Thank you Doug for coaching me through a delicate issue that has been holding me back from achieving the level of business and personal success I have been reaching for. Your coaching style allowed me to fully engage the issue without fear of judgement and then gave me the support I needed to understand and change the hidden problem. I have gained a deeper sense of my own power and abilities and now have more energy and commitment to achieve the success I want!

I’ll be honest. When I first heard about coaching I was sceptical, because I come across a different “coach” every day or so who promises the world. However, I decided to check out Doug’s work and I have been very happy with the results I have gotten. Doug takes the time to explain things, and make sure you are comfortable with what is taking place. Best of all, he does not judge you on where you are, or where you are coming from. I now have been recommending Doug to lots of people in my database. You can’t go wrong.

A year ago two large personal events really shook my life, and my confidence and assurance in who I was. I then went through the worst year of my life, nearly quitting my job three times, and suffering the worst period of heartbreak I’d ever been through.

Around 11 months later, as I was starting to get my life back on track, I looked at who I was on the outside, and who I wanted to be on the inside. The two didn’t match up. I knew I wanted to be a confident, assured, outgoing person. It’s who I had been at times in the past. But instead I felt massively insecure, nervous, and restricted. I felt like the real me was trapped in some sort of shell.

That’s when I contacted Doug, and tentatively asked if he could help me. After an introductory exploratory session, I decided to allow him to work with me on the issues I had.

What he helped me to find out about myself astounded me. Some of the underlying attitudes about myself, people, and the world around me were amazing – amazingly wrong and unhelpful! So together we worked through them, first identifying them, and then working to eliminate them and help me to break out of this ‘shell’ I was trapped in.

Over the course of the next 12 weeks, I saw myself changing in my beliefs about the world, growing in confidence in the way I lived and interacted with others, having less fear and insecurity about other people and world, and as a Christian, placing more value, authority and approval in God than in the world.

What you will really like about Doug is his ability to help you to figure out the source of your own issues, rather than just telling you what they are. You know yourself better than he does, and he knows that, so you work together to grow and change. He has a sense of humour, and although some sessions are hard work, and you may find yourself going to places that are uncomfortable, he is able to make you feel comfortable and open throughout.

I would thoroughly recommend him as a coach, (as I have done already to people I know). He will help you to work through what issues you have, and you will experience change. He is more involved than just during the session, and I feel he’s become more than a coach offering a service to me!

Doug, you had asked for some feedback, and I certainly wanted to give some to you, as I feel you have been a tremendous asset.First, let me say that I feel you have “understood” me better than anyone I have ever spoken with before. That includes several counselors, and even another Neuro-semantic trainer.I believe you have really incorporated the message well and have done a great job of setting frames.

I write this with full belief…That anyone who wants to accomplish any goal in life would be well-served to talk to Doug. His insight and guidance is incredible and it is a no-brainer to work with him. I highly recommend thatDoug should be consulted if there is any resistance to accomplishing any goals in life.

Hi Douglas,  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, for your commitment you demonstrated  during the sessions, getting through my personal barriers I had with taking action on starting  my business, and also the  life tools you have left with me on how to overcoming the internal blocks , The journey form uncertainty to CERTAINTY! has been A real eye opener, I now know that I can tap into my full potential!

May God Richly Bless YOU!

“There are many things that I appreciate concerning my work with Douglas.  He is a very caring and sensitive person who provides an appropriate balance of challenge and encouragement whilst respecting my needs at all times.  His style of working is quite focused and intensive and he effectively uses various techniques and skills which are unique and specific to my needs.   Douglas’ approach is holistic and deals with the mind, body and spirit. I especially appreciate his responsiveness to me and his ability to gently ‘move things on’ when I am stuck at a certain point.”

Doug’s coaching has inspired me to bring about the changes I need to make. It has been a life changing and challenging experience. I have learnt an incredible amount about myself and why I do what i do. I would thoroughly recommend Doug to anyone who needed to get out of a stuck position. His empathy and kindness were an added bonus!

