People often come to coach training expecting to learn a new skill, gain a qualification or even start a new career. What many discover is something much deeper.
The experience of coach training can shift how you see yourself, how you relate to others and how you make choices in your life and work. It can build self-awareness, challenge long-held assumptions and create space for new possibilities to emerge.
Rather than telling you what coach training can do, we thought it would be more powerful to hear directly from someone who has lived it. We asked Barefoot alumna Priyaneet Kainth to reflect on one question:
I trained with Barefoot Coaching in 2021 and can honestly say it transformed my life. It was one of the best investments I’ve ever made, both personally and professionally.
Looking back, the biggest change in me was learning to understand myself more deeply and, in doing so, learning to trust myself. I had spent much of my life believing that I should always put others first and save for a rainy day. I had saved for 10 years to do the Barefoot programme, so when the time finally came, choosing to invest in myself challenged a belief I had carried for years. Something shifted.
I developed a new belief that has guided me ever since: “In order to serve my purpose, I need to serve myself first.”
Coach training taught me that understanding who you are is one of the most important things in life. We are constantly changing, and learning to recognise those changes, understand what they are telling us and manage them gives us the ability to make more intentional choices about the life we want to live.
It changed how I show up in the world. I became more curious, more comfortable with not having all the answers and more able to recognise and trust the strengths I already had. It also shaped how I coach today. I believe people don’t need fixing – they need space to hear themselves, trust themselves and choose what’s right for them.
The impact on my life and work has been significant. I found the courage to pursue something I had dreamt of for years and build something of my own, bringing together my 12 years of corporate experience, coaching and my lived experience of an invisible degenerative disability.
Today, I work in disability inclusion, inclusive leadership and coaching. My aim is to turn the hardships I’ve experienced into purpose and passion helping others never give up, giving them hope, and equipping them with the tools, knowledge and self-belief to achieve what they want in life.
My other core belief is that when we include disabled people, we create spaces that work better for everyone. Together, these beliefs sit at the heart of the work I do today.
And I genuinely love being a coach. I love creating the space for someone to pause, understand themselves a little better, recognise what is changing for them and explore what they want next. There is something incredibly powerful about watching someone reconnect with themselves and realise that they have more choice than they thought.
Coming back to Barefoot for the conference this year, for the first time since completing my training, felt incredibly special. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on just how far I have come since 2021 and to reconnect with the community and approach that had such an impact on me all those years ago.
Barefoot didn’t just teach me how to coach. It changed the way I live. It gave me the tools and confidence to understand myself, make more intentional choices and create a life and career that feel aligned with who I am, what I’ve experienced and the difference I want to make.
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Chief Executive Office - MBA, PCC
Develop your coaching skills with ICF Level 2 accredited training — blending tools, psychology, and practice, grounded in real coaching experience. Open to all backgrounds, with University of Chester options.
Our workplace coaching offer develops leaders and teams through practical tools, psychology, and real coaching expertise — building cultures of trust, resilience, and performance across every organisation.
Our Leader as Coach programme equips leaders with coaching skills to inspire, engage, and empower. Blending theory with practice, it transforms everyday conversations into opportunities for growth.
This dynamic programme blends advanced learning on group and team dynamics with practical coaching experience — empowering you to coach teams confidently. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
This pioneering programme builds the skills, insight, and empathy to coach clients through grief and loss in all its forms. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
Develop your coaching skills with ICF Level 2 accredited training — blending tools, psychology, and practice, grounded in real coaching experience. Open to all backgrounds, with University of Chester options.
Our workplace coaching offer develops leaders and teams through practical tools, psychology, and real coaching expertise — building cultures of trust, resilience, and performance across every organisation.
Our Leader as Coach programme equips leaders with coaching skills to inspire, engage, and empower. Blending theory with practice, it transforms everyday conversations into opportunities for growth.
This dynamic programme blends advanced learning on group and team dynamics with practical coaching experience — empowering you to coach teams confidently. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
This pioneering programme builds the skills, insight, and empathy to coach clients through grief and loss in all its forms. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
Develop your coaching skills with ICF Level 2 accredited training — blending tools, psychology, and practice, grounded in real coaching experience. Open to all backgrounds, with University of Chester options.
Our workplace coaching offer develops leaders and teams through practical tools, psychology, and real coaching expertise — building cultures of trust, resilience, and performance across every organisation.
Our Leader as Coach programme equips leaders with coaching skills to inspire, engage, and empower. Blending theory with practice, it transforms everyday conversations into opportunities for growth.
This dynamic programme blends advanced learning on group and team dynamics with practical coaching experience — empowering you to coach teams confidently. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
This pioneering programme builds the skills, insight, and empathy to coach clients through grief and loss in all its forms. Accredited with 40 ICF CCE points.
