About me

My credentials:

• Over 20 years experience at a senior level in policy, communications and strategy development, influencing and successfully implementing change in a complex world.

• Experienced working with all sectors in healthcare at a national level including two national patient safety campaigns commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and advising senior public sector officials on policy development on behalf of CEOs and other NHS trust board members.

• Certificate in Coaching for Leadership: Psychodynamic Approaches - Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) Accredited.

• ILM recognised action learning facilitator.

• Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)

 

Me as coach:

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"Your coaching has given me the confidence to shape my career direction and map it closely with my values, rather than being purely opportunistic. It also supported me in securing a new job and thinking about how I set boundaries in the new role.

- Oli Stephenson, Health and social care specialist and Improvement Coach, UK

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I support early stage leaders, as well as board members and those below-board with the potential to progress. I have worked successfully with people from numerous industries and professions, such as finance and healthcare, including those navigating complex, high-risk and highly regulated industries, start-ups, charities and owner-managed companies, adding benefit to the individual and their wider organisation.

 

I take a systems and psychodynamic approach to coaching - a lens that assumes that our self is shaped by and influenced by the external world. I assume the actions we take and beliefs we hold are often unconsciously linked to our past. ​The psychodynamic lens recognises that much is at play at one time - your competencies, skills and talents, life story, own aspirations and goals, and personality - within your wider organisational system. This form of coaching helps clients better understand and navigate successfully their individual and organisational roles, broadening and honing their approach to leadership. It draws on decades of research in group dynamics, systems theory and psychotherapy.

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Personally, I advocate for inclusion, civility, respect, humble enquiry (asking not telling) and radical candour (feedback that's kind, clear, specific, and sincere). I am also committed to long term professional development and whilst always maintaining confidentiality for my clients, I invest in regular supervision for myself as a coach to continuously improve my practice. My work is informed by the Global Code of Ethics for coaches, mentors and supervisors.

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Me as a consultant:

 

"Cat thinks differently. She can grasp considerable complexity and nuance, reframing it eloquently, insightfully and impactfully. She is highly articulate and deeply thoughtful. She is generous and actively interested in people, and so invests in supporting them and generating better understanding. She leaves ownership with the individual, but offers alternative ways of considering an issue."

- Ferelith Gaze, head of policy and public affairs at NHS Providers

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Over my 20-year career I have advised senior leaders in FTSE 100 companies, government departments, Royal Colleges and charities on policy, communications and behaviour change approaches that deliver meaningful action and engagement.

 

I offer intellectual curiosity, passion and a willingness to share, collaborate and add value across an organisation, have a strong understanding of unitary board governance and the pressures of working in heavily regulated, scrutinised, complex industries, with personal experience as a charity trustee. 

 

Most often, organisations hire me to better sense and identify the undercurrents of change, and to provide challenge and guidance to senior staff on public sector reform and healthcare, particularly in reference to quality and improvement. I provide experienced support to research emerging challenges to inform future strategic decision-making. I also provide hands-on, flexible, project based consultancy through a number of associate roles.

 

Recent experience includes:

• Researching recent public sector reform discourse on behalf of the Health Foundation.

• Leading the work of NHS Providers supporting NHS Trusts to develop trust-wide approaches to improvement through peer learning, supporting over 100 organisations to better understand what is needed and to mature their approach.

• Leading a strategic partnership with Q to design a whole board development support offer, linked to NHS IMPACT, having played a role in influencing the national framework.

• Leading a leading edge programme of support for senior leaders in healthcare that enhanced the equity lens within shared improvement approaches through provider collaboratives, increasing understanding of what this entails and means in practice. 

• Being a trusted advisor to national bodies influencing policy, including the design and delivery of NHS IMPACT, guidance issued by the National Improvement Board, the Dash Review into the roles and remits of 6 key safety organisations, and the new national Quality Strategy (due late 2025).

• Significantly shaping the consultation response for the 10 Year Health Plan for two organisations - NHS Providers and the Clinical Human Factors Group.  

• Securing executive buy in for a new direction for the quality policy portfolio of a charity, drawing from an understanding of complexity and experience in large-scale change.

• Providing training on complex adaptive systems and what that means for our understanding of how change really happens to a national charity.

• Leading on the development of quality-related aspects of the Health and Care Act 2023 and emerging systems policy for NHS Providers.

• Member of task and finish groups related to parliamentary responses and ICS / ICB policy influencing final recommendations and government policy.

• Implementing and influencing patient safety policy as well as developing and being responsible for the successful delivery of the national communications and engagement strategy for the national patient safety campaign Sign up to Safety (2014-19) launched by the Secretary of State (also having been a member of the core team for Patient Safety First in 2008-11).