Temple Herdewyke mum comes out other side of cancer diagnosis and relaunches business to help others

Lorna Bowden, who lives in Temple Herdewyke near Gaydon, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2017 and says that her previous experience in life coaching helped her stay positive throughout her treatment.

She said: “I had a mastectomy and went through chemotherapy at the Aylesford Unit at Warwick Hospital before going on to radiotherapy and hormone therapy.

“I got through all that with help from my coaching background and it helped me keep positive and upbeat.

“It also helped because me and my husband Alex have two children; Chloe and Charlotte, and it was really important how I was reacting to it all as it was going to affect them too.

“In October 2017 our oldest daughter Chloe made a decision to shave her hair off and she raised around £1,500 for Breast Cancer Care.”

Having gained previous qualifications, Lorna decided to study for a Master NLP Practitioner qualification while in recovery and relaunched her ‘Think Coach’ business in March after it was put on hold.

She said: “I had done coaching before I was ill. I had roles co-ordinating charity volunteers and in 2011 I set up two Slimming World Groups in Kineton and Bishops

Itchington.

“I then qualified as an Neuro-linguistic Practitioner (NLP) and started my ‘Think Coach’ brand in 2013 but then we moved to Cambridge and I went back to roles at charities. We then had the opportunity to come back to the area and before I could relaunch I was diagnosed with cancer.

“After finishing radiotherapy I thought to myself ‘what am I going to do now?’.

“I wanted to get back in to coaching and decided to get the Masters qualification, which I gained in January.

“I was temporarily waylaid relaunching my business by pneumonia in March and I also started painting and drawing again whilst recuperating.

“Now, I am not only doing life coaching out of The Health and Vitality Clinic in Leamington, but also painting commissions for people and I am in the process of designing some Breast Cancer awareness t-shirts to sell.”

Talking about her life coaching Lorna said: “Coaching is all about helping people to maximise their own potential and helping them deal with negative motions such as anger and fear.

“It’s about reframing thought patterns so people can look at things from a different perspective.

“I see people in front of me having that internal light-bulb moment and it’s really satisfying seeing people going through that journey.

“People think coaching is like counselling but it’s different. It’s about getting to where you want to be.

“The springboard point for me to get back into coaching was knowing how much the self coaching helped me when I was going through cancer.

“I have had people come to me going through something similar or other life changing situations. The biggest driver behind me getting back to it was wanting to help other people.”

For more information about Lorna's coaching click here https://www.facebook.com/thethinkcoach