Meet Sandra Cassidy – one of our Coaches

Sandra Cassidy is a Behaviour Change Coach, working with Village Works participants, mostly from the Helston area. She’s from Ireland originally, and has made her home in Cornwall since 2011, getting involved with Gig Rowing, and enjoying the coastal paths near her home in Penzance.

Sandra is interested in people, what makes them tick, and says she’s an extrovert who loves chatting. She’s easy to talk to, as well; approachable, and with a soft Irish accent that is very calming.

Becoming a Coach wasn’t something Sandra set out to do; she originally trained as a Piano Teacher, at Music College in Ireland, before moving to London. From initial admin roles, she moved up to become a business manager in the NHS, before undertaking training in anatomy, physiology and massage.

Nutritional Therapy was her next career point, but found herself uncovering issues in her clients which she was unqualified to handle, including eating disorders, and other things related to mental health, rather than simply nutrition. This led to coaching training, and once she was able to practice, Sandra realised that her passion is for behaviour change coaching, helping people to, as she puts it ‘reconnect with what makes them tick, and smash the barriers in their way’. She now runs her own coaching practice, Smash It Coach, based here in Cornwall.

Her ‘big thing’ is self awareness – becoming aware of your emotions, and learning how to handle them. The role of a coach is not to ‘fix’ clients, but to help them to fix themselves. Sandra dislikes the word ‘empower’, but that’s what she does: gives people the tools to work on their own emotions and thoughts, and achieve what they thought was impossible for them.

With the breadth of training she has, Sandra uses a variety of ‘tools’ to work with clients, using elements of Emotional Intelligence, Neuro Linguistic Programming and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, all based on brain science.

When she’s not coaching, Sandra is often to be found walking her beautiful Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla, Odi, on the cliffs and paths near her home, or playing jazz piano. She was part of the gig rowing crew that won the World Championships on the Scillies, in 2016, and recently qualified as a yoga instructor, holding classes both online and at the Jubilee Pool in Penzance. Sandra’s calm nature is a key part of why she’s such a good coach – as described by people who have worked with her from the Village Works programme:

Talking about my business and taking steps to move forward with it post lockdown has been really helpful.

We explored some key issues for me around working and I identified how a job would need to fit in with my life in terms of it working around my daughter and personal needs and challenges. 

Sandra helped me explore my current skills and strengths and what I’m already interested in.  I’m now going to research various jobs/careers based on this and make notes on why and how these would or would not be a good fit for me.

Following my coaching session I feel more confident about talking to someone about building a website where I can sell my paintings in the future.

I was able to discover that I need to get more information on being self employed as I have a lot of fears around what this would mean for me.

I’m now taking steps to do things differently and am working towards getting back to work or volunteering or even studying.  The coaching sessions have been hugely important for me in this process.  I can now get a plan in place for the future.

 I feel more confident about going back to work now

Photos credit Suzanne Johnson Photography.