Ilka Cook

What would you like to know in order to decide whether I could be a good coach for you? Here are some questions I came up with. If you'd like to know more, feel free to send me an e-mail.

What are the ingredients for being a good coach?            

Awareness. Attention. Empathy. Creativity. Humour. Creating a safe space and being clear about expectations and boundaries. 

What topics do you coach on?

I am open to any topic you bring to the conversation. In the past I have worked with people on

• personal development
• confidence
• decision making
• grief
• relationships
• anxiety
• spirituality

Have you always been a coach?

No, have been a sign language interpreter for more than twenty years. I also trained as a Feldenkrais practitioner and an Embodied Life teacher before qualifying as a coach. 

What do you love about coaching?

I love it when things become unstuck, when people get in touch with their essence and experience flow. They uncover who they are and feel their power to choose how they want to be, what they want to do. Creating the space for that to happen and being companion and witness to that process is very rewarding.

Ilka... that's an unusual name

Yes, I was born in Germany but have lived in England for many years. I am happy to coach in both English and German.

Embodiment

Transformation

Well-being

Single Session £60

3 Sessions £175

6 Sessions £330

Ongoing Coaching £600 per year (12 sessions)

Mini-retreats available from £180, please visit my website for more information.

What happens in a coaching session?

Essentially, we are having a conversation. Unlike an ordinary conversation in coaching you will do most of the talking and I will do most of the listening. I will ask questions to fully understand the issue and to stimulate new ideas and insights. Occasionally, I might give some input or suggest using specific tools or materials.  

If you choose to come for a mini-retreat (one day, one-and-a-half or two-day) we may include some of the following: free-writing, free-drawing, walks, meditation, movement, Feldenkrais, inner enquiry, sea-swim...

How to get started...

The easiest way is to send me an email, we will then arrange to have a first conversation on the phone, online or in person. After that you can decide if this is for you and whether you'd like to continue. This first conversation is free and will take about 15-20 minutes.

Testimonials

I really appreciated Ilka's holistic approach to coaching where all areas of life were welcome at the table and the topics for discussion seemed to appear organically from what was most important at that moment without losing a sense of progression. Ilka is insightful, creative, empathetic, clear and calm and I felt very held, seen, heard, challenged, motivated  and positive about our sessions together. I would work with her again and recommend her to other people.

Fiona - director, actor, creative

I benefited greatly from Ilka’s coaching. For me procrastination is a big problem and always having the mentality of ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’. Knowing that I was seeing my coach regularly encouraged me to complete my goals in time. Ilka took the time to slowly go through exactly what it is I wanted to work on. She assisted me in designing a pragmatic step by step system to ensure I found an effective way of completing my tasks.

Lee - computer technician

My sessions with Ilka have provided me with clarity and actionable
strategies. This is because in a sense, Ilka instilled me with the power to break down my own obstacles, and as a result, take ownership of strategies put in place. I always feel it’s important to comprehend your obstacles fully so you can overcome them and these sessions have definitely done that for me.          

Francis - actor

I have found Ilka to be an incredibly sharp and perceptive coach. Through our sessions she has enabled me to quickly solve practical problems/dilemmas through perceptive questioning she has helped me gain some perspective and move on. As our sessions progressed I felt I could almost zoom out onto bigger things that I want to address in my life that feel so inbuilt or inherited that they are too big to tackle in everyday life. However, with Ilka’s skills and having more time than usual I have found it to be a very transformative experience. Ilka had a great way to talk to me in my own language, using analogies that made sense to me and help me understand or open things up. In a way I feel like she has given me some tools for thinking to approach the future, and for this I am extremely grateful. After each of our sessions I would  always feel lighter and that everything was totally possible.

Neil - choreographer, dancer

In the sessions I’ve had with Ilka I have developed skills that I no doubt will be utilising for the rest of my life. I have learned how to approach the day-to-day orginisational challenges I face, without the immense sefl-deprication I was experiencing before we started our sessions together.  how to be kinder I have learnt how be kinder to myself. With Ilka’s practice, each session feels like a journey taken together in which I will always discover something new about myself and how I perceive the world around me. She gave me the autonomy to choose what I would like to work on while ensuring and maintaining her support throughout the process. I never once felt judged by Ilka, which is something I have been conscious of with therapists and coaches in the past.

Ruth - director, actor, theatre-maker