Most people don't arrive at coaching thinking, “What I need is a coach.”

They arrive with a decision they can't make. A conversation they're avoiding. A career that looks successful but no longer feels right. A pattern they keep repeating. Or simply the uncomfortable feeling that something needs to change, without yet knowing what.

And sometimes they're wondering whether they need a coach, a mentor, a therapist, or, frankly, a fortnight off.

• Coaching is a partnership.

The International Coaching Federation defines coaching around the idea of partnering with the client in a thought-provoking and creative process. That's important to me, because coaching isn't something I do to you. We work together. 

I won't sit opposite you pretending to have the answers to your life.

Instead, I'll listen. I'll notice. I'll challenge. I'll ask the question behind the question. And sometimes I'll ask the question you'd rather I hadn't, because that may be the one worth exploring.

Together, we create enough space to see what is really happening, question what you've stopped questioning, and decide what you want to do next.

And then we do something with it.

Because insight that never leaves the coaching room is interesting.

Insight that changes what you do on Monday is coaching.

Long before coaching had a name, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates approached conversations differently.

Rather than simply giving people answers, he questioned them.

In Plato's Theaetetus, Socrates compares his role to that of a midwife. The Greek word is Μαιευτική - Maieutics: helping another person bring their own understanding to light. 

That idea sits at the heart of how I coach. You are not an empty vessel waiting for someone wiser to fill you with answers.

My job is to create the conditions in which you can think more deeply, challenge what you believe to be true, recognise what you may not have been seeing and discover your own way forward.

It's why one sentence sits at the centre of Coaching with Yiota:

• Coaching is not therapy. 

And this distinction matters.

Coaching and therapy can sometimes explore overlapping territory, so I wouldn't make the common oversimplification that “therapy is about the past and coaching is about the future.” The distinction is more nuanced than that.

Coaching primarily focuses on development, choices, goals, awareness, behaviour and moving forward. Therapy is a clinical discipline that can assess and treat psychological distress, trauma and mental-health conditions. ICF guidance likewise recognises important boundaries between coaching and psychotherapy and the need for coaches to refer clients when their needs fall outside the scope of coaching. 

I am trauma-informed, which means I understand that past experiences can influence how we respond in the present and I aim to work sensitively, respectfully and within appropriate boundaries.

It does not mean that I diagnose or treat trauma.

If something emerges during our work that would be better supported by a therapist or another qualified professional, I'll tell you. Clearly and compassionately.

That's not coaching failing. That's professional coaching doing its job.

• Which kind of coaching do you need?

When the moment can't wait.

This might be right for you when:

✓ You have an interview, presentation or difficult conversation coming up.
✓ A decision you've been avoiding suddenly can't wait.
✓ Something unexpected has happened and you want to think before reacting.
✓ Your mind is running in circles and you need clarity.
✓ You're about to send that email or make that call and want a thinking partner first.
✓ You need a focused conversation - not six months of coaching.

One situation. One focused conversation. A clearer next move.

Urgent Coaching is designed for time-sensitive professional or personal situations. It is not a crisis or emergency mental-health service.

When the question is bigger than one moment.

This may be for you when:

✓ You're successful by other people's standards, but unsettled by your own.
✓ You've reached a crossroads and none of the obvious paths feel quite right.
✓ You're navigating a promotion, career change, restructure or major transition.
✓ You're a Greek living abroad or part of the diaspora, navigating identity, belonging and life between cultures.
✓ You're tired of performing “everything is fine.”
✓ You're ready to question what you actually want, rather than what you once thought you should want.

This isn't about fixing one moment. It's about understanding what's underneath it.

• Who I work with

There isn't one type of person who “needs coaching”.

I work with people at different stages of life,  from students and people exploring personal, family or life decisions to experienced professionals, managers, directors, public-sector leaders, founders and specialists navigating increasingly complex careers.

The titles differ.

The questions underneath them are often surprisingly similar.

Many people come to me at one of these moments:

• The Plateau
  “I've achieved what I was working towards. Why doesn't it feel the way I thought it would?”  You may not need another goal. You may need to reconsider what success means now.
• The Transition
  “Everything around me has changed. Why am I still operating like the person I was before?” A promotion. A move. A restructure. A new country. Returning after a career break.
• New role. Old operating system.
• The Confidence Gap
  “Everyone seems to think I'm capable. Why am I still waiting to be found out?” Your evidence says one thing. Your internal narrative says another. We examine the gap.
• The Boundary Problem
  “How did I become responsible for everything?” You keep saying yes. You keep carrying it. And somewhere between being dependable and being depleted, something needs to change.

My coaching is underpinned by I.TH.A.C.A., a framework built around one deceptively simple idea: Awareness is where change begins. Integration is where it becomes real.

A powerful insight during a coaching session can feel transformative.

Then Thursday arrives. The inbox fills up. The meeting happens. Someone pushes the same button they've pushed for five years, and suddenly the old behaviour is back.

That's why I.TH.A.C.A. is designed to bridge the space between what you realise in coaching and what you actually do in life.

We don't finish with “That's interesting.”

We ask:

What will be different because you now know this?

It might be a conversation you finally have.
A boundary you hold.
An assumption you test.
A behaviour you practise.
A decision you stop postponing.

Around I.TH.A.C.A. sits the three-stage journey:

See the situation clearly, including the assumptions, patterns and stories underneath it.

You can't consciously change what you haven't yet noticed.

Take what you've discovered and test something different in real life.

New thinking. New choices. New behaviours.

Awareness becomes movement.

Integrate what works until the new behaviour doesn't feel like a technique you're practising. It simply feels more like you.

The name is intentional.

Ithaka is the destination in one of the most enduring Greek metaphors for journey and transformation.

A destination gives us direction.

But the person who reaches it is rarely the same person who started the journey.

That is how I think about coaching.

Your goal matters. But who you become, or perhaps who you rediscover, while moving towards it may matter even more.

And for those of us who have built lives away from the country where we began, Ithaka can carry another meaning too: home isn't always simply the place you left or the place you're heading towards. Sometimes it is something you learn to carry within you.

How we work together

Heading The practicalities

• 60-minute sessions

Primarily online, with in-person or walking coaching available by arrangement.

Some clients benefit from fortnightly sessions. During periods of significant change we may work more frequently; later, sessions may become less frequent.

• We decide together.

Sessions can be entirely in English, entirely in Greek, or naturally move between the two.

Sometimes the word that matters simply belongs in the other language.

What you share with me is confidential, subject to the limits explained in our coaching agreement, including applicable legal obligations and serious safety concerns.

Where an organisation sponsors your coaching, we'll agree from the outset exactly what, if anything, can be shared. The content of our coaching conversations remains confidential unless otherwise explicitly agreed.

I am an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) and work in accordance with the International Coaching Federation's ethical standards and professional competencies.

International Coaching Federation

You'll receive a coaching agreement covering confidentiality, scope, fees, cancellations and how our work together operates.

No hidden rules. No surprises.

Just clarity from the beginning.

Good.

You don't need to decide before we speak.

That's what the free 15-minute conversation is for.

Bring the thing that's on your mind. We'll talk about it, see whether coaching is the right space for it and decide whether working together feels right.

No cost. No pressure. No sales performance from either of us.