Free live event on meaning coaching
Help clients find the meaning of THEIR lives
As coaches we can’t tell someone the meaning of their life, but we can help them to find it for themselves. Critically, our own worldview can get in the way of that…
Join us for four free live sessions on coaching meaning-making, political blind spots and working with people who see the world differently.
You’ll leave with:
- A clear map of what makes life meaningful (summary of research)
- Practical coaching techniques for finding purpose
- Tools to stay useful when clients have different world views
Sign up for free
- Live October 5 + 7
- Replays Oct 6 + 8
- With Mark Walsh
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2000+ coaching graduates
15+ years training practitioners
Taught in 45+ countries
What makes a life meaningful?
For one client, family matters more than career, and for another, freedom matters more than duty. Service, work, belonging, religion, responsibility – people build meaningful lives out of different things.
We’re not there to hand clients our version of a good life, but there is research on common elements. The hard part is helping them work out what matters to them… without quietly steering them towards what matters to us.
What we listen for, encourage and challenge is already shaped by our own picture of a worthwhile life. So this is worth clarifying.Â
Whose idea of a good life are you coaching?
Imagine a client says, “I’m unhappy in my marriage and I want to leave.”
What matters most – their happiness, their promises, their children, duty, authenticity, religious belief? There isn’t a technically neutral answer hiding in the coaching manual. And let’s not pretend we have no opinion!Â
Coaching comes from a worldview, so it already contains ideas about what people need and what a good life looks like. Those notions affect what we notice, challenge and what questions we ask.Â
What might conservative psychology notice that we miss?
The coaching and personal-development worlds tend to lean liberal. Fine, there are good reasons for that. But it means some assumptions are easier to see than others. We may also simply miss more conservative clients – and by the standards of Western helping culture, that’s still a very large part of the world.
Polarised politics today can make empathy hard, but I think great coaches can move beyond this. If someone’s values strike you as backwards, dangerous or offensive, can you still hear them properly?
Conservative ideas about a good life often put more weight on responsibility, family, faith, duty, belonging and tradition. There’s a whole other psychology! We’ll look at what those ideas can add to coaching, without having to adopt them, or clients having to align perfectly with us.Â
That gets VERY practical when a client is religious, politically conservative, traditional, or just from a non-Western culture. We can also miss business and wealthier clients when their worldview doesn’t fit helping-culture norms.
What happens when a client has different values from you?
A religious client prioritises marriage and children over career. A young man says feminism has ruined dating. Or a liberal client gets on your nerves.
You may feel angry, superior, eager to correct them – or find yourself agreeing too quickly.
If you don’t catch that reaction, your worldview may start coaching before you do.
Four sessions, two live days
Times shown automatically in your local timezone
UK times shown as fallback
Meaning in practice: how to coach clients to find meaning
Session time:Coaching across the divide: conservative ideas in practice
Session time:Original live times: 9am + 4pm UK time on both live days.
This is aimed at coaches & helping professionals
The event is aimed at existing coaches, therapists, psychologists and related helping professionals who want to work more intelligently with meaning, values and worldview differences.
You don’t need to be liberal, conservative or agree with everything shared. If you’re curious about people who make sense of life differently from you – and willing to notice your own blind spots – you’ll have something to work with. We won’t be arguing about politics.Â
If you’re already conservative, religious or traditional, the question may be different: how do you bring your actual values into the work without turning clients into copies of you?
And yes, you’re still welcome if you’re not a coach, too. This can be useful for everyone.
About Mark Walsh
Mark Walsh has taught coaching and embodiment internationally for more than 20 years. He has trained 2,000+ coaches. He founded Embodiment Unlimited, wrote six books, created the Certification of Embodiment Coaching and hosts The Embodiment Coaching Podcast.
He’s spent most of his professional life inside a broadly liberal personal-development culture, while becoming increasingly interested in subjects that culture can find awkward: responsibility, family, religion, men, tradition, duty and meaning.
Join us for the free Meaning Event
Save your place
- Four free live sessions
- Live October 5 + 7
- Replays included
Details sent by email after you register.
Signup form not loading? Register here.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be a coach?
It’s mainly for coaches, therapists, psychologists and other helping professionals, so a lot of the examples will be about client work.
And yes, you’re still welcome if you’re not a coach. The questions around meaning, values and worldview apply much more widely.
Are the 9am and 4pm sessions different?
Yes. They’re four different sessions, not repeats – two on 5 October and two on 7 October.
The schedule above automatically shows the equivalent times in your timezone.
What if I can’t attend live?
Register anyway. Sessions 1 + 2 will be available as replays on 6 October, and all four sessions from 8 October.
Do I need to be conservative?
No. You don’t need to be liberal, conservative or agree with everything shared.
We’ll talk about politics and worldview because they affect real coaching, but we won’t be arguing about politics. The point is to get better at working with people who see life differently.
Is there a course after this?
Yes. The free event stands on its own, and you’ll leave with ideas and things to try around meaning, worldview and working across differences.
For people who want to go further, we’ll briefly introduce the founding Compassionate Conservative Coaching specialist certification. That’s where we’ll have more time for practice, cases and feedback.