As clients, we want to know if we can ‘like, know and trust’ the businesses we buy from and the people whose services we use, so in this series we talk to the Changemakers who are making a difference in the world and ask them to step out into the spotlight to tell us their story.
It’s the turn of Jo Permaul from Wellness Professionals At Work
Tell us about yourself and what you do…
I am Director and owner of a training school that specialises in delivering high quality accredited courses in wellness, resilience and holistic life coaching.
How did you get started?
My journey began as a series of events that only now I can piece together and say, ah that’s why that happened! I started as a secondary teacher but found schools just didn’t take into account the holistic nature of children, so I worked then in a psychiatric unit school, then as an outreach teacher with Gypsy travellers, a Pupil Referral unit and by this point in my personal life, I was absolutely obsessed with natural health and healing, spiritual and esoteric health and the connection between the two, so I retrained as a homeopath and then a holistic life coach.
What were you doing in your previous life?
Teaching, and I’m still teaching now, I believe it is such a transferable skill and I’ve been blessed to be able to integrate my passion for wellness and coaching into my teaching now!
Why holistic?
I was taken to a homeopath at the age of 13. It did change my life; which had been affected by severe eczema and severe allergies. Homeopathy changed that. As I became an adult and then a new mum, natural healing and wisdom was such a major part of my value system that it just took over! I have met the most wonderful healers, coaches and holistically trained practitioners who just make the world a better place.
What’s your USP? What sets you apart from your competitors?
I believe that because I still make time to coach, and see a few clients each month, this gives me so much credibility in my teaching, allowing me to respond authentically to the questions students have. I have a great team of tutors who also balance their passion for coaching with their love of training new coaches and as a team we enjoy watching our student coaches evolve on a personal level too. Coaching training is such a personal development journey!
What kind of feedback have you received from clients?
*Blushes* we have some great testimonials on Google and students have left us some lovely video feedback which you can watch on our website. I love it when students say that the course ‘has changed their life’, because I know what it’s like to witness being surrounded by people who have a ‘can-do’ attitude and are in the solution-focused mindset.
What’s the next big project coming up for you?
We are launching a new course called CPD Certificate in Transformational Journaling for Wellness Practitioners and Coaches. It’s a blend of personal learning, self-development work, online workshop sessions and tools and resources for the coach to use when doing journaling work with clients. It was co-created by myself and Marianne Rosen, a writer and writing coach, who used journaling as a tool to process the suicide of her ex-partner. Marianne is hugely skilled at guiding students through the process of writing and we have just finished our pilot round of this course and I just know we will be changing lives with this course, as professionals use journaling as a tool to aid self-reflection.
What’s your big dream?
That coaching skills enter every workplace, whether that be a school, a charity, a corporate or a therapeutic place. Coaching encourages personal-responsibility and empowerment, so in essence by aiming for more coaching I am saying I want to watch people use their own resources and inner wisdom rather than hand over their power.
Where can we find your services?
On our website!