Finance Coaching & Mentoring

We usually meet over video — you can pick whichever platform works best for you from Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams.

Sessions are typically 60 to 90 minutes long, and we'll scope the right spacing and frequency at the start of the engagement. Some people prefer shorter, more frequent sessions; others want longer, more spacious ones. We'll figure out what works for you.

If video doesn't work for you — for sensory reasons, energy, neurodivergence, or anything else — we can do audio-only sessions or partial video.

What does trauma-informed mean in your work?

Trauma-informed is a phrase that gets used a lot, so it's worth being clear about what it means here.

I'm a certified Trauma of Money™ Practitioner — a body of work developed by Chantel Chapman that brings together neuroscience, somatic practice, attachment theory, and systemic awareness as it applies to money.

Why this matters:

Money is treated, almost everywhere, as something logical — a head thing, a maths thing, something you should just figure out. But it isn't. Money lives in your body, your nervous system, your relationships, your inheritances, your sense of safety. It makes you feel something. When that gets acknowledged honestly — not bypassed, not minimised — everything starts to shift.

I also don't follow the unspoken rules of how this kind of work is "supposed" to look — back-to-back meetings, pushing through, ignoring how your body feels, performing productivity, putting capitalism's norms ahead of what's right for you. We work how you work best. That's the whole point.

What it looks like in practice:

• Recognising the nervous system in the room — if you go quiet, get overwhelmed, dissociate, freeze, or get activated, we slow down. The pace of the work matches what your system can hold.
• Autonomy and choice at every step — you're in the driver's seat. You decide what we look at, what we don't, the pace, and when to pause or change direction.
• Set up however lets you show up — under a blanket, walking around, fidgeting, doing something with your hands, camera off, lying on the floor — whatever lets you be present and regulated. Pause whenever you need to. There's no one right way to be in a session.
• Exercises designed with this in mind — any reflection prompts, journaling, or work between sessions is set up to support you, not perform you. Engage with what helps, skip what doesn't, adapt as you need.
• Using language carefully — avoiding shame, blame, or pressure. Naming things honestly, but without making you feel small for what you're carrying.
• Holding the systemic alongside the personal — money issues sit inside systems (capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, classism, family inheritance, gender, race). I won't pretend they don't.
• Not pushing past the feelings — emotions get held, not bypassed. We don't pretend you're fine, and we don't try to push past discomfort to get to the spreadsheet.

What this isn't:

I'm not a therapist or counsellor. Trauma-informed is not the same as trauma treatment. I'm not training or qualified to treat trauma directly, and this isn't a clinical or therapeutic setting. If significant trauma comes up that needs more space than this work can hold, you'll need someone trained in that work — and it's worth thinking about what other support you have around you (therapist, somatic practitioner, etc.) before or alongside.

What I do bring is finance work that doesn't ignore the nervous system, the feelings, or the systems money sits inside.

‍

The two often blend in practice — but the way I usually distinguish them:

Coaching comes from the idea that you have the answer in you somewhere — it's just a matter of finding it. So I'll ask questions that help you discover what's there: what would you do if you weren't worried about the money? What does this need to feel like for you to feel safe with it? My role is to hold the space and the questions; you do the meaning-making. It's also more structured — moving through a series of defined steps, scoped at the start of the engagement.

Mentoring is more responsive. You bring what's on your mind that day — a question, a decision, a situation — and I share my experience and knowledge: here's how I'd think about that, here's what I've seen work, here's what to watch for, here's what I'd suggest. It's responsive rather than structured, and you get the benefit of a senior finance perspective applied to your specific situation.

Both are formally underpinned — I'm an ILM Level 7 qualified Executive Coach and Mentor, with frameworks and methodology behind both modes rather than just experience on its own. So most engagements move between coaching and mentoring, and we'll scope out what's going to be most useful when we plan things together.

In practice, sessions sometimes touch on consultancy or strategic advice — for example, working through a specific business problem or scenario you're navigating. That's natural and welcome. But formal advisory or consultancy work — scoped projects, modelling, financial planning and advisory — sits as its own engagement type, with the regulatory and professional framework that comes with being an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. That work lives under Fractional CFO, Consultancy & Projects.

