My life – oh the irony – another light bulb shines brightly.

I’m sitting at my desk pondering what topic to explore today when suddenly a light bulb appears and the word communication.

Given my surname is Clark, which according to Wikipedia is derived from the Latin with historical links to England and Ireland meaning “scribe”, “secretary” or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated, I guess “communication” is something I’ve explored somewhat in my life journey.

When I asked to join the UK National Audit Office Value for Money Development Team, my initial impression was – “who are these people and what do they do?” They were the team that facilitated the training for some 200 value for money staff across the National Audit Office staff of some 800 people. Unyet, in my eyes, no-one knew who they were or what they did. Well I changed that. I was nominated a few years later by my Director of Value for Money Development for “Open Communications”. I was not successful – maybe because I communicated a little too much for some – especially those in senior management who liked their fiefdoms and were not much interested in what was happening outside of their immediate team of staff. However I concluded silos in an organisation, an audit office, an organisation focused on systemic evaluation and learning required a more integrated and open approach to its style of working. This initiative lead to my leading the team for around five years and what a five years that was. I look back now with admiration at what I achieved during my time at the UK National Audit Office and also contentment with what I achieved during my secondment at the Victorian Audit0r-General’s Office – including my reports on public housing maintenance and patient safety.

And all the above achieved prior to 2011 when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (it’s not a disorder imho).

So I guess on reflection my performance audit career prepared me for a journey in performance auditing myself.

This auditing has resulted in a fascinating experience.

From the initial stages post-diagnosis of training to become a lifecoach, through the trainings in neuro-linguistic programming or NLP and then mBIT and mBraining and all the time noticing erroneous patterns of thought, language and behaviour. Moreover developing a toolkit and knowledge of bipolar to understand the root cause of my diagnosis and what I needed to focus on in my journey of healing and recovery.

2020 was the turning point and the book “Heavy light” by Horatio Clare and the work of Dr John Demartini confirmed by understanding that I was on the right path.

To what does all this mean for others?

To understand the above is to understand our values (are they aligned to our inner purpose, mission?), our character, our personality, our childhood upbringing, our ancestral heritage, our inner wisdom and senses, our DNA and ultimately our happiness.

That’s for me the essence of ethical, moral, human rights informed, fit for purpose coaching.

If I can rebuild myself post-diagnosis bipolar (not a disorder) into a calmer, happier and healthier person – I wonder what value coaching might offer others?