Hello!
I'm Helen Barnes, an ICF (PCC) Executive Coach.
Before training and certifying as a coach, I spent 15 years in communications, a world of relentless workload, shifting priorities and dramatic mood swings, where deadlines and coffee fuel creativity and stress in equal measure. You’re always on, and the work is never really done.
When demands come from all sides, I know it’s easy to feel the weight of responsibility without always having the autonomy, clarity or certainty you need to deliver what’s expected. Mergers and restructures are never far away. So you learn to live with ambiguity, operate in a perpetual state of insecurity, and keep going even as the ground keeps shifting.
But the cost to you is high.
That's the experience that led me to coaching.
I work with leaders in high-pressure roles because I understand, from the inside, what it's like to work at pace while carrying a heavy cognitive and emotional load. I know how quickly your clarity and perspective can erode when the world around you keeps accelerating, especially if you're thoughtful, conscientious and care deeply about supporting your team and doing a good job.
My belief is simple: coaching is an antidote to a world that moves faster than humans can think. It creates the pause that modern leadership rarely allows, giving you space to slow down, step back and think properly again. (I've described this more fully in an essay about how pace is eroding our ability to think clearly, which you can read here).
I bring calm, perspective and pattern recognition to our work together, alongside a wide range of psychological frameworks and mental health-informed training. Tools are used intuitively to help offer new lenses to situations where you might feel stuck. I’ll offer reflections, questions and ideas as input, but I won’t tell you what to do. The aim is to catalyse your thinking, not to replace it.
What clients often experience having worked with me is a shift from feeling buffeted by events to leading with more control, clarity and ease. The pressure doesn't disappear. They're simply better equipped to meet it.
This is a confidential thinking partnership for leaders who want to stay steady in a changing world, and lead well without taking the weight of the role everywhere they go.
I am fully qualified
I have been trained by Animas School of Coaching and am fully accredited as an PCC (Professional Certified Coach) by the International Coaching Federation. I also hold a TQUK Level 2 in Awareness of Mental Health Issues and a certification in coaching for mental health.
I am fully insured
I am insured by Balens to deliver Transformational coaching and mental health trainings worldwide. As a member of the ICF (International Coaching Federation), I abide by their code of ethics
14 day money back guarantee
As an independent consumer, if you change your mind within 14 days of committing to any of my services, I will refund you (minus payment for any services which have already been delivered)