Positive Psychology and Coaching are a perfect match helping you develop a positive mindset and to greater happiness and success. The positive relationship between wellbeing and success is known as the Happiness Advantage. The higher your wellbeing the more likely you are to succeed in life and at work. Positive Psychology Coaching has a range of evidence-based practices to support your wellbeing and resilience and use your strengths to achieve your goals. It is “a scientifically-rooted approach to helping clients increase well-being, enhance and apply strengths, improve performance and achieve valued goals” (Kauffman, Boniwell & Silberman, 2014). This definition gives you a sense of what it’s like in practice.
Positive Psychology Coaching is a strengths-based approach and helps you harness these inner resources. Your strengths are your greatest assets and using them gives you your greatest potential for growth.
Whether it’s for your professional or personal life, we offer you a one-to-one focus to help you move forwards with your goals. It can be 
especially useful at times of transition. Coaching can support you to:
- Develop a positive mindset
- Increase wellbeing
- Achieve your goals
- Manage stress
- Boost resilience
- Discover your strengths
- Enhance performance
- Increase productivity
- Grow a growth mindset
- Learn optimism
- Discover your life purpose
- Find meaning in life and work
Spark creativity- Boost engagement
- Build psychological capital
- Begin a new chapter in life
- Manage transitions
- Recover your wellbeing
- Move forward after burnout
- Develop an encore career
- In summary… transform your life for the better
Positive Psychology Coaching is a form of behavioural mentoring to help you move forward in positive directions. It is a different approach to clinical psychology, therapy and counselling according to the University of Pennsylvania. “Dr Seligman is training Positive Psychologists, individuals whose practice will make the world a happier place, parallel to the way clinical psychologists have made the world a less unhappy place.”
Miriam is an expert in the-positive-psychology-approach-in-coaching and offers personal, business and executive coaching across all sectors. She also draws on other coaching methodologies and her professional background, which is in the creative industries as a producer in TV and Radio. Creativity, innovation and strategy are among her strengths.
“Miriam is an excellent coach with a wonderfully warm
Executive Coaching: Tailored support for your professional life, to help you perform well, manage stress and support your resilience.
“After accepting a new job and relocating, I approached Miriam to equip myself with the right tools to adapt successfully to these changes. We outlined three key objectives that we tracked through our six coaching sessions. I achieved all of these objectives through being empowered by the tools provided by Miriam, that were relevant to my own personal context. From my point of view, it was her personable, calm and approachable style as well as her knowledge of positive psychology which were the two key factors in the success of the coaching relationship. It has been a great journey and I will use her advice and positive psychology techniques throughout my life” Carlos Torres, Head of Talent.
Coaching for Resilience: This coaching is for you if you are experiencing high levels of stress at work, navigating periods of uncertainty or trying to prevent burnout. Miriam has written about resilience in a number of books and is the resilience expert in the Psychologies guide to Real Calm.
“I am so grateful to have found Miriam and to have benefited from her wonderful coaching expertise. I contacted her when I was at a crossroads in my life, having emerged from lockdown feeling isolated and drained. I wanted to gain autonomy over my career and personal goals but was struggling to find focus and a sense of fulfilment. From the outset, her calm, warm, and supportive manner put me at ease. She encouraged me to be kinder to myself, whilst giving me the tools to learn about my strengths and to develop a growth mindset. Through getting to know my strengths and applying them I began to feel more connected to myself and reconnected with others. At the end of each coaching session, Miriam helped me to set achievable goals, but she also encouraged me to remain open and to listen to my own intuition, giving me the confidence to explore new interests that made me feel positive and energised. Miriam is generous with her knowledge and experience and her coaching sessions have been truly inspirational. As I now embark on a new chapter in my life I am happy to have found a direction that is meaningful, and it is with enormous gratitude that I am moving towards the future with optimism.“ A Hayden
Strengths Coaching: Discover, develop and deploy your strengths. Your strengths are the levers that you can pull to put you on course for success and help you be resilient during the tough times. People who focus on their strengths perform better, are more effective, have more energy and greater wellbeing. Strengths coaching for individuals and teams. Miriam uses Strengths Profile in her coaching practice.
“Incredible team coaching from Miriam Akhtar. We came out of the coaching with a fresh outlook, she helped us to see how we can be using our strengths to create a more dynamic and energised workplace. Her approach is one which perfectly balances asking the right questions and actively listening to each team member. It’s something we’ve found so valuable to our working practice.” Lucy Barfoot, Director, Lightbox.