Doug, many thanks for your help during my ski course and obviously, before. This is absolutely amazing that I passed this course. It is unbelievable… The pass rate was less than 30% and most of the people on the course were about 20-25 years younger than me (mainly guys, only a few girls), most of them spending the whole season skiing…. I would like to continue our sessions.

In only 2/3 sessions Doug has been fantastic using NLP and helped me get my life back on track after 15 years of struggling with depression, anxiety and panic attacks, it has been very successful and I know know I can achieve  anything from now on when I put my mind to it, I would recommend Doug and NLP to anyone who is determined to change their life for the better.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Doug.

Doug, I just wanted to say a big “THANK YOU” for the brief time we have spent together. I was in a big transition and was almost paralyzed by fear. I was beginning a new counseling ministry, and needed to approach the pastors in the area for their support and for referrals. I don’t know why that was so fearful to me, but it was. I guess the pressing need we had to get this going fairly soon, and being new the area, and intimidated by pastors at times in the past.

Anyway, Doug, you helped me to frame this in a mind “movie” and to confront the fear, and remove it effectively with the Holy Spirit’s powerful breath. Then I saw myself meeting and even ministering to the pastors. I replayed this “movie” many times, before I approached the first pastor. It has worked out just as I pictured it. I have been received warmly, prayed with several pastors, and had two or three make referrals to me. Thank you Doug for helping me through this dark valley. The Lord was with me all the way, and your encouragement helped tremendously. I highly recommend Doug to anyone struggling with deep inner issues.”

I came to Doug for coaching as I needed to improve my communication skills. We are still a very small business which means I deal with customers on both a business level as well as a technical level. Having been a techie for almost a decade, I found it difficult to connect with our customers on a business level, especially when I need to switch from a Technical state to a Business state.

With Doug’s coaching I have learned how to instantly change between Business and Technical states which has helped me dealing with customers much better. This has reduced the confusion and frustration that I have often found when talking to both customers and colleagues.

Doug has been excellent at adapting the coaching to match my personality and abilities. I believe this has been a one of the key reasons why I have been able to greatly improve my communication after every session. Doug has explained NLP concepts and techniques on a level that has been very easy to grasp which helped me understand better not only what I needed to do, but why. As a result, I have been able to use the same techniques to improve on other areas of my life.

Doug has also been reminding me through the sessions of the greater purpose of improving myself as a businessman – to bring glory to God.

Doug has not only taught me to improve my communication skills, but given me the tools so I am equipped to improve other areas of my life.

Over a period of 3 months Doug coached me over the telephone for 45 minutes a week. Initially I had set a goal of weight loss, but through his use of questions Doug was able to realize that there was actually a much deeper issue to deal with. My relationship with my mother and my need for her affirmation, as well as my reactions to her, were driving a lot of my actions and attitudes.

Doug did a lot of visualization work with me around how to handle conflict effectively – and also asked me to take note of people who handled conflict in a way that I respected.

As a result of this coaching, I feel empowered to deal with conflict, even within a highly emotionally charged atmosphere. In a recent interaction with my mother I was able to stay calm despite feeling extremely emotional, and to explain how I was feeling without reacting in anger. This was a massive step forward for me.

Thanks Doug

To book your introductory session call 0208 426 9131 or email: intro@livingwords.net

Jim* is a pastoral minister of a large congregation and he came to Living Words coaching struggling with finishing projects he started and finding it difficult to say ‘no’ to requests from church members. During coaching he discovered he had linked his self-worth with how much he achieved. Once he had made that fundamental connection he was able to ‘dis-connect it’ and start establishing healthier boundaries that enables him to say ‘no’ at appropriate times. He also established greater self-control and was able to take back control of his focus enabling him to talk himself into finishing projects. He described the coaching as ‘revolutionary.

