Coaching with Ping
We meet regularly, one‑on‑one and online, and take the situations that keep tripping you up one at a time. That might be speaking up when your CEO is in the room, or asking for the promotion you’ve earned.
How it goes
We go at whatever pace suits you, and each barrier goes through the same steps, built on EMDR’s protocol.
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15 minutes, free, on video
A first call
We talk about what’s getting in the way and what you’d like to be able to do.
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Our first sessions
Mapping it
We pick the barrier that would make the most difference and map what happens in you as you get close to it: the thought, your body’s reaction and where it started. We also build ways to steady yourself, so the harder work feels safe.
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Session by session
The work itself
This is where my clinical training does its work. While you picture the moment you dread, we use EMDR tools such as eye movements or tapping on the reaction itself, like the blank mind or the tight chest, so we’re working on how your body responds instead of only talking about it. We build on what you already do well under pressure. Then you rehearse the real situation out loud, often with me playing the person you’re dreading, until it feels manageable.
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Between sessions
Trying it for real
You try it at work or at home, and we talk about what happened. When one thing gets easier, we move to the next. You decide when you’ve got what you came for.
What it can look like
Say you’ve just been made VP of Engineering. In the weekly exec meeting, the CEO turns to you with a pointed question about the roadmap. You know the answer, but your face goes hot, your mind goes white, and you hear yourself say “let me get back to you.” By Thursday you’re already rehearsing next week’s meeting in the shower.
In our first sessions we slow that moment right down. The heat starts in your face a second before the question even lands, and the thought underneath is something like they’re about to find out I’m out of my depth. When we look for where that comes from, you remember a professor who cold‑called people and made a show of wrong answers. You hadn’t thought about him in fifteen years.
Then we work on it. You hold the picture of the CEO’s raised eyebrow while your eyes follow my hand across the screen, in short sets. Between sets you tell me what you notice, and over the session the picture seems further away and your shoulders come down. At some point you say, a little surprised, that it just looks like a person asking a question.
We rehearse next week’s meeting with me playing the CEO, pointed questions and all, until a pause and a short answer feel normal. In the real meeting you still feel the heat, but it passes, and you answer. Afterwards we look at what happened, and you decide what’s next, maybe the conversation about headcount you’ve been putting off.
An illustration of the work, not a client story.
Coaching or the Intensive?
Both take one thing at a time. The main difference is pace, and how much room you have in your life right now.
Coaching may suit you if
- There’s more than one thing you’d like to change.
- You’d like support over a few months while things shift.
- Meeting regularly feels steadier to you than one big push.
The Intensive may suit you if
- There’s one specific thing in the way, or a date coming up.
- You’d rather get through it all at once.
- You can set aside about half a day.
If you’re not sure, we can work it out on the free call.
Questions people ask
What is EMDR‑informed coaching?
It’s the main approach I use. I take techniques from EMDR therapy, such as mentally rehearsing a situation before it happens and loosening old beliefs that get in your way, and use them to help you prepare for something you want to do. It isn’t EMDR therapy, and it isn’t treatment for any condition. There’s more about it on the blog.
How is this different from regular coaching?
Coaching usually works on what you think and plan. With my clinical training, I also work with what happens in your body when the pressure is on, using tools from EMDR inside a structured process built on EMDR’s protocol. I’m a licensed therapist in Ontario, Canada, so I also know when something needs more than coaching, and I’ll say so.
Is this therapy?
No. We focus on what’s happening in your life now. If the past comes into it, we make some room for that, and if something needs therapy, I’ll tell you and help you find a therapist.
Is there research behind it?
A little. EMDR has been studied a lot as a therapy for trauma and much less for performance. In small studies, one session reduced test anxiety, and two sessions helped advanced pianists feel calmer and play better in concert, though hypnotherapy helped them about as much. I can’t promise you a particular result. I use it because it suits how I work and I’ve seen it help people.
Can my company pay for it?
Often, yes. Many employers cover coaching from a learning or professional development budget. I can give you an invoice for professional coaching to submit.
How often do we meet, and for how long?
We agree on how often to meet during the first call, and we can change it later. Coaching lasts as long as it’s useful to you, and we check in along the way about whether to keep going, take a break or stop.
Where do I need to be?
Anywhere. Everything happens online, and we’ll find times that work across time zones.
What it costs
The first call is free, and you only pay for sessions once we’ve both decided to go ahead.