30 Oct 2025 By Alison Maitland

What boundaries do you have in your life? Are they keeping you safe? Or stopping you from creating the future you hope for? Are they real or imaginary? And what might be possible if they weren’t there?

I’m loving the chance to reflect deeply on boundaries in life and coaching in a programme called Coaching Unbound hosted by UK ICF. A central question for the 100 or so participants is how we take our coaching skills into our lives beyond our client sessions.

We’ve heard fascinating case studies of how a coaching approach can:

• End confrontation between people and wild animals
• Reduce dependency on painkillers in healthcare
• Provide a safe, non-judgmental space for prisoners and their families to rebuild what’s been broken.

Here are some questions for you:
When are boundaries good, or bad?
Which ones are imposed by social or cultural expectations?
Which are self-imposed?

Another question raised by a speaker was how coaching skills could become a ‘way of being’, not just something we use with clients?

I use my coaching approach beyond the coaching room when I’m facilitating  ‘Active Hope’ resilience workshops, mentoring climate entrepreneurs, and supporting friends and family (and myself) through challenges. I’m now reflecting on what other needs in the world could really benefit from a coaching approach.

First published as a LinkedIn post, 30 Oct 2025.