Inspired paths in and beyond academia

Coaching & workshops for reclaiming wholeness and moving forward with integrity and joy.

Staying true to yourself and finding a path that really works for you isn’t always easy in academia.

What your real gifts and talents are and how best to bring them out, is a question that stays relevant over the course of a lifetime. Along the way, you may discover longings, dissatisfactions, blocks or obstacles you didn’t foresee.

You may also find yourself affected by the particular challenges of being an academic, including seemingly endless demands on your time and dynamics of competition, cynicism and status anxiety that generate feelings of anger, disconnection and uncertainty about your place.

It isn’t easy to keep your spark in such conditions, or to remember what drew you to this way of life in the first place.

You want a new sense of direction and an everyday life that feels engaging and sustainable - one that works for you intellectually, creatively and practically.

It really is possible to come back to a place of ‘enoughness’ and positive self-understanding that allows you to move forward with clarity and confidence.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to know how to play like yourself.”

Miles Davis

I’m Catelijne Coopmans, I’m a coach and facilitator working in support of sustainable and inspired academic lives.

“Before working with Catelijne, I had doubts about coaching. But when I hit a period of strong adversity in my career, I approached her, hoping for practical suggestions. I gradually learned that coaching is an affirming experience through which I could transform my worries into motivation. With Catelijne’s help, I was able to re position myself and claim back my own space. Since we started coaching, I have completed a lot of work that I’m happy with. Making critical decisions about what to do and not do has also become easier. Catelijne is a patient and understanding coach who from the very start believed in my potential. She is able to dig into the meanings behind what her client is experiencing and help find solutions. And these solutions are practical, not unrealistic.”

Harry Wu

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

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Image is a fragment of Bird Wandering Off, a gouache painting made by Paul Klee in 1926