291: Mental Health and Wellbeing: Scope, Ethics and Human Connection with Andrew Parsons
About this episode
The episode discusses the intersection of coaching, mental health, and wellbeing with a focus on ethical practice and human connection.
In episode 3 of our Coaching for Health and Wellbeing podcast series, hosts Ana Paula Nacif and Christian van Nieuwerburgh, and guest Andrew Parsons — a biomedical scientist turned Master Certified Coach — explore what it truly means to coach in the mental health and wellbeing space. Andrew brings a rare blend of clinical knowledge and coaching expertise to a nuanced conversation about supporting people living with long-term health conditions. A key starting point is understanding health and mental health not as a fixed state but as a dynamic continuum, shaped by life circumstances, relationships, and personal history: a reframe that sets the tone for everything that follows. A central theme is ethical practice: knowing where coaching ends and counselling begins, and why that distinction matters, particularly in clinical environments. Andrew explores coaching as a health promotion activity rather than a clinical intervention, the critical importance of trauma-informed practice, and why supervision is non-negotiable when working with vulnerable populations. Coaches in this space, he argues, are not therapists or clinicians, but they do offer something profound — a collaborative…
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