I approached Helen as I felt stuck in both work and life and was doubting my abilities. I felt unclear on what the issue was and where I wanted to go. Through Helen’s fantastic coaching over 5 sessions she helped me reignite my self-belief and self-confidence, helping me to see my strengths and celebrate my achievements both in work and in life. Through our sessions Helen guided me to figure out what I want in the future and how am I going to achieve it Every session was very powerful, from reflecting on my “wheel of life” to realising that I have (but wasn’t using) my personal support network. The actions I took away from that session has dramatically changed how I connect and engage with others which has already lead to some really positive improvements in my working and personal life. After every coaching session I came away happy, energised and ready to move forward. I am eternally grateful to Helen, my outlook has dramatically changed and I am feeling very positive and excited for the next stage in my career, that I now know I can achieve.

Lyndsey Taggart

Head of Compliance

"I had five sessions with Helen as my personal coach to help me make progress in my career as I took on more responsibilities. I found her to be excellent at listening to the problems I was facing and to provide helpful exercises and comments. This way I was challenged to see things a different way. I would certainly come back for more coaching with Helen in future".

—Mark, Brighton

I had known that I’d felt stuck for some time before contacting Helen. I knew I wasn’t depressed but there were certain things about my life and outlook that I wanted to improve. In fact the thing I thought I wanted to change the most turned out not to be the key to my uneasiness.

Helen helped me look at the various facets of my life, determine how I felt about each one and then work out what I wanted to tackle first: that was great as it gave me clarity rather than feeling overwhelmed by several things at once, which is how I had been feeling. Sometimes it was a small shift in my approach and attitude which made all the difference. I felt as though someone was always thinking about me in the background which spurred me on, I was also motivated by the thought of our next meeting and my wanting to have some good news to share. I really found it helpful to have Helen as a personal coach and sounding board.. I now have more balance in my life.

I think we worked really well together - I asked for Helen to be honest with me and she said she would call me out if I was repeating old patterns of thought, which I did and she did! But this was done in a very supportive, sensitive and constructive way which I found very helpful. I would have no hesitation in recommending Helen as a personal coach to anyone looking to make big or small changes to their lives, whether personal or professional.

Thank you so much for helping me Helen, I really enjoyed our time together.

—Liz, Brighton

I approached Helen for career coaching just over four months ago as I was feeling pretty stuck in my current role and really unclear as to what I should do next. After 15 months of lockdown working, I was also pretty burned out. I’m really glad that I decided to work with Helen as my personal coach, she’s really helped me on both fronts and I now feel in a much better place and much clearer about what my next step should be.

She’s worked to help me identify what’s really important to me, not just what I’m good at, and understand that for me, it’s all about a role that has purpose and where I can have an impact. She’s also suggested lots of support for my general wellbeing that have really turned round how I was feeling and I’m now much happier and in the right place to apply for a new role. She’s really helped me to challenge my self-limiting beliefs so that I’ve regained a lot of my confidence too. I would really recommend Helen as a career coach.

—Valentine, Hove

I had never heard of the term ‘executive coaching’ before. Now I can honestly say that these words and the lady I was lucky enough to stumble across on a Google search have changed the course of my life forever.

I have been a sole trading Metal Fabricator for the past 20+ years and had found myself becoming more and more unmotivated, uninspired and at a point where I desperately needed a change and wanted to pursue a career doing something more rewarding and creative.

Helen took me through a very unpressured, insightful, initial consultation and made a course of conversations, exercises and ideas for us to work though in the coming weeks covering many personal and professional topics. With a professional, considerate, thought provoking, positively challenging way, having Helen as my personal coach has helped me work through many of my own challenges, preconceptions, hang-ups and barriers that have been stopping me having contentment with my current work and helping me to remove the hurdles that have been stopping me take a new chosen career path.

I cannot recommend Helen highly enough!

—Pip Williams, Hailsham, East Sussex.

Helen has the ability to ask the right question at the right time and is a fantastic personal coach. I came to Helen feeling trapped and unsure how to get out and throughout our meetings she managed to guide me in the right direction.

The meeting and discussion enabled me shift my perspective and mindset and understand that I am certainly not trapped and it gave me the nudge to start the Masters degree I had been pondering about for so long. My outlook on my career has certainly improved with the help of Helen as my personal coach.

This shift has not only affected my long term ambitions but also my day to day, I am more positive and can overcome daily setbacks with far less stress. Helen encouraged and guided me in finding the mental tool kits to allow me to deal with these stressful situations.

I would highly-recommend Helen as a personal coach, she has not only changed my mind about being trapped allowing me to more free, positive and motivated, she did it in a compassionate and human way.

