How do I contact you?
Please email coaching@laurapremack.com.
You’re in the northwest of England. I’m not. Could I still work with you?
Yes! Coaching works beautifully by phone or Zoom. I am also happy to meet in person when geography permits.
What kind of coach are you? Life coach? Writing coach? PhD coach? Productivity coach? Mindfulness coach? Career coach?
Yes. I do all of this, often in combination. Though, honestly, I hate the term coaching.
What if my current situation makes it difficult for me to really contemplate change?
There is always scope for change, however small. Coaching finds it. We probe the places where you are stuck. We challenge habitual narratives and beliefs. We clarify priorities. This leads to insights and actions, large and small, which accrue weight that allows things to shift. Often, these shifts take on a gravity of their own and, with patience and persistence, lead to massive transformation.
This sounds a lot like therapy. What’s the difference?
While coaching is often therapeutic, it is not therapy. Coaching is a relationship of equals that focuses on the present and future. We don’t try to figure out why you are the way you are. We take where you are right now as our starting point, and we begin with the premise that there is nothing wrong with you.
Do you specialize in working with certain kinds of people?
I work with people who want to live intentional, meaningful lives. My clients include academics, professionals, creatives, educators, parents, career-changers, and people who wear multiple hats. I often find myself working with feminist academics, and I enthusiastically welcome clients of any nationality, race, gender, religion, ability, immigration status or sexual orientation.
What is your training?
I am trained in the Co-Active Coaching model, am professionally supervised by a faculty member of the Co-Active Training Institute, and am an Associate Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council UK. I completed Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and am certified by both the Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley as a mindfulness meditation teacher. I also draw on my training as an educator (EdM Harvard) and historian (PhD UNC, MA UNC, BA Wesleyan); my nearly three decades teaching and mentoring students; my varied work experience; my longtime study of meditation and yoga; and my experience as an agented writer with a daily writing practice.
How much do you charge?
Please see the fees page.
Do you offer residential retreats?
Yes, I offer bespoke residential retreats for research centres and other groups and organisations. These are usually focussed on building collaborations and/or bringing a mindful approach to writing practice.
Do you offer developmental editing or proofreading services?
No, not at this time.