I came to Douglas Cartwright as a coach and a pastor who needed coaching. I had several stuck places and needed a professional to help me get unstuck. Getting people unstuck is one of Doug’s strengths as a coach, and his training in the techniques of meta-coaching has proven to be a tremendous asset to his coaching style and to my personal growth process. Meta-coaching is coaching for the higher and often unseen levels of value, belief, and motivation that exist behind our symptoms. I could certainly perceive and feel my symptoms of stuckness in three major areas of my life, but I was unable to untangle the complex internal dynamics that held me in prison.

Doug’s sensitivity and gently fierce conversations provided the impetus for me to not only come unstuck, but to gain considerable momentum towards goals that have eluded me for years in some cases. One area of concern was my writing. I have at least two novels and a non-fiction book in the back of my mind, but I was unable to write a single word for over a year due to a deeply confusing snarl of self-doubt and frustration. I tried a number of things to break through but was so unsuccessful that I was hesitant to bring it up to Doug based on the fear that he wouldn’t be able to help me either. However, by leading me through a series of metaphors, Doug brought me right to the crux of the matter in one session. When we were done, I was not sure what had happened exactly, but the next morning I woke up early and enthusiastically wrote an entire chapter. I continued to write several pages per day after that, producing chapter after chapter, and am now deeply into the development of the story, and the novel is on its way. All this after a year of not writing a single word! Doug’s methods are quite unique – I’m still not sure what happened or why it happened, but his one session thoroughly uncorked the bottle of my creativity and confidence, and I am writing again.

Another instance of change occurred around a decision that I was hesitating making. I had been stuck in indecisiveness for over three months. Again, after working with Doug on this decision, I not only made the decision, but am confident and comfortable with it and its place in my life, even though it involves several difficult but necessary adjustments to my lifestyle.

Doug was relentlessly loving and carefully helped me sort through my issues until I discovered insight after insight about the things that were holding me back and about the things I really want in life. Doug has brought great expertise in helping me to consider all sides of the programs that run in my subconscious, as well as the games I tend to play unawares. Additionally, his spiritual depth and insight into human nature have given new direction to my life and energy. His homework assignments have been spot on!

I whole-heartedly endorse Doug Cartwright as a coach, and will use him again to work through difficult spots in my life. Interestingly, I live in Texas and have to communicate with Doug by phone, so all of the good things that I have gained from his coaching have been accomplished by long-distance. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how effective the coaching has been. I highly recommend Doug as a coach.

I was delighted to work with Douglas as a Christian coach on the subject of developing my 1-1 time with God. I found that Douglas’ creative approach enabled me to gain a radically different approach to my time with God, which was evident the very next day and will continue.  I found that Douglas was both highly  professional and passionate about facilitating the change I wanted and respectful throughout.

I have found working with Douglas on time-management and Christian Life issues has been transformational and thoroughly enjoyable. I find that Douglas is easy to talk to, respectful, asks the right question and holds me accountable for the changes I want, offering me appropriate support to see them through.  For anyone new to coaching, I would not hesitate to recommend Douglas as Coach.

Doug and I met for lunch a few months ago when I mentioned to him that I tended to waste time better spent elsewhere on calls with customer service personnel. It wasn’t just a few minutes either but sometimes a call could go on for half-an-hour or longer as I remonstrated with the person on the phone, or his manager.

What infuriated me was the sheer injustice of the responses I had to put up with. If the person had made a mistake and admitted it, that wasn’t a problem; we’re all human and we all make mistakes. It was when they denied making a mistake, quoted policy or tried to make out I was unreasonable for pointing out how the system was unfair and discriminated against people. At that point, I was on a crusade.

I didn’t like the way I talked to these people. I didn’t think it was very kind/loving, and when I stepped back and thought about it, it was a waste of my time as the money involved wasn’t always very much. But I couldn’t seem to let it go.

