Godremamog Water Mill

Unique watermill self catering retreat

with hot tub & pool in beautiful West Wales

Samantha & Chris Hogarth

Tel : 01239 698390

SA38 9NA

Email:  watermillretreat@aol.com

  Life Coaching Retreats

Are you ready for a change?

· Do you feel that life could be better?

· Are you stuck in a rut?

· Have you got a dream that you would love to achieve?

· Do you know the change you want to make but never seem to get round to it?

· Do you lack the confidence to live your dreams?

· Are you just drifting along?

· Is work taking over your life?

· Has life changed and you’re wondering what to do next? 

Life Coaching has helped many people to become the person they want to be, both personally and professionally. Chris Hogarth offers a free initial consultation — find out if Life Coaching can help you reach a new, fulfilling stage in your life.

If you want to make changes in your life, even if you're not sure what they are, Godremamog Mill is an ideal place to come and think.  Chris Hogarth offers life coaching retreats at the mill to set you on the road to becoming the person you want to be.

What is Life Coaching?

Life Coaching is about helping you to be what you want to be.  The coach acts as an impartial person to develop a plan that will help you to achieve your goals and dreams.  The coach will help you to find the choices available to you and turn them into a plan for improving your life.

 

If you already know the changes you want to make, the coach will help make these a reality.  If you don’t know what’s wrong, but have a niggling feeling that things could be better, the coach can help you to see your issues more clearly and put together an action plan to overcome them.

 

The coach helps you to produce an action plan by listening carefully, questioning and challenging.  You will not have to talk about anything that you are unhappy to discuss or do anything that you are unwilling to do.  The coach will bring different techniques to the sessions that can help you overcome difficulties and obstacles – you will be invited to try them but never forced to do so.  Coaching is a very safe environment and you can talk about anything that you want to bring to the coaching session. 

 

Once you have your action plan, you will meet regularly with your coach over a few weeks by agreement, so that the meetings match your chosen pace.  You will review your progress together and examine issues that are blocking your path.  Your coach will help you make the plan a reality.

 

What can’t Life Coaching do?

Life coaching does not aim to be therapy or counselling.  It’s about looking forward and making positive changes rather than looking backwards to make sense of a bad situation.

 

A life coach does not claim to be a doctor, a lawyer or a financial adviser and cannot give advice on medical, legal or financial matters, though your coach may suggest that it’s appropriate for you to visit one of those professions.

 

A life coach can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do.  You must be committed to wanting to change.  The life coach can then help you make this happen.

 

Why have a Life Coach?

You can do this on your own.  There are plenty of self help books around and, if you follow them faithfully, and have absolute discipline with yourself, you will get results.  It’s very hard.  It’s so easy to find a reason why you can’t do a particular action just yet and months and years can slip by with no change.

 

Using a life coach gives you a better chance of achieving results:

  • The coach will act as an impartial person to help give you a better perspective on the issues you face, help you expand the choices available to you and help you test your action plan so that it can really happen.

  • The coach will bring a variety of techniques to help you overcome obstacles, many of which need two people.

  • A life coach will help you see how good you really are and improve your self esteem.

  • A life coach keeps you focussed on your action plan, motivates you to keep the pace up and helps find ways around the barriers that can crop up. 

 

Why use Chris Hogarth as your Life Coach?

Chris has run Godremamog Mill with Samantha for 8 years.  She was previously an experienced and successful IT professional and used Life Coaching to help her to be who she wants to be.

 

She graduated with an honours Law degree from Manchester University in 1982.

At the time, just like today, there were not a lot of jobs about, so she did a variety of things from working in a pub to selling insurance door to door.  Then she started working for the Halifax Building Society and had some happy years providing people with the means to buy their homes.

 

In 1987, she joined the Halifax IT department as an analyst.  Over her IT career, she worked for Conoco, a software house, Dun and Bradstreet, Renault and finally Local Government.  She progressed through the ranks, eventually leading large teams nationally and internationally, until she achieved the position of Head of IT.  She left IT in July 2006 to run the mill with Sam.  They left the commuter life behind and found peace in their secluded, wooded valley.

