The psychological lens

This chapter explores how training and professional identity as a clinical psychologist shape the transition into coaching. Drawing on interview data from dual-trained practitioners, it examines the psychological lens through which many clinical psychologists approach coaching, highlighting both the expertise they bring and the assumptions they may need to revisit. Themes include how psychological formulation, a focus on diagnosis, and a sense of professional responsibility can carry into coaching relationships, often in ways that unconsciously constrain client agency. The chapter does not offer a linear model for transition but instead surfaces a series of tensions – between insight and action, expertise and emergence, and structure and spontaneity. Through reflective prompts and practitioner voices, readers are invited to examine their own habits of mind and stance. The chapter ultimately encourages a reorientation towards a coaching identity that draws on psychological depth while embracing a more collaborative, future-focused way of working.