Edited by Dr Trish Turner
Chapter 7: Trauma in coaching through a dual-qualified lens
By Julia Vaughan Smith
This chapter explores how dual-qualified practitioners can work safely and ethically with clients who have experienced trauma, without stepping outside the boundaries of coaching. It distinguishes between working with trauma directly (as in therapy) and coaching clients who may have trauma in their history. Drawing on psychological theory and professional experience, it addresses key dilemmas for therapists-turned-coaches, including the urge to ‘rescue’, the pull towards deeper processing, and the challenges of staying in role.
It offers practical strategies for grounding, pacing, and managing activation, while emphasising the importance of contracting, supervision and reflective practice. Rather than promoting trauma work within coaching, the chapter supports dual-trained coaches to honour their psychological understanding while remaining firmly within a coaching stance.
Biography
Julia Vaughan Smith has a Master’s in Integrative and Humanistic Psychotherapy and is an Association of Professional Executive Coaches and Supervisors (APECS) Accredited Master Executive Coach and Supervisor. Julia been coaching for 30 years and has led accredited coach trainings, including for therapists and counsellors wanting to be coaches. She has also had a private psychotherapy practice and a leadership and organisational development consultancy working in the health sector in the UK and internationally.
Julia has been involved in understanding trauma, its impact and our appropriate responses as coaches for 16 years and has been asked to talk about this in many settings over that time. Julia is the author of three books: Therapist into Coach (2006); Coaching and Trauma (2019); and Daughters: How to Untangle Yourself from Your Mother (2023).