Once a privilege of few individuals in organisations, over the past decades coaching has made its away from the executive suite to schools, hospitals, community centres, youth clubs, prisons, nursing homes, and beyond. By working with people who would not traditionally be the recipients of coaching, it has moved away from its performance-driven roots to occupying a space to support personal and collective change that may impact wider societal concerns, for example social inequality, health and wellbeing, unemployment, diversity, and social change. A newly-published report, spearheaded by the BACP Coaching for Social Change Special Interest Group, showcases examples of how coaching is making a profound difference to communities. I had the pleasure of editing the report and of engaging with a group of coaches who are doing amazing work in their communities. We would like to invite more people to the conversation. This is a flourishing field and there is much work to be done. We would like to work in collaboration with commissioners, researchers, practitioners across sectors to take coaching to many more communities, explore new ideas and opportunities, and to expand our understanding of the social impact of coaching. You can read the full report here.
