Coaching Practiced

44Using the four gateways to tell new stories and make new choices

David Drake

Abstract

Coaches and clients can make more conscious and generative choices when they have greater somatic self-awareness.

Keywords

Attachment theory; choices; gateways; mutual regulation; narrative coaching; self-regulation; stories.

Original publication details: Drake, D. (2017, June). Using the four gateways to tell new stories and make new choices. The Coaching Psychologist, 13(1), 22–26. Reproduced with permission of The British Psychological Society.

INTRODUCTION

Attachment theory provides an evidence-based source of guidance that both coaches and clients can use to make new choices in their sessions. While the theory was developed in relation to infants and caregivers, it reflects the same basic needs that adults have in coaching: creating healthy connections, being met appropriately and generatively, increasing the capacity for self-soothing and self-regulation, and exploring in new directions to facilitate growth. As such, coaching can be seen as a process in which people develop new regulatory and narrative strategies (Drake, 2017). In so doing, they become more mature, resilient and agile in service of what they are seeking. This article connects self-regulation from an attachment perspective, self-awareness from a somatic perspective (four gateways), and the choices coaches make (formulations) and clients make (decisions).

Attachment theory is relevant here because any effort to assist ...