 

During her career, she had a lot of training, including work on Steven Covey’s way of looking at the world, which helps with proactivity and time management.  This led to an interest in self development. 

 

In 2004, she did a Diploma in Performance Coaching with Newcastle College, which was designed around coaching in the work place.  In 2005, she took this further and completed a certificate in Life Coaching with Newcastle College.  During this course, she used Life Coaching techniques to examine her own life.  Chris and Sam were ready to get away from the rat race and they found their watermill.  By then, the coaching techniques had prepared them for their big decision and they knew it was the right thing to buy it.  They moved in on 31st August 2005.  Chris had to commute for a while.  They completed their action plan by July 2006, and they both live at the mill full time now. 

 

During 2006, Chris worked on a BTEC level 3 in Life Coaching, which involves helping other people reach their potential and become who they want to be.  It was very exciting to participate in a process that lead her clients to their dreams or resolved their issues, often both. She completed this course at Christmas 2006.  She has been running retreats at the mill ever since.

 

Comments from Clients

“The life coaching programme I received from Chris Hogarth has made a marked difference to my life “

 

“Chris is ideally suited to this sort of role. She is an excellent listener, asks highly pertinent questions, and genuinely cares. She has made a huge difference to my attitude .”

 

“Chris has made me feel more positive about everything  and has given me an action plan to follow, to keep me focussed and motivated along with a helpful exercise to keep me feeling this way.”

 

"I found the life coaching really useful - it built my confidence and self-esteem......I found the life coaching non judgemental, in a safe environment.  Very supportive.  You pitched the exercises just right and were flexible when other issues needed exploring.  It really didn't feel like hard work but something really concrete came out of it."

 

"I felt immediately at ease with Chris and her empathy and compassion helped me feel free to explore myself.  Chris asked challenging questions which allowed me to explore what was stopping me in my career.  She used exercises to gently bring up issues that were stopping me from moving forward.  Chris has amazing communication skills adapting herself to ensure I felt at ease.  I would highly recommend not only the Life Coaching sessions but the whole Life Coaching retreat.  I've found the mill a tranquil setting allowing me to explore myself in a safe, peaceful environment."

 

Retreats at Godremamog Mill

Before coming on a retreat at Godremamog, you should contact Chris on 01239 698 390 to arrange an initial consultation.  This is free.  You need to find a time when you can spend around an hour in a quiet, private place, discussing your coaching needs over the telephone.  This session will establish whether life coaching  would be useful for you and let you know what to expect.

 

Retreats can last for a full week, which allows the sessions to be paced in a relaxed way and gives time to think in between sessions. Retreats can also take place over a weekend, but you must allow at least 3 days (2 nights) arriving early on the first day and leaving late on the third.  Four days (3 nights) are more relaxed and therefore more effective.  Because the mill is very busy in school holidays, weekend retreats can only be booked out of the main season by arrangement with Chris.   Of course, full weeks can be booked at any time.

 

On a weekend retreat, you would receive 4 face to face sessions.  A week's retreat allows 6 face to face sessions and plenty of time to think between each one.  Each session would last between 45 minutes and 1 hour. There is normally preparation work to do before each session and work to do afterwards. 

 

The retreat may meet your needs in full, but some clients will need follow-up sessions.  These can be conducted over the telephone.

 

Prices for coaching sessions

Each session lasts about 1 hour

 

Face to Face (at your home, in Newcastle Emlyn or at Godremamog Mill)

1 session    = £40

4 sessions   = £140

Plus travelling expenses if held at your home.

  

Telephone

1 session     = £35

4 sessions   = £120

 

Retreats

1 week  = (6 face to face sessions) £190

3 days   = (4 face to face sessions) £140

Subsequent telephone sessions@ £35

 

This site was last updated Monday, 09 September 2013