powerful transformational tool, it has without doubt supported my own development having experienced some quite profound ‘ah ah’ moments and major shifts in my learning. Coaching has made real impact and added value to my life, my work and my business.