278: A Day in the Life of Amanda Pennington and Chris Bibbo: Inside Their Shared Life and Coaching Practice
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
Release Date: 01/19/2026
307: In Whose Service? Duty of Care in an AI-Augmented Coaching World with Dr Benita Mayhead
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In the second episode of our AI, Ethics and Trust in Coaching series, Smaranda Dochia talks with Dr Benita Mayhead, an executive coach, coach supervisor, researcher, and author of Duty of Care in Coaching, whose empirical research moves duty of care out of the realm of abstract codes and into the lived reality of practice: how coaches actually make decisions, hold ambiguity, set boundaries, use supervision, and account for the wider system around them. Benita's research found that most coaches' understanding of duty of care doesn't come primarily from formal training. It's shaped by personal...
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306: The Future of Coaching: Human Development in the Age of AI with Dr David Drake
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In the first episode of a new series, AI, Ethics and Trust in Coaching, host Smaranda Dochia talks with founder of The Moment Institute and creator of Narrative Coaching, David Drake, to tackle the question on every coach's mind: what is coaching actually here to do in an AI-driven world? Rather than rehashing the tired "AI vs. Humans" debate, David offers a reframe. AI, he argues, isn't simply a new tool or competitor — it's a mirror that exposes the strengths and limitations of coaching, education, leadership and human development as they currently stand. That shift changes the...
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305: A Day in the Life of Kate Jenkinson: Coach and Business Poet
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
This episode is part of our ‘A Day in the Life’ series, where we talk to coaches about their real lives and businesses. In this insightful episode, host Maxine Bell talks to Kate Jenkinson, creative executive coach, business poet, and founder of Next Step HR and the Business in Poetry conference. Kate shares her unconventional career path, from biologist, HR professional, to the coach and business poet she is today. She highlights how emotional intelligence and creative expression aren't "nice to haves" in business, but essential tools for genuine human connection that create better...
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304: Breaking Down the Man Box: Nature, Walking and Vulnerability with Al Kennedy
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In this final episode of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Al Kennedy, a coach who works exclusively with men navigating midlife. Al's own path from graphic designer and business owner to full-time coach grew out of his personal midlife questioning, and it's given him a grounded, deeply caring approach to holding space for other men. He talks about midlife not as a crisis to be fixed, but as a genuine threshold: a rite of passage that Western culture rarely marks or supports, even though many other cultures have rituals for exactly this kind of transition. Al...
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303: Letting Go of Winning: What It Really Means to Redefine Success After 40 with Cassandra Andrews
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In episode 5 of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence talks to Cassandra Andrews, author of Unlearning Masculinity: Redefining Success for High Achieving Men over 40, to explore why so many successful men—CEOs, founders, and elite athletes among them—feel trapped even after ticking every box of conventional success. Cassandra unpacks the identity crises, purpose gaps, and feelings of entrapment that often surface in midlife, tracing them back to an outdated masculine blueprint that prizes stoicism and winning over vulnerability. Rather than rejecting masculinity altogether, she makes...
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302: Liberating Masculinity with Sam Adams
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In episode 5 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Sam Adams, a coach specialising in healthy masculinity. Drawing from his background in regenerative farming and chaplaincy across Africa, Sam explains how masculinity and femininity exist as complementary energies within everyone. He discusses the shame and confusion many men face today, often rooted in unspoken social expectations, and the reason why so many struggle to ask for help or express what they truly feel. Central to Sam's philosophy is a single powerful word: permission. He invites men to give...
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301: Coaching Men Through an Emotional Lens with Jess Spiers
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In episode 4 of our Coaching Men series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Jess Spiers, a coach who specialises in supporting men in their 40s and 50s who appear successful but feel trapped, unfulfilled, or burned out. Jess shares how a 20-year career in digital content ultimately led her to coaching and why she made men's mental health her focus. It's a candid conversation about a quiet struggle that many men are navigating alone. Jess discusses the emotional barriers that so often stop men from seeking support, and how coaching creates a safe, non-judgmental space for clients to...
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300: Six Years, 300 Episodes, and a New Name: Introducing Coaching Voices with Smaranda Dochia, Maxine Bell and Rob Lawrence
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
This is no ordinary episode! This week we hit a remarkable milestone: 300 consecutive weekly episodes without missing a single Monday and to celebrate, the podcast team, Maxine Bell, Smaranda Dochia and Rob Lawrence look back on six extraordinary years of the Association for Coaching podcast. Together they reflect on a journey that has brought together 295 guests, 26 guest hosts, and 33 coaching topics, such as health and wellbeing; marketing; mental health; technology and innovation; creativity; leadership; neurodiversity in the workplace; climate coaching; love; coaching outdoors and...
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299: Creating Safe Spaces for Men with Jamie Robins
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
In episode 3 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence speaks with Jamie Robins, a coach specialising in supporting men through some of life's most challenging transitions. Jamie shares his personal journey into men's coaching and how the COVID-19 pandemic inspired him to create Safe Harbour - an online sharing space designed to give men a place to open up without fear of judgment. He unpacks why so many men struggle to ask for help in the first place, exploring the deep-rooted social conditioning that teaches men to suppress emotion and "just get on with it." Jamie dives...
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298: The Silent Struggle: Helping Men Lead, Cope and Rediscover Themselves with Vicky Kelly
Coaching Voices: The Association for Coaching Podcast
Have you ever felt the weight of being the "strong one" — the person everyone else leans on, while you quietly wonder who you can lean on? In episode 2 of our Coaching Men podcast series, host Rob Lawrence sits down with Vicky Kelly, a coach who has spent over 15 years specialising in working with men. Vicky shares how, after launching her coaching business in 2009, she found herself naturally drawn to male clients and discovered a profound gap in the support available to them. Her insights into why men often delay seeking help, and what happens when they finally do, are both...
info_outlineIn this episode of our A Day in the Life series, host Maxine Bell interviews new coaches and life partners Amanda Pennington and Chris Bibbo. They share their journeys into coaching after long careers in the nonprofit sector and reflect on how coaching supported them through major life transitions, including a bold move from the USA to Portugal. The conversation offers an honest, inspiring look at how coaching helped them navigate uncertainty, personal change, and professional reinvention.
Amanda and Chris also speak candidly about the realities of building a coaching practice, from attracting clients to hosting their first live offering, the Life Blueprint Workshop, where they found immense joy witnessing their clients’ breakthroughs. They explore the emotional heart of coaching, emphasizing self-awareness, courage and compassion to help clients find purpose and meaning in their lives. Their story highlights how coaching is not only a professional path but a powerful tool for resilience, growth, and meaningful connection — for both clients and coaches.
Amanda and Chris’s warmth and passion for coaching will encourage new coaches, enthuse experienced coaches and ignite those of you looking for authentic, meaningful coaching.
You will learn:
· Coaching is an impactful, supportive tool for courage and resilience in life transitions.
· Building a coaching business requires persistence, experimentation, and a willingness to learn through doing.
· How coaching assists, us to listen to our courageous hearts, and not just our ‘monkey minds.’
'Seeing a client’s life open up brings me so much life. It’s an honour and a privilege to be part of that.'
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