The Psychology Behind the Barefoot Coach Training Programme

February 12, 2026

By Kim Morgan

“It is the relationship which heals, the relationship which heals, the relationship which heals.” – (Rogers, 1957)

Foundations: Building the Coaching Relationship

When we talk about building the coaching relationship, it can sound deceptively simple: Demonstrate warmth and interest. Listen. Don’t talk too much but do ask thoughtful open questions. Be supportive but not directive.

However, beneath this apparent simplicity is a rich legacy of psychological thinking about what it requires to be in a helping relationship with another person who is struggling, searching, or who finds themself at a life or work threshold.

Coaching did not invent the relational foundations it rests on. We inherited them largely from Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Gestalt and Integrative psychological traditions and then adapted them for a non-clinical, coaching context.

Understanding the ‘origin story’ of building the coaching relationship can deepen our practice. It also reminds us that building, maintaining and nurturing the coaching relationship is not something to get out of the way at the beginning before moving on to the ‘real work,’ but it is the primary intervention.

Humanistic Psychology: The Relationship as the Healing Agent

The most explicit influence on coaching relationship in our Flagship course comes from humanistic psychology, and particularly the work of Carl Rogers. Writing in the mid-20th century, Rogers challenged the prevailing medical models of psychotherapy. He proposed instead that people have an innate tendency towards growth, health and self-direction which he called self-actualisation.

From this emerged the Person-Centred approach, built on three core conditions:

Empathy
Congruence
Unconditional Positive Regard

Rogers’ radical claim was that when these conditions are present, change follows – not because the practitioner has the answers, but because the relationship creates enough trust and safety for people to access their own understanding.

Unconditional positive regard does not mean agreement. It means suspending evaluation long enough for the client to think freely, without feeling the need to manage the coach’s approval.

The belief that clients are resourceful and whole, the emphasis on non-judgement and the commitment to meeting the client where they are, rather than where we think they should be, is now a core principle in coaching.

Coaching questions from a Rogerian perspective:

What would it mean to accept yourself more fully in this situation?
If you trusted your own inner wisdom what would you do?
What feels most true for you now?
What would self-compassion look like here?

Contracting and the Safe Container: Psychodynamic Roots

While humanistic psychology emphasised warmth and trust, psychodynamic traditions remind us that safety is also structural. Early psychoanalytic thinkers were acutely aware that the therapeutic relationship carries power, projection, dependency and expectation, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Contracting, from this perspective, is psychological containment.

Clear agreements about purpose, boundaries, confidentiality, roles and responsibilities create what is often described in psychodynamic work as a ‘safe container.’ This is a space that can hold difficulty and uncertainty without the work losing clarity or safety.

In coaching, this matters more than we sometimes admit. Clients bring their own histories of authority, attachment, compliance, rebellion, and fear into the room. We must not forget that coaches do too!

This is where concepts such as transference and counter-transference become relevant. Clients may unconsciously relate to the coach as a parent, teacher, critic, rescuer or judge. Coaches may feel unusually protective, irritated, impressed or anxious with certain clients.

These dynamics are not signs of poor practice. They are signs of being human in relationship to another. What matters is whether the coach can notice them, reflect on them, and avoid acting them out.

Coaching questions from a Freudian perspective: For coaches to ask their clients

What feels familiar about this situation for you?
Have you found yourself in similar dynamics before — at work or elsewhere?
What might you be protecting yourself from here?
What feels hard to say out loud?

*These are also good self-supervision questions for coaches

Gestalt: The Relationship Is Co-Created

Gestalt psychology adds another vital layer: the idea that the coaching relationship is not something the coach provides, but something that is co-created in the moment.

Rather than seeing the coach as a neutral observer, Gestalt thinking emphasises presence, contact, and awareness of what is happening between coach and client. The relationship is dynamic. It shifts as attention, energy, emotion and meaning move in the room.

This perspective invites coaches to pay attention not only to content, but to process:

What is happening right now
What is avoided
What emerges when we slow down

It also allows the coach’s own experience to be a source of information, held lightly and used with curiosity rather than certainty.

A sense of boredom, urgency, warmth or distance may tell us something about the relational field coach and client are both participating in.

Coaching Questions from a Gestalt Perspective: For coaches to ask their clients

What are you aware of now – in your body or your emotions?
What are you not saying?
What do you notice happening between us as we talk?
If you said what you are holding back, what might happen?

*These are also good self-supervision questions for coaches

Psychosynthesis: The Coach’s Inner World Matters

Psychosynthesis brings the focus inward, reminding us that the quality of the coaching relationship is inseparable from the coach’s level of self-awareness.

This integrative psychology emphasises disidentification: the ability to notice thoughts, emotions, roles and patterns without being run by them. For coaches, this means recognising when our “inner helper,” “expert,” “rescuer” or “people pleaser” steps in and choosing how to respond rather than reacting automatically.

A coach, who is aware of their own triggers and preferences, can create a relationship in which clients can explore theirs.

Coaching Questions from a Psychosynthesis Perspective: For coaches to ask their clients

How can you align your will with your values?
What quality or energy do you need to express to restore balance?
Which parts of you are most active here, and which are left out?
From your observing self, what feels most important to attend to?

*These are also good self-supervision questions for coaches

Last word

Just in case we haven’t made the point enough times!

“It is the relationship that heals, not the therapist.”
(Yalom, The Gift of Therapy, 2002)

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