Verity Symcox

As a practitioner and academic, I bridge the gap between research and real-world practice in coaching, mental health, and leadership development.

Through integrating evidence-based insights with hands-on experience, I help individuals, teams, and organisations to navigate the complexities of workplace mental health. I support them to harness the power of mental wellbeing for sustained high performance and impactful leadership through specialised coaching and/or training programmes.

As Programme Director for the Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching at Henley Business School, I oversee the training and development of our certificate coaching students and ensure our FT ranked programme uses rigorous academic research combined with practical application to produce outstanding and unique coaches. I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy with a special interest in executive education and leadership training.

With a decade of experience in mental health, I initially trained as a therapist before discovering coaching. This was a turning point that led me to specialise in mental health coaching and consultancy. As such, all my work is grounded in a deep understanding of mental illness and is mental health inclusive. In 2022, I was honoured to be recognised by British HR Awards for my work and named Coach of the Year.

I hold an MSc in Coaching & Behavioural Change from Henley Business School, where my dissertation on ‘how coaches make sense of mental health’ gained international recognition at the International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) Converge conference in Prague (2019) and online (2021). Now pursuing a doctorate in Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, research informs my work through the delivery of specialised coaching or training programmes to help clients address significant workplace challenges like burnout, crisis recovery, and the stigma surrounding mental health in leaderships or high-pressure environments.