Warren's Story: 25 Lancashire Minds

Warren’s Story

Beyond the job title: Why wellbeing coaching matters for people in caring roles

In his role as a residential manager for a children’s home, Warren is no stranger to long days, emotional demands, and the weight of responsibility. When one of the homes in his network faced a crisis, Warren stepped in to support – but found himself absorbing not just the challenges, but the emotional toll too.

Warren Howarth,
Residential Manager, Local Council

Why did you choose to access workplace wellbeing coaching?
I chose to access the coaching service because of the experiences that I’d witnessed whilst I was working. My job is or can be quite stressful. I’m a residential manager. I was supporting our network by going in and helping out at another home that was in crisis. I saw a lot of sickness. I saw a lot of stress.

The reason that I accessed Wellbeing Coaching predominantly was around the fact that. I couldn’t make changes to what was taking place. So, I had to manage. I had to deal with what was actually going on at the time, but I didn’t have any sort of real power or authority to impact changes for those people. And being a people person, I was taking that on board myself. And that really, really, really sort of had a big impact on me because I was taking not only the fact that I was in there and managing it and long days, longer nights. But I was also taking on board everybody else’s issues and then seeing people go off sick and then thinking, how am I going to manage that? Looking at replacing those staff, and it was, it was it was overwhelming.

How would you describe your experience of coaching?
I describe my experience of coaching as almost cathartic. It very much allowed me to express how I was feeling and get things off my chest, which in my job and role, we don’t do a lot of that. We do have supervisions, and we do have discussions with staff members – but the stuff that really impacts on you, you keep in your head. That plays on your mind, whether consciously or subconsciously plays and it can really have an impact.

I know that from experience, because years ago counselling, which was completely different, but I had counselling because I was having random panic attacks from nowhere. I wasn’t stressed; I wasn’t worried about anything. But apparently, it’s a lot of little things all building up and then just finding an outlet. And I didn’t want to get back into that sort of situation again.

What is the biggest thing you took away or learned through coaching?
The biggest thing that I took away from coaching was self-reflection, really. Sort of adopting a mindfulness approach for myself and realising and understanding that it’s not all on me. I don’t have to deal with everything I can find and utilise methods of actually dealing with the way that I’m feeling, compartmentalising it, putting it into perspective and addressing the issues that I’ve got that.

How would you say that coaching compares to any other service or support you’ve accessed?
In comparison to counselling, it is different. It’s more directed really, it was lot more direct, and it was in a short space of time. I felt it was more focused on me and not necessarily dealing with the problem itself but using coping mechanisms and finding those coping mechanisms to deal with the issue that I’ve got going on.

What was your coach like?
My coach was really friendly. On the first session we got to know each other for the first part of the session. They got to know me, understand me and get an understanding of my role, job, and what I’d experienced. It was more friendly than being in a counselling session where it’s very clinical or can be very clinical. This was a lot more personal and allowed me to express how I was feeling a lot better.

Would you recommend coaching to others?
I would recommend coaching to others. I think it’s a really valuable tool in our toolbox, and not a lot of people know about it. I was aware that things were available out there to help with wellbeing and support. But it’s one of those things when you’re in the midst of what we do, like a residential manager, you don’t think to access these kind of things. You might hear about them at conferences. You might hear about them from your senior managers and your supervisions. But it’s usually a one off and you mention it and you’ll forget about it, and you’ll move on with the next problem.

I’ve recommended coaching to my staff team. Now going forwards, I’m not saying every day is bad, but when we do go through difficult times and have difficult situations, we’ve recommended using this service to support them and not necessarily just about what we’ve got going on within the home. It’s also what we’ve got, what they’ve got outside of the home as well. And it’s like an all-encompassing service for them. A few people have really taken that on board and utilised it.

Your employer has organised wellbeing coaching from Lancashire Mind – how does it make you feel as an employee?
It’s really good and it makes you feel that you’re valued because there are lots and lots of services out there and lots of employers that they don’t have the same thought towards their staff. You’re there as a number, whereas my employer doesn’t just see you as a number, they see you as a person. They value your wellbeing and obviously from their perspective as well in terms of wellbeing, if you’re mentally and physically well, you’re not going to go off sick. So, therefore it’s a cost-effective service.

If you or your organisation would like to benefit from adult wellbeing coaching, simply email training@lancashiremind.org.uk for more information.

Adult Wellbeing Coaching