Human Spirit Ignitor

EDUCATION

I’m Carolyn. I’m an ex-pharma leader and recovering over-worker and people-pleaser. I’m now a trauma-informed leadership consultant, author and coach. I help organisations, leaders and individuals understand themselves, their unhelpful behaviours and adaptive defence-mechanisms in order to be the most effective, vibrant and alive, fully expressed versions of themselves so that everyone else around them has the permission to do the same.

I recently went through a complete personal transformation. The pandemic wiped my diary clear of the extensive travel I was so used to and gave me the unique opportunity to reflect, pause and take a look inwards.

I realise now in my past life as a corporate leader, how limited my understanding of leadership actually was. It’s not all about performing and cognitive problem solving abilities – that’s a facade. Your ability to think clearly and effectively is completely impacted by your body’s ability to take in data around it – through your 5 senses. And, your body’s ability to process that data is impacted by trauma.

Trauma is NOT what we think it is. Trauma is stored in your body and impacts absolutely everything you do, think, say or believe.

In 2009, I lost my husband to a devastating form of renal cancer. Since then I’ve been working to untangle myself and my leadership from the difficulties life threw my way.

As I’ve woken up to the reality that my compulsion for overworking (either as an entrepreneur or employee, the pattern has been the same) is rooted in the trauma from my childhood and the loss of my husband, along with the fact that our workplace systems are designed to encourage and reward working excessively, I have begun to make learning about how to change these defaults the new focus of my work.

And, as I’ve started to see the HUGE shifts my clients are making as leaders and organisations as a whole, I realised that this work is more important than I ever realised possible and the idea of Evolve the Mastermind was born from people asking how they could continue to work with me and more deeply integrate these teachings into their lives and leadership, without having to go through corporate.

Because, while I know my story is sad, I also know that it isn’t entirely unique. The unfortunate reality is that most of us experience some kind of trauma in our lives. It might be an alcoholic father or a painful divorce. It could be an abusive home or simply repeated misunderstandings. A diagnosis. A misdiagnosis. A missed diagnosis. It could be the loss of a friend or a great love. A miscarriage or redundancy.

We will all meet grief, that’s a simple fact of life. Traumas, big and small, are a part of human life. The only thing that’s really certain is that we will experience lows at some point in our lives.

And, because, as humans, we are very resilient, intelligent and capable beings, we naturally and unconsciously adopt adaptive and defensive coping behaviours (particularly professionally) that are very seldomly healthy long term.

So, this is what I’ve dedicated my life’s work to understanding and supporting others to understand, too.

I’ve studied extensively. The Enneagram – to understand how our bodies are wired differently and the ways we react differently in the same situations. Courses and workshops – to better understand trauma and the impact it has on us, as well as how to work differently to respect these underlying difficulties. My master’s degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, a certification in Resilience, a certification in Workplace Culture Transformation and I’m a certified Dare to Lead™ facilitator based on the research of Brené Brown.

And, I have designed my own frameworks and methodologies in order to help you become an Evolved and Evolving Leader.

I can’t wait to walk alongside you as you discover this important and impactful work.