About this post: This piece began as a draft from Webware, and was rewritten, restructured, and personalized by Pam, with editorial support from Claude.

Do any of these sound familiar?

  • Feeling depleted before the work week begins
  • Realizing work duties have melded into home and family duties
  • What you really wanted to do was postponed for another immediate issue
  • Wondering if there is such a thing as balancing work and home
  • The nagging inner voice of perfectionism that implies you are not enough, and that “it” isn’t perfect

You realize you don’t have time to read the next book or follow another daily podcast, and you need input, something or someone to give you a new perspective.

You’ve heard about personal coaching, and colleagues have mentioned group coaching, which is designed to support you and give you new perspectives, not by yourself, but with others.

Listen and Learn

In group coaching for women, you listen to what others share about their feelings and experiences and realize you are not the only one with pressures at work. You hear what others need and begin to focus on what you need. You contribute to the brainstorming, adding and learning new strategies that might relieve the causes of frustration and discouragement.

You also learn to identify the unhelpful thinking patterns that keep you stuck, and you get quicker at catching them. These include “all or nothing” thinking, minimizing the positive and focusing only on the negative, “mind reading” that keeps you from addressing difficult situations for fear of being put down, and believing that if you feel like a failure, you must be one. These are old patterns that act like an echo chamber, when what you really need are new patterns of empathy.

The other participants relate to you, too. They learn from your contributions and gain wisdom for their own issues by listening to you. Each of you takes in what works and leaves the rest.

Adding the Oracle Deck

The group experience is enhanced by my oracle deck, Making The Time; Well Being Through Compassionate Self-Care. Its four suits work together, drawn one at a time. The first identifies the area of self-care that is weak. A Wisdom card validates a value, an Action card moves you forward, and an Internal Obstacle card shows you what is interfering. The cards are meant as supportive input during the group sessions and at home.

Accountability

“Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result.” — Bob Proctor

Lasting change takes more than good intentions. When you take part in a group coaching program for women, you invest your time and your wisdom. Accountability is a major factor in the success of group coaching: your accountability to yourself and to the group, and the group’s compassionate accountability for you.

When you rely solely on yourself, perfectionism says to quit altogether. In a group, you watch other women have a rough week, regroup, and keep going. That teaches self-compassion faster than any pep talk could.

Perfectionism was a factor in my burnout. I had accepted a new position with a new grade and new curriculum, and I felt like a brand-new teacher even with 20-plus years behind me. I expected myself to be perfect despite the learning curve of new methods and routines. I sometimes wonder whether, had there been a group coaching opportunity for “new” teachers, I might not have been so hard on myself. I would have let my mind and body rest more, instead of staying too late planning and not getting enough sleep, resulting in stress that turned into crippling back pain.

New professional opportunities in any field can take away the familiarity of competence and challenge your skills in a new position. A group can give you the support to be patient with yourself while you find your footing.

Being in a group means you:

  • Hear a range of coping and stress-management strategies
  • Get troubleshooting help when a routine isn’t sticking
  • Borrow the group’s momentum during tough weeks
  • Set boundaries more easily by saying your commitments out loud

Over time, rest stops being an afterthought and becomes part of how you work. It’s a necessity, not an indulgence, and hearing other women say so makes it easier to let go of the guilt and the perfectionism.

Perspectives You Can’t Get From Your Own Head

When you rely only on your own thinking, you’re limited to the experiences you’ve already had, and your inner critic reinforces old patterns. In a group, each woman brings a different background, so when you share a challenge you get feedback through several lenses. One may offer a practical, analytical fix; another, an intuitive, heart-centered view. Together they give you a fuller picture than you could build alone.

Watching others work through their obstacles also gives you a blueprint for your own. You build a mental library of strategies to draw on when something new comes up, and that builds resilience over time.

This matters most if you’re used to being the one with all the answers at work and at home. Letting others support you can be deeply restorative, and it lightens your mental load more than you might expect.

Aligning Your Calendar With What You Value

Much of mid-career dissatisfaction comes from a gap between what you say matters and what your calendar shows. You may value health, family, and peace, yet your schedule belongs to everyone else. Auditing that honestly is hard to do alone because you’re too close to your own excuses.

In group coaching, you say your priorities out loud, and the group helps you test whether your week reflects them. When there’s a gap, your peers point it out with kindness and honesty. That’s often exactly the nudge you need to stop over-accommodating and start saying no to what drains you.

Even now, my schedule is often hijacked by last-minute requests and unplanned tasks. I over-accommodate, and then I fall behind on my own projects. Last year I enrolled in a mastermind program for solo entrepreneurs, and the weekly meetings keep me aware of what I said I would do. As we gather and share “where we are” in the moment, we have both celebration of goals accomplished and encouragement when things aren’t falling into place. It’s a structured setup that supports and energizes each of us.

Gradually, you stop reacting to the loudest demands and start managing your energy on purpose. When you watch another woman reclaim time in her week by holding one boundary, you see what’s possible for you, too.

In a group, your progress becomes visible. You see it in your own posture and hear it in your voice. Standing and sitting taller, laughing more, and claiming your wins all reflect the inner confidence you are gaining.

Is Group Coaching for Women Right for You?

If working alone has left you tired and out of step with your values, a community-based approach is a logical next step. Structured accountability, diverse perspectives, and practical habit-building make a strong combination for preventing burnout, and they favour long-term sustainability over quick fixes.

The best next step is to see whether this format matches your needs and your schedule. We meet virtually for 75 minutes each week, and each group is limited to eight women. The program runs 12 weeks, and each participant receives her own deck as part of the program, plus an additional hour of personal coaching within those 12 weeks. The cost is $997 CAD.

Reach out to me at pamelavannest@pvncoaching.com to request a discovery session to go over your current challenges and see if this group is a fit. Together, we can figure out how this approach can support your goals and restore your energy.