I also felt a bit guilty because I would shut my office door so the children wouldn’t hear me raise my voice. It was affecting my mood around the house, and not good for my relationships with my wife.  I knew I had a strong sense of injustice but I needed to temper it.

In just one session, Doug helped me examine and reset my expectations about what was going to happen on these type of calls – both what I was going to do, and what I could expect from the agents on the other end. After all, it’s not their fault all the time if the systems they use are inflexible.

In essence, in the coaching Douglas helped me to focus on purely dealing with the actual issue of the call and target myself on how quickly I can resolve it! I even got down to a list of ways I was going to change my behaviour when I realised the call wasn’t go the way I wanted it to.

I’m glad to report that recently I have been more conversational about the way I deal with problems with bills etc. I have also been keeping my office door open.

Having made a good start, I know that I have not eliminated this ingrained tendency to seek justice rather than resolution.

I look forward to prioritising a second session with Doug to continue to my goal of eliminating this behaviour entirely.

In one session, Doug helped me to unpack this problem very thoroughly. I’m not even sure what happened during the session because it went by so fast. However, in the week following the session I completed two full chapters, and the writing seemed to flow easily and freely, as if the story in my head was writing itself. I never believed that old cliché about books writing themselves until now. Something radical changed, the creative channel was unblocked and writing this book is now easier than it ever was before. On one hand, coaching with Doug was inexplicable in what it unleashed in me, and on the other, it was just amazing!

I came to Doug in the beginning with a goal of Losing Weight. I had found myself at the point where no matter how hard i tried to be committed to a diet or to exercise to lose weight, i still found myself losing a little but then going back to my old habits of overeating which meant that i found it very difficult to lose weight past a certain point. I had made the decision that i didn’t want to be 60 and still struggling with this issue of weight loss and overeating.

After a number of sessions with Doug i found that the issues behind keeping weight on seemed to relate to my sense of identity. Over the years i had allowed certain people’s comments and especially those in my adolescence to become my reality and consequently losing all sense of who i was. I had taken on what they had said as true and therefore lived out their supposed opinions. From these comments i had subconsciously set myself a level of perfection in which i needed to

obtain and if i didn’t then I was not worthy and would comfort myself with food in order to make myself feel better. This level of perfection was unrealistic. Even the slightest mistake would make me think that i had let people down and that due to this i would be rejected and not loved. So i would head towards a chocolate bar or a large packet of chips to comfort me. They wouldn’t reject me…Doug helped me to see these things clearly through asking specific questions. He at times would ask questions, that to me seemed totally irrelevant to the issue in question. Through his ability to listen and interpret what i was saying we where able to come to the core issue. After the realisation of this issue, Doug helped me to come to a point where i could give myself permission to let go of these old realities (as they where not realities at all) and see myself  as and be completely convinced of the person in which i was. The person who God had made me to be. To be confident in who i am, worthy to be loved and that it is OK to make mistakes.

At times, to work through these issues was difficult and often painful as it had recalled all of those hurts and comments in which i had hidden for so many years. I felt fearful of change as it meant stepping beyond that, into the unknown and making a decision to no longer live with it. Despite the pain and discomfort that i felt at times, i realised that to go through it was good for me because now i know that because i have said these things out loud and have changed my thought processes i now am no longer bound by these issues. I know that there will be times in which these things will come to the surface during different circumstances in my life, but know i have the ability to constantly monitor my thoughts and know that it is OK to question and reject them. I completely recommend Life Coaching to those who are ready to make changes in their lives, but seem unable to find the way to do this.

Douglas is a really sincere person which comes across during the sessions I have had.  Our discussions have caused me to think more deeply about my behaviour and mind-sets.  This is resulting in me challenging myself to think in different ways. Can be hard but if you want to grow, you need to change. I hope that what we have done will now manifest into a changed life as I apply these points I have learnt. Thanks Douglas

Douglas is a really great coach who stays with you and understands you.