Business Coaching: Miriam has turned her passions to profit and built a successful business around her strengths. She coaches people in transition from employment to self-employment, to grow their business and develop an encore career. Her particular strength is in strategy and spotting the gaps in the market to innovate into. She has supported many clients in building up their own business in the field of wellbeing. Miriam is a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
“I have enjoyed my coaching sessions with Miriam. Not only were they extremely positive in nature, but I found Miriam herself to be extremely forthcoming with positive comments, encouraging appraisals, and constructive suggestions for improvements. She has a way of bringing ideas to the table that have not only challenged me but also helped me to grow as a person and leader in my life and business. I kind of expected that the focus of the content would be positive, since the topic is “positive psychology”, but the entire way each session was delivered was geared towards the positive – the delivery of each session was positive, the mindset encouraged was positive, and the ideas exchanged were motivated by the positive potential. I absolutely loved it. We can all beat ourselves up, give ourselves a hard time, sit on our doubts and fears and be influenced greatly by them. Working with Miriam was totally different! It wasn’t about ignoring the negative or the difficult situations, it was more about focusing on the positive potential of what could be created, done and delivered and that I found to be extremely motivating.
During this process I have also learned a HUGE amount about myself that I know to be true. I have discovered my key strength, know it to be true and have focused more attention on this in my day-to-day life to create a positive future. I have discovered some of my unrealised strengths and have found great joy at bringing them into my day-to-day life and work – what I have found is that they have significantly improved results I am getting, the overall sense of happiness and wellbeing I feel each day and the confidence with which I live has soared. I feel more connected to myself, aware of who I am, confident in what I do, and hopeful about what the future may hold for me, my family and my business. I would recommend working with Miriam to anyone looking to inject more positive potential into their lives and I would recommend to anyone interested in positive psychology to come with an open mind and a willingness to really give it a go. If you do, the results could be amazing. Mine have been.” Gareth Despres, Business Leader
Career Coaching: This is for you if you are at a crossroads in your working life – maybe stuck in a rut, returning from maternity leave, at risk of redundancy or heading towards retirement. Exploring your strengths is a good place to start, identifying the skills that could take you in a new direction and equip you for success in the next chapter of life.
“I felt stuck in a rut when I returned to work after having a baby. Miriam was a fantastic sounding board – very knowledgeable about my field and full of ideas and inspiration. She suggested a number of avenues that I followed up, and some role models for the alternative type of career path I was looking for. Miriam helped me realise that finding a new path would take time and helped me have the confidence to play a longer game by helping me realise my strengths and abilities. Her warmth and personality made me feel comfortable and confident and crucially, listened to. It’s taken time but I’m now in my perfect job and she played no small part in it.” Laura Hall, Director of Marketing, Kid & Coe
‘I got in touch with Miriam at a point when I felt things had got out of control. I had been self-coaching for the last 2-3 years through some tough exams to get an international mountain guiding qualification. However, in the last 8 months things had taken a turn for the worse: after a broken leg, the training committee had given me an ultimatum. I had to pass my remaining exams at my next go, or be kicked off the scheme. My dreams of working in the mountains looked on the edge of being just that, dreams. Miriam helped me focus on tackling my negative beliefs and work with my strengths and unrealised strengths in order to pull through these tough times. I created a week-by-week programme that helped me focus on regaining confidence in my abilities. Getting help from Miriam was an essential element to my success in the remaining exams. My dream of becoming an internationally qualified IFMGA Mountain Guide (the highest certification in mountaineering) came true. Thanks Miriam!’ Rocio Siemens, Mountaineer.
The Positive Psychology Programme: Be your own case study and experience the benefits of this approach for yourself with an 
education in positive psychology. We cover the key areas in positive psychology including positivity, strengths, wellbeing, optimism, resilience, motivation, goals, relationships, meaning and purpose. We address the two dimensions of happiness – hedonic (the peaks of positive emotions) with the eudaimonic (the deeper sense of meaning and purpose) paying attention to the ‘whole you’. If you’re thinking of going into positive psychology professionally then this is a way to see if it is for you.
