MY COACHING STORY

I'm Bernard.  I'm married to Deborah and although we've moved around a bit over the years we're now settled in southern New South Wales, Australia.

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I'm a professional mindset coach and mentor, specialising in leadership and personal development.

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I’ve had a widely - some would say wildly! - varied career so far. My jobs have included seafaring on oil tankers, authoring technical manuals, project engineering, export sales and account management, engineering consultancy and most recently I’ve worked as a senior officer in an emergency service agency here in New South Wales.   In my time I’ve experienced highs and lows, successes and a few failures. I’ve seen active service in a war zone, led the emergency services response to major disaster events, been a leader and a follower, and made many friends in my travels around the world.

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When I was in my early 40s, life gave me a slap in the face.  I had taken a lot of things for granted, and it came as a shock to discover that my life wasn't quite as settled as I thought it was.  Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I lost my marriage and my family.  Wham!  Just like that.

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You’d think that would be a wake-up call, wouldn’t you.  And it was, in a way, though it took me a couple of years to realise it.  I fell into a deep depression that nearly drove me over the edge of a cliff.  Standing there looking out into the void I knew I had to make a choice: give up and step off, or turn around and bring myself back to life.  I chose to turn around.  Not long afterwards, I met Deb, changed my job, moved house and began to find my way in what to me felt like an entirely new world.

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The next few years were a journey of self-discovery for me.  It wasn't easy and I almost drove myself, and Deb too, to despair as I wrestled with my low self-esteem and my seemingly endless repertoire of limiting beliefs.  I attended the seminars.  I read the self-help books.  I went on the meditation retreats.  But the one thing that worked for me was confronting my issues head-on and making my peace with them.  When I started to do that, I started to find a degree of inner peace.

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The experience I've gained through all of this has led me to a deep understanding of who I am and what I want to do with my life.  I've noticed that a great many people struggle with the very same things that I struggled with, often without even being aware that they are struggling.

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In recent years I've focused on working with people and helping them with their personal and professional development.  I've helped people to disentangle themselves from their cluttered webs of confusion and limiting beliefs so that they could get a clear picture of who they are and what they want to become in life.  By helping to remove the blocks I've guided my clients to achieve things they had never previously thought they could reach in their life and professional career.  That - setting people free to be the very best that they can be - is what gives purpose and meaning to my life and work.

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Why not get in touch and let's talk about how I can help you to find fulfilment in your own life.