Financial advice in the UK is a regulated activity — it specifically covers advising on regulated financial products (investments, pensions, mortgages, insurance, etc.), and that work has to be done by an FCA-authorised financial adviser. I'm a Chartered Accountant not a Independent Financisl Advisor.

What I do is finance coaching, mentoring, and strategic thinking — the relationship with money, the financial side of business, decision-making, modelling, planning, pricing, and the emotional-practical integration. That's not regulated advice.

If something comes up in our work that needs a regulated financial adviser — investments, pension strategy, mortgages, certain tax planning — I'll flag it, and I can make an introduction to someone suitable with a similar ethos.

Yes. Coaching engagements are scoped around what's going on for you, so we can absolutely focus on something specific. That might include:

• Going self-employed for the first time, or navigating a major business shift
• Working through the financial side of a divorce, separation, or relationship change
• Recovering from financial loss, debt, or a period of financial trauma
• Scaling a business and wanting to feel grounded in the numbers as you grow
• Stepping into a senior role with financial responsibility for the first time
• Working through ownership, succession, or exit thinking
• Figuring out how to pay yourself sustainably and properly
• Building a financial life that fits chronic illness, caring responsibilities, or seasonal capacity

If your situation isn't on the list but feels relevant, book a call and we'll work it out.

Yes — completely. Permission to feel.

Tears are welcome. So is anger, grief, frustration, numbness, freeze, embarrassment, or anything else that surfaces when we look at money honestly. You don't have to compose yourself or perform calm.

Money brings up a lot for almost everyone

It sits at the intersection of every system you've ever had to navigate (capitalism, family, gender, race, class, ability, neurodivergence), and most people have never had a held space to look at it. That's not a sign anything's wrong with you. It's a sign you're paying attention.

The work makes room for what comes up.

As a certified Trauma of Money™ Practitioner, I'm trained to hold the emotional and nervous-system side of money work alongside the practical.

This is not therapy

But it's worth saying clearly: this is finance coaching that includes the emotions, not therapy. Some people find it's the right fit alongside ongoing therapy, or after they've done some therapeutic work elsewhere. If you know money brings up significant trauma for you, it's worth thinking about what other support you have around you.

If you are unsure about if now is the right time, please book a call and we can explore it without pressure.

Yes — and often that's a good combination.

I'm a certified Trauma of Money™ Practitioner, but I'm not your therapist. The work I do is finance coaching with the emotional and nervous-system dimension included — not therapy itself.

If you're already working with a therapist, counsellor, somatic practitioner, or other coach, the work we do together can complement that beautifully. Money brings up a lot, and having other support in place often makes this work go deeper, faster, and more safely.

Often people come to me having already done therapeutic work elsewhere, and are ready to bring that integration into their relationship with money — that's a good place to start from.

If you're considering this work without other support in place, that's also welcome — but worth thinking about whether you have what you need around you, given some of what may surface.

Coaching and mentoring is tailored to your needs, the size of your organisation, and your access to resource and privilege.

For pricing guidance, a typical engagement starts from £2,250 + VAT. That covers a series of six sessions together, plus everything around them — planning, reflection prompts and exercises, sounding-board support between sessions, and the time spent thinking, scoping, and providing tools and resources alongside your engagement.

I offer concessions for those working in the not-for-profit space, and some pro bono / sliding scale options are available. When you book a call, you're welcome to share anything around financial accessibility, or other needs you'd like considered.

Simply book a call. We'll talk through your situation — goals, current challenges, and opportunities — and explore what kind of support would make all the difference. If it feels like a fit, I'll draft a proposal that we refine together, so it fits for your reality and preferences.

I work with everything from pre-revenue start-ups to established multi-division groups turning over many millions. That includes for profit ventures, groups, charities, social enterprises, and not-for-profits.

Industries I’ve supported include tech, creative, retail, professional services, e-commerce, consultancy, health, care and wellbeing, media & entertainment, and organisations focused on community, environmental, and social impact, justice and acitivism.

What matters isn’t your size or sector — it’s that you want money to actively fuel your mission.