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By Dr Ollie Hart The publication of this week’s NHS England Community MSK Service Specification felt genuinely significant to me, for two reasons. Firstly, it explicitly states that community MSK services should use “evidence-based interventions such as peer support, self-management education and health coaching to support self-management.” That is a landmark moment for those of us who have spent years arguing that these approaches belong in mainstream NHS care, not at its ma

By Dr Tim Williams With resources stretched, it’s tempting to use groups as an efficient way to get the waiting list down. They can absolutely do that, but when facilitated well, they can deliver so much more. Much of the reason for the success of working with groups is due to the power of the group. Indeed, groups can deliver what 121 coaching rarely does: 1. Vicarious experiences (social modelling) Watching someone similar to you succeed, it's far more persuasive

by Dr Ollie Hart On June 3rd we were excited to launch our first live online ‘Health Coaching for Metabolic Health, GLP-1s and beyond’ training day. The morning focused on understanding how our metabolism works, and what goes wrong. The afternoon focused in on GLP1 use, and how health coaching can enhance outcomes and reduce problems. It was so well received we have opened bookings for our next course on Novemeber 11th https://www.peakhealthcoaching.com/metabolic-health-an

By Tim Williams "Unexpressed feelings are a Thinking Inhibitor" (Nancy Kline) If, as Nancy Kline suggests, 'unexpressed feelings are a thinking inhibitor' and if, as practitioners, we want our patients or clients to think brilliantly, then what more could we do to support people to express their feelings? One thing, I believe, is to be more at ease when they do. Some practictioners feel more at ease with expressed feeling than others - some find it very uncomfortable indeed.

by Dr Tim Williams In supervision, it’s often our role to offer a perspective from our own experience in support of the coach (and ultimately their clients) – ideally this is when it’s asked for, to maintain equality with the coach being supervised. In coaching, I think it’s more of a judgement call. Sometimes, when we’re listening deeply to a client, we sense something that, perhaps, they’re missing. Initially we may let this go, but then sometimes, as they continue to expl

By Dr Ollie Hart This month saw a number of commentaries from the Kings fund on the back of NHS England’s Neighbourhood framework. Boring, boring, boring, I hear many of you cry…..why does it matter? Not another dull attempt to reshuffle the deck chairs! But we think Neighbourhoods are important, it matters that we get this right. There is a huge amount of evidence from health and care systems across the world that if you want to create the best health for populations you n

By Dr Tim Williams When the people we support are not making the progress we’d all like to see, the temptation is to worry that it’s something we have not done as a practitioner that is at fault. We can sometimes even find ourselves blaming the person – “They’re just not committed/motivated/ready!” Both these extremes are understandable but, for the most part, pretty unhelpful. It's not all about you! I have 3 children and several years ago, I was talking to my wife Alison

By Dr Ollie Hart It was a privilege to host 127 NHS Care Co-ordinators (CCs) at our free online Conference on 11th February. Thank you all who joined in, bringing your energy and insight to the afternoon. Especially Darcie Parry (CC ambassador form Notts) , Kavita Gaur (GP from NW London), and our own associate trainers Holly and Emily, for all their planning and contributions on the day. The headline take home messages: -People love doing the CC role, especially when they

By Dr Ollie Hart Places are filling up fast for our popular annual conference, May 6 th 2026, in Sheffield. It’s our 4 th year and we are confident we know how to plan a good party now! With the publication of the Charlie Mayfield report and the strong national and NHS focus on workforce and workplace wellbeing, we decided to make this the core theme of this years event. It will of course all have a strong health coaching flavour through out! We are delighted to announ

By Dr Tim Williams Yes, you definitely need a supervisor (see last month’s Top Tip), and you would likely benefit from having your very own coach too. As we know, good coaching provides an opportunity for you to think really well about whatever topic you choose to focus on. Many will have benefited from having coaching as part of their coaching practice, as health coaches-in-training. And, although some do continue with those same groups and relationships, beyond the initial

By Tim Williams In Robin and Joan Shohets book ' In Love with Supervision ', they re-tell the story of a woodcutter, who, on his first day at work managed to fell 18 trees. The boss is delighted and it’s all going well. On the second day he’s only able to fell 15 trees and the next day, just 10. This goes on day after day – each time, despite all his best efforts, he’s able to cut down fewer and fewer trees. He goes to see the boss to apologise and the boss asks, “When wa

Tim Williams Introduction As 2025 winds down, it felt like a good moment to pause, look back on the year at Peak, and share a bit about where we’re heading next. If you’ve listened to our recent podcast, you’ll know I don’t send Christmas cards. I’ve also never written one of those family Christmas letters proudly updating everyone on little Jonny’s Grade 8 piano or Sarah’s four A*s. So if this feels a bit like that… sorry. But in case you’re interested — here goes. First th

Are you a health coach or coaching professional who has already been on our coaching approaches to pain management training? If so, you are in for a treat, as we help you take the next step in furthering your learning and skills. Responding to feedback and exciting progress in the field of pain management and recovary, we are launching an additional 3 rd session, to build on the skills and techniques we have already taught. This extra session has been co-produced with

The importance for holding silence for others to do their best thinking.

By Dr Ollie Hart This month saw the long-awaited final report from Sir Charlie Mayfield, previous chair of John Lewis. Keep Britain Working assesses the need to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace. We think it is highly relevant to health and wellbeing coaching across all sectors and not just the NHS, and we see a significant place for health coaches in the recommendations he makes. The report starts by highlighting the UK is in crisis, with 1 in 5 working age a

Sustainable habits grow form Tiny Habits

"Walk the Ball" By Dr Tim Williams Sometimes the people we support, get stuck. This can be due to untrue assumptions they’re making about a situation, which are getting in the way (see March 2025 newsletter) and in the context of good rapport, we might invite them to challenge these. It can also be useful for people to look a fresh at a situation from a different perspective and that’s where the beach ball comes in! You’ll notice in the picture that the ball has different

The importance of paying attention rather than than focusing on taking notes.

by Dr Ollie Hart Have you always thought a hierarchy was a bad thing? We often think of this word when describing the power dynamics in...

The value of Summarising in Coaching and the possible costs.