—Alex, Eastbourne, East Sussex

Helen has been a great source of support, advice and inspiration during our programme of work as my personal coach. I have appreciated her skilful blend of empathy, sympathy and challenge, and I have found her to be very generous with her time and contacts. Helen’s flexibility around meeting times and venues was also a huge help.

I’d thoroughly recommend Helen to anyone looking for strategic, tactical or practical advice on their career.

—Lois, Trust Director, Brighton

When I first came to Helen looking for a personal coach, I was exhausted and felt as though I was going around in circles trying to balance a demanding career with a young family.

At the start of our sessions I assumed that we would focus the majority of the time on my career, but in actual fact Helen encouraged me to focus on my health, recreation, relationships and support networks first, before we explored skills and career progression. This was invaluable as it meant that by the time we got to the careers conversations, I felt very clear about what my priorities were, what I would/would not be willing to accept from a role and what my ideal work/life balance looked like.

Helen has great insight, a wonderful systematic approach to issues, is able to challenge constructively and provide open and non-judgmental observations. She has a calming and warm manner and an almost forensic ability to deconstruct jumbled-up thoughts and move things forward at a pace that works for you. Since our sessions finished I haven’t looked back and still use the tips and strategies that I learnt with Helen as my personal coach on a daily basis to great success.

If you can’t quite picture where you’d like to get to, or what you need to do in order to get there, then I would definitely recommend seeing Helen.

—Rebecca, Project Manager, East Sussex

Helen and I worked together at a time in my life that was defined by transition - on both a personal and professional level.

Helen is an extremely talented personal coach. She helped me to navigate everyday practical concerns as my life changed, as well as focusing on the bigger picture and my ultimate aims.

She is compassionate and wise. Her down-to-earth approach was highly effective in helping me move my life to the next level. I thoroughly recommend working with Helen as a personal coach.

—Marianne, London

Talking it all through with a personal coach helped shift my perspective. I've realised that I just don't want to do what I was doing before - even if that comes with a tacit acknowledgement that I wasn't good enough at it. That's OK. I've recognised that's because my heart wasn't in it, making that sort of game, and that prohibits real success. I've ended up taking a role that may not come with great lofty potential, but I'm more confident I can do it well, and if I do so it could be a role with long-term stability in a bigger and more well-run company than I've worked at these last five years, and I've realised that's very valuable to me at this point - and who knows, if I did it well, good things could happen later. The exercise where you asked me to write down my support network was eye-opening: turns out I don't really have one. That's something I need to remedy, although I'm still not sure how. Very useful.

I can be very self-critical and focus on my flaws. I think you've helped me recognise that, and to count my blessings. One way or another I'm certainly feeling happier: I'm looking forward to this role, with a healthy acknowledgement of its shortcomings and a plan to mitigate them, and I'm much more confident that I'll still be doing it in a few years - at least, that will be a choice in my hands. I hope! I'll keep you updated!

Thanks again for your help and support while being my personal coach. I'm very glad I found you.

—Ben Board, Brighton

Lewes District Council commissioned Sure Resources Ltd to work with their tenants to help them out of unemployment. The concept was to train tenants in Enterprise and Employability, along with having a personal coach mentoring them to give them the confidence and drive to establish their own business and/or attain appropriate employment.

On 24 July 2014 the tenants embarked on a 12 week course on combined Enterprise consisting of 2 qualifications being ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) Level 2 qualification in Enterprise, and

ASDAN Level 2 Certificate in Employability.

Helen Furlong acted as Learning Mentor and personal coach assisting the tenants through the experience, with a number of the tenants requiring intense support outside of the classroom to understand the course and complete their homework. The support Helen gave to the tenants was in person, via email, texts, Skype and telephone.

Over the duration of the course it was remarkable how the tenants gained in confidence and stature.

We were extremely pleased and impressed when fourteen tenants completed the course having developed business plans and cash flow forecasts to enable them to advance their enterprise ventures. The tenants also developed CVs, and learnt to present their business case articulately in a 3-minute pitch at any opportunity.

—Jenny Rowlands, Chief Executive, Lewes District Council

Thank you Helen for your enthusiasm and professionalism as Learning Mentor and Personal Coach during the Lewes Business Start-up course.

—Jules, Cute Dog Consulting, Brighton

The course was a huge success, and thank you especially to Helen whose enthusiasm and constant support ensured so many of the students succeeded. We would be interested in running this again if some match funding could be found.

—Jo Jacks, Housing Needs Manager Lewes District Council

I found Helen to be a well informed personal coach and able to help in an efficient and a kind way. She is motivated and I believe she could accomplish anything she put her mind to in the business world.

—Dawn Heart, Owner of Dawn Heart Publishing, Lewes, East Sussex