“After completing the coaching programme with Miriam, I grew from a rather despondent outlook on life to one where I take the time to savour the moment while working towards goals that are important and meaningful to me. Miriam’s uplifting and encouraging manner is highly effective in teaching the positive psychology techniques and in guiding one to see various aspects of their life from a different perspective. The practice of positive psychology tools, along with regular mindfulness meditation practice, have increased my general sense of calmness and well-being and have also given me the confidence in knowing that I’m fully able to handle the challenges and opportunities life brings. Thank you Miriam!” VC, Senior Business Development Manager, Canary Wharf, London.
Positive Psychology at Work. This is a coaching programme designed to support you in your professional life so that you can enhance your performance, build your psychological capital and achieve your goals. The sessions are a space to reflect and reset. We can meet once a month for a 1- or 2-hour session over the course of a 3-month programme. Package tailored for you.
Grow Your Business in Positive Psychology. If you’re taking your first steps towards establishing a business in the field of wellbeing, Miriam will help you shape your business around your strengths and support you as you take the first steps. Package tailored for you.
“Miriam has been a wonderful, positive coach for me over the years. I approached her because I wanted guidance on if I was on the right track with my career in Positive Psychology. I was also struggling with low energy levels at times and so having her support and coaching has been really useful in reminding me to prioritise rest, as well as to lean into my strengths to help over one obstacles. Highly recommend Miriam. I love her positive energy and always feel I can take on anything after our sessions.” Dr Mahrukh Khwaja, Mind Ninja
Coaching for Creativity: Are you a writer, producer, working in the creative industries or the media? This coaching will spark your creativity and support you in bringing your ideas to life. Miriam has a creative background. Her editorial experience comes from having worked in TV and Radio at a national level and with a track record in creative development. She has a successful track record developing and pitching new formats to BBC1,2,3 and 4, ITV and Channel 4. Miriam supports authors from pitch through the writing process to publication. She has been there herself as the author of six books.
“I had a dream of writing a book on positive psychology for parents to share what this new branch of psychology has to offer. Miriam has done an amazing job of helping me clarify exactly what I needed to do and has helped me stay on track despite all the competing demands of my busy job as a child psychologist. As a coach myself I know what a difference coaching makes to getting an important project up and running. Miriam really does walk the positive psychology talk with positivity, kindness and huge optimism which always lifted my spirits, focused my intentions and helped me find another burst of energy. Now I have a finished book proposal and two publishers interested in taking it forward. How brilliant is that!” Jeni Hooper, Child Psychologist & Parent Coach
Coaching for Depressives: This coaching is aimed at teaching you the practices that help boost the mood and prevent the downwards spiral into depression. It is also for you if you experience emotional flatness, chronic low mood or burnout. Miriam will support you in learning practices that can help, many of which are in her book Positive Psychology for Overcoming Depression . It is a different method to therapy. It is evidence-based self-help and once you have learnt these methods they can make a sustainable difference to your wellbeing. It is not a substitute for clinical treatment. The techniques in the book are evidence-based so we know they work.
“I turned to Positive Psychology because everything else I had tried in order to beat depression had eventually failed. Positive Psychology looks at where you want to be, rather than where you’ve been. Even just writing that sentence is refreshing! I had 6 hours coaching with Miriam and I ran this side-by-side with a course on Mindfulness Meditation for Stress Reduction (on Miriam’s recommendation). I was a little anxious to begin with but Miriam’s friendly and kind disposition soon put a stop to those anxious feelings. It’s not easy putting decades-worth of bad habits behind you but – and this is the important bit – neither is it so hard that you can only see failure. The coaching is clear and straightforward; the science behind it strong yet simple. The most prominent part for me was the session on optimism and pessimism. Miriam guided me through two ‘issues’ which had plagued me for some years. I could not believe that in less than one hour, I was able to dismiss the ugly feelings around these matters. I have now finished my coaching and am coming to the end of my MBSR course. I finally feel I have a strong base from which to work from. For the first time in 30 years, I feel ‘positive’ about my depression.” Becci M, Glos.
Most of the training courses on this site can be adapted into a coaching package. Please email Miriam to discuss your needs. Some testimonials from previous coaching clients.
