Getting to know Dr Lucy Ryan
Time for a little story.
Some twenty-five years ago, when I was making my living as a singer, I suffered a bout of acute stage fright. For a professional performer, this was nothing short of disastrous. I worked through it with the help of a coach who expertly guided me through my fear. She helped me unlock some much-needed invincibility and start to believe in myself again. The experience both strengthened and intrigued me: it was the start of a lifelong fascination with coaching.
I deal in pure positivity. My coaching style is focused on a heartfelt desire for my clients to win at their own personal game: I’m passionate about helping them find the space and time to discover exactly what this is. Throw in lashings of positive psychology and top it off with an unshakable passion for the task at hand, and you’ll have a good idea of what you’re signing up for with me.
Practical, passionate and academic yet grounded, I love to work with people who are curious about learning and genuinely interested in mutual problem-solving. My clients usually come to me at a transitional point in their career. You might be stepping up to a new leadership position, coming back to work, thinking about your next chapter or looking to navigate unchartered territory. Every client is different, and that’s important: there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to coaching. If this is something that resonates, then we’ll probably work beautifully together.
I get to call myself Dr Lucy Ryan because I have a hard-earned PhD in leadership. In fact, I spent four years exploring what it was like to be a woman in leadership. Through both my PhD and many, many years of coaching experience, I’ve acquired the level of ‘master practitioner’, which means exactly what it sounds like: I really am one of the best at what I do.
A doctor is only as good as her credentials, so allow me to oblige.
To date, I have the following things under my belt:
MSc in Applied Positive Psychology
PhD in Management and Leadership
Master Practitioner Coach with the EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council)
Honorary Lecturer at the University of East London
NLP Master Practitioner
Amongst many survey accreditations, licensed to administer the VIA-Pro Strengths survey, the MSCEIT Emotional Intelligence Ability Test, and the Strengths Deployment Inventory (SDI)
Author of the UK’s first Resilience Curriculum: Spark
Co-author of Personal Well-Being Lessons for Secondary Schools
Author of Lunchtime Learning for Leaders
Author of Revolting Women
“Working with you was wearing a vest covered in padlocks. As we progressed, every time I learned something, it was like being given a key that I could use to unlock a different lock. I feel looser and more capable of being open. If I ever feel weighed down or professionally trapped in the future, I’m now equipped with the knowledge and skills to combat it and the contacts to help guide me through the wilderness.”
When I’m not helping my clients, I spend my days visiting my kids who have long-flown the nest and been replaced with much-loved Bedlington Terriers, Alfie and Blue. I love reading anything I can get my hands on, singing, wild swimming, road biking with my local group, The Cheltenham Dames and have been known to try my hand at jive-dancing.