Coaching with a PURPOSE

After a childhood marked by trauma, Colleen Stevenson rebuilt her life with purpose — becoming a life coach dedicated to helping others transform their thinking and regain control. I met with the Cambridge-based coach to explore how her work is changing lives and inspiring her upcoming book. I also spoke to holistic practitioner Karen Egan about how therapies like hers complement the coaching process.

Wearing bright pink trousers, Colleen poses outside her cabin with her framed certificate in hand.

Colleen greets me at the entrance to her cabin with a warm smile that immediately puts me at ease. She guides me to her coaching space — a small wooden cabin filled with incense. This is where the magic happens. As the founder of Together Stronger, a life coaching business based in Cambridgeshire, Colleen draws on her trauma to help clients break down the barriers that limit them.

"Feel the fear and do it anyway. It's all about speaking up and sharing your story, because you never know — it might inspire even just one person."Colleen Stevenson

“There are some people who don’t want to lean into mindfulness at all, and then there are others who do one meditation, and then think they’re healed,” she tells me, while seated in an egg-shaped chair. “It doesn’t work like that though, it takes practice, even for me who has been a coach for nearly seven years.”

Framed certificates from the Holistic Coaching School mark Colleen’s achievement of both Level 5 and Level 7 qualifications in advanced mindset coaching.

Colleen’s journey to becoming a life coach hasn’t been linear. As a child, she experienced sexual abuse, which led to depression and drinking. Just as she began to rebuild, she was faced with yet another challenge: a diagnosis of womb cancer.

“People may feel sympathy for my story, but I think that everything I have gone through in my life so far has been a gift,” she says. “It’s led me on the journey I am on today — life coaching.”

Life coaching is a wellbeing tool guiding people to set goals, overcome obstacles, and create positive change in their lives. For Colleen, it was the deeply personal act of finding forgiveness for her abuser that was the turning point that inspired her to mentor others.

Colleen stands proudly outside her cabin

“It all started when I found forgiveness for myself. For years I lived with a lot of guilt and shame for what had happened to me. People ask, ‘How can you forgive someone who did that to you?’ But what if we replace the word forgiveness with understanding… what if you could find some understanding for what happened?” It is this mindset that is woven into the very essence of Together Stronger.

Cambridge-based holistic practitioner Karen Egan, owner of Cloud Nine, emphasises how combining life coaching with therapies such as Reiki and Reflexology can deepen the healing process.

“While coaching helps clients change their thinking, holistic practices offer balance and healing to the body,” she explains.

“When someone holds a positive mindset, they are more open to the benefits of holistic treatments. You need to understand the power of healing for it to be truly effective. So, when you blend coaching with practices like Reiki or Reflexology, it creates a powerful combination — one that supports both mental clarity and physical wellbeing.”

Both approaches reflect the harmony of healing the mind and nurturing personal growth. In a candid Q&A, Colleen speaks openly about her approach to coaching, the lessons she’s learnt, and the journey of writing her upcoming book.

Tell me how you bring mindfulness into your everyday life — do you have any morning or evening rituals you swear by?

For me, it’s my affirmations — I am enough. I am strong. I am confident. I am loved. I wear these on a ring around my neck. From there, I shift into gratitude for the water cleansing me, the roof over my head, and my body. And the process of doing that really sets me up for the day.

You found out you had cancer ten years ago, which clearly was a huge turning point — How did that diagnosis change your approach to life?

I was 33 and couldn’t believe that I had cancer. Thankfully, after a hysterectomy, it hadn’t spread. I got through it, but facing something like that makes you think about what matters — I just wanted to be there for my family. It felt like I had been given a second chance, and I thought, you know what? I actually want to live my life and do the things I want to do. That experience inspired me to completely change my life — to focus on wellness.

Can you talk me through some of the core principles or teachings that you consistently share with your clients?

I follow a six-step system that I call the Six Pillars: Breakthrough, Limiting Beliefs, Boldness, Balance, Boundaries, and Behaviour. It's all about meeting the client where they are and where they would like to be. Then empowering them with the tools to create change.

Colleen’s Six Pillars

For all those out there wanting to become a life coach — what is one piece of advice you’d give them?

Feel the fear and do it anyway. It's all about speaking up and sharing your story, because you never know — it might inspire even just one person.

Many people have misconceptions about life coaching — what do you think is one thing that people often get wrong about it?

Many people think life coaching is a form of therapy, but it’s not. My role is to guide clients from A to B, helping them move forward with tools and strategies. Whereas some therapists might not do that. They might just be a sounding board.

And finally, you talk a lot about setting goals — what is one thing you’d like to accomplish either personally or professionally?

To publish my book, Forgiving Monsters.  It’s about my childhood and the trauma I went through, with the other half sharing 20 life lessons I’ve learned along the way. The purpose of the book is to encourage people to ask themselves if they can find understanding. I keep having these visions of myself writing this book and then appearing on This Morning with Phillip and Holly — though it’s not them anymore, right? It’s Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley now, isn’t it?