“Miriam coached me through consideration of options at a key transitional point in my life and career. Her positive and supportive coaching style was very helpful in enabling me to focus on my strengths, recover from recent challenges and explore different opportunities without any sense of being judged or steered. Miriam is generous with her wealth of knowledge and wisdom without ever imposing and I am truly grateful for her expert facilitation and flexibility which has enabled me to navigate my journey at my own pace and direction. I highly recommend Miriam as a coach and an expert in the practical application of Positive Psychology.” Ali, Senior Project Manager
“The positive coaching sessions were great. I learned a lot about positive psychology, what was getting in the way of me being positive and what to do about this. Identifying, recognising and building on my strengths has really helped me. I am finding myself achieving things and taking action towards goals which I’ve had for ages but never acted on. Miriam is a good guide – provided loads of practical tips, pointed me in the direction of some really helpful books and resources and helpfully put forward positive psychology theory to explain what was going on for me. Thanks.” Ellen, Management Consultant
“I feel so much better now, in fact I feel better now than I have done for a very long time. I feel that positive psychology and mindfulness meditation go hand in hand together and this combination has been life-changing for me. Positive psychology has helped me retrain my brain by stopping old thinking patterns, which has resulted in being able to bounce back quicker and stop the cycle of downward moods and getting upset. I’m now able to think in a way where I know I won’t always stay sad or anxious and the feeling will pass. It has also helped with looking at a situation realistically and knowing any bad feeling is temporary. I try to focus on the good in my life and doing this helps any bad fall away naturally. Doing this has increased my positive emotions and I am generally very happy. Practising both positive psychology techniques along with mindfulness has really helped me be authentically happy without having to do anything drastic and not too time-consuming. I would recommend doing the two together to anyone as I know how much it has helped me.” Kelly Thomas, Account Manager
“Facing redundancy after 7 years of working for the same company, I decided to sign up for a series of coaching sessions with Miriam. Just last week I was telling someone about my new job that I love and the words I used to explain it rang a bell. They were almost the exact words that Miriam and I had put together to construct the description of my ideal job during our sessions. At the time I had no idea what the job role would be but I knew how I wanted to feel about it and the qualities it would bring to myself and other people. It’s wonderful that what I wanted has materialised and I am very grateful to Miriam for her use of cutting-edge methods to help me see a future that I’d not even believed was possible for me.” Isabelle, Bristol
“I attended coaching with Miriam as I had just completed a masters and was unsure of how to use it. I’d also been feeling directionless and frustrated in my current role. Miriam helped me to work out how I could implement the skills from my masters into my job and we formulated a ‘plan of action’ for the next few years. It was really interesting to reflect on my unrealised strengths and think about how I could develop them; Miriam also guided me through a number of exercises to help me gain a sense of purpose. Overall, I found the sessions very beneficial and I enjoyed working with Miriam: she is very down-to-earth, as well as being a real expert in her field.” Mel Ricketts MAPP, Teacher.
Positive Psychology is a great way of focusing on the strengths we hold inside (instead of dwelling on the negatives!) and putting them to best use. It provided me with a wealth of tools and techniques to use when I feel as though I am struggling and I am using these on a daily basis. At the end of our course we put together a life plan to take away and focus on in the future. I have found this incredibly beneficial as it gives me a way in which to focus on achieving my ultimate end goal – to be happy! Miriam is a fantastic teacher, whose warm and genuine nature is apparent from the very beginning. I feel very fortunate to have worked with her. Mel, South Glos.
“A combination of Miriam’s natural desire to help people thrive and the science of Positive Psychology makes for a great coaching experience. I am now much appreciative of what I do have; I am practising mindfulness with more success and I now feel I have a set of goals and a sense of direction. Rather than thinking ‘when I achieve this, then I’ll be ‘happy’ I am enjoying, savouring the journey of getting there.” Peter Kershaw, London
I approached Miriam Akhtar for some personal coaching having found that her CD on the topic went some way towards helping my anxiety and depression from which I had suffered occasionally over a number of years. I had been given a variety of medication but found that my body could no longer tolerate the side effects. I had also quite recently undergone an 8-session face-to-face CBT course which had given temporary relief only since I was not given any self-help tools on which I could draw. Miriam’s training was different and more effective in that it gave me those tools to cope with down times and to accept that by focusing on things in my life that gave me happiness I would be better equipped to find a positive solution to those difficulties that had dogged me before. I feel more positive about my attitude to life having completed Miriam’s 6-session telephone coaching as she had helped me identify my strengths and use them to pursue that elusive goal of happiness. I was very comfortable with coaching by telephone and felt that it offered no barriers at all to sharing my most personal thoughts and experiences with somebody whom I grew to regard as a friend.” TH, Hants
