Sandra Cunningham CCPC, PCC
Hi there! I’m the Founder, Owner and Principal Consultant of Walking Coach®. I help clients heal, grow and build resilience through the guidance of natural wisdom.
I’m a trauma-informed leadership and relationship systems coach and a strategy consultant-thinking partner to other professionals in the field of development and change.
A native of Scotland, I hold an MA Hons (Modern and Economic History) and an MSc (Marketing). My career has led me to many territories, cultures, industries, organisations and fellow human beings in my search to do work that matters and contribute to a better world.
Coaching, Resilience and Sustainability
In my professional coaching practice, I’ve coached senior leaders and their teams, entrepreneurs, individual operators/contributors and personal/professional couples’ relationships. I have worked in multiple geographies and industry sectors, including high-tech, nonprofit management, healthcare, defence, financial services and manufacturing. My clients say our work has shaped their direction, fostered clarity and enabled powerful alignment with their purpose.
Since 2014, I have studied under the mentorship of international Ecopsychologist and consultant David Key. For a period, I was immersed in the work of the EHAMA Institute in New Mexico, which is concerned with teaching earth-based, ancient wisdom and awakening higher consciousness towards collective healing and the flourishing of human potential. Both have been important influences in developing my awareness, personal healing and contribution towards the well-being, peace and sustainability of all Earth’s inhabitants.
Walking, Coaching and Me
Walking, adventure, and spending time in wild places have always been sources of enrichment in my life, and like many people, I’d often dream of aligning my passion with my work. My first step in this direction was when I left an international marketing career to co-found an outdoor team-building company in central Europe.
Later, when I faced a particularly tough period in my personal life, I discovered firsthand how outdoor experiences can impact our psychology, changing how we think, feel and behave. Folding these experiences into my personal development and healing work over the next few years was transformative.
Walking Coach® was conceived during a 100-mile charity trek across the Jordan desert in 2010. With the mountains of the Arabah valley towering over us and the odd camel accompanying us at a safe distance, I found myself in frequent conversation.
Across multiple days, my fellow walkers would readily open up to me, sometimes seriously, often playfully sharing about themselves, their blisters and the fantasy of nomadic life. Gradually, they would arrive at new insights about themselves, the lives they were returning home to and the changes they would make. I knew I wanted to continue to journey with people and help them access natural wisdom in this extraordinary way.
Since then, I have supported leaders, entrepreneurs and coaches as they’ve shifted from dwelling on their challenges in a static indoor environment to finding solutions in natural spaces.
