Frequently Asked
Questions

While coaching and therapy share some techniques — particularly around active listening and reflective questioning — they serve different purposes and operate in different contexts.

Therapy and counselling typically focus on addressing mental health conditions, processing past trauma, and resolving psychological difficulties. They are clinical interventions provided by qualified mental health professionals.

Coaching, by contrast, is a forward-looking, goal-oriented practice. It focuses on where you want to go and how to get there — not on resolving past difficulties (though understanding your history may be part of the coaching conversation). Our coaches are not therapists and coaching is not a substitute for professional mental health support.

If you are experiencing significant mental health difficulties, we may recommend that you work with a therapist alongside or prior to embarking on a coaching programme.

Coaching tends to be most effective for people who:

• Are ready to invest genuine time and energy in their own development
• Are open to being challenged and exploring new perspectives
• Have a specific area they want to work on (even if they can't yet articulate it fully)
• Are not currently in acute crisis (coaching works best alongside, not instead of, appropriate clinical support)

If you're unsure whether coaching is right for you, the best first step is a conversation. Our complimentary discovery calls are specifically designed to help you assess fit — with no pressure or obligation.

Outcomes from coaching vary by person and by programme, but common results include: greater clarity about goals and direction; increased confidence; improved decision-making; better communication and relationship-building; enhanced ability to manage stress and complexity; and, for leaders, more effective and sustainable leadership.

We agree clear goals at the beginning of every engagement and review progress against those goals throughout. We are committed to making the impact of coaching as tangible as possible.

The first step is always a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. This is an opportunity for you to share a little about your context and what you're looking for, and for us to explore whether Meridian is the right fit. There is no obligation whatsoever.

If we both feel there is a good match, we will move to a more formal contracting conversation — agreeing on goals, approach, timeline, and practical details. We take the contracting process seriously: clear agreements at the outset make for better coaching later.

You can book a discovery call via our contact page, or by emailing us directly.

Programme length varies according to the service and your goals:

• Executive Coaching: Typically 6 or 12 sessions, usually over 4–12 months
• Career Transition Coaching: Usually 4–8 sessions over 2–5 months
• Wellbeing & Resilience Coaching: Flexible, typically 6–10 sessions
• Leadership Development Programmes: 3–12 months in duration
• Team Coaching: Usually 3–6 months of engagement

Individual sessions typically run for 60–90 minutes. We can discuss the right programme length for your specific situation in your discovery call.

All Meridian coaches hold internationally recognised professional qualifications. Our team includes ICF PCC-accredited coaches, EMCC Practitioner and Senior Practitioner members, and qualified organisational psychologists (BPS Chartered).

Each coach maintains a minimum of 50 hours of continuing professional development per year, holds regular professional supervision, and adheres to the ethical codes of their respective professional bodies.

You can find full details of our team's qualifications on our Team page.

Confidentiality is absolutely fundamental to the coaching relationship. Nothing you share in a coaching session will be disclosed without your explicit consent.

The only exceptions to this are the standard ethical exceptions that apply to all professional coaching engagements: if we have reason to believe that you or someone else is at immediate risk of serious harm. Even in these cases, we would discuss this with you before taking any action wherever possible.

Where coaching is commissioned by an organisation (rather than an individual), we will discuss the three-way contracting arrangement carefully at the outset — typically, an organisation may be informed that coaching is progressing and broad goal areas, but nothing else.

Yes — all of our services are available online via secure video conferencing. The evidence base for online coaching is now robust, with research consistently showing that it is as effective as in-person coaching for the vast majority of clients.

We use professional, secure platforms for all online sessions. We find that many clients actually prefer online coaching for its flexibility and convenience — and some find it easier to access a reflective state in a familiar environment.

In-person coaching is also available at our London base, and we can travel for team and organisational work across the UK.

We understand that professional and personal life sometimes intervenes. We ask for at least 48 hours' notice for any cancellation or rescheduling. Sessions cancelled with less than 48 hours' notice may be charged at the full session rate.

We will always do our best to be flexible where genuine emergencies arise. We simply ask for the same flexibility in return — including respecting your coach's time as you would any other professional appointment.

Good coaching relies on a strong relationship between coach and client. We take coach-client matching seriously. During your discovery call, we will listen carefully to your goals, context, and preferences — and recommend the coach we believe is best placed to support you.

We also offer an initial chemistry session with a suggested coach before any formal engagement begins. If the match doesn't feel right, we will recommend an alternative without any pressure or awkwardness. Getting the fit right matters more to us than closing an engagement quickly.

Absolutely. A significant proportion of our work is organisationally commissioned — where a business, public sector body, or third sector organisation engages us to provide coaching or consulting for their people.

This includes executive coaching for individual leaders, leadership development programmes for cohorts of managers, team coaching, and broader organisational consulting work around culture, strategy, and change. Please see our Services page for full details.

When an organisation commissions coaching for an individual, three parties are involved: the organisation (typically HR or a line manager), the coachee, and the coach. We manage this three-way relationship with great care.

At the outset, we agree clearly with all three parties what will be shared. Typically, the organisation will receive confirmation that sessions are taking place and broad thematic areas of work (agreed with the coachee), but nothing more. The content of coaching conversations remains confidential to the coachee and the coach.

We find that transparent, well-managed three-way contracting actually builds trust and leads to better coaching outcomes for everyone involved.

Yes — this is one of the most impactful organisational interventions we offer. A coaching culture is one in which coaching conversations are not just reserved for senior leaders in formal programmes, but are embedded across day-to-day management practice.

We help organisations develop their internal coaching capability by training managers in coaching skills, establishing internal mentoring programmes, and creating structures that support ongoing reflective practice. The result is a more curious, more engaged, more adaptive organisation.

Get in touch to discuss what this might look like in your context.