For Helen Chapman, the pelican symbolises freedom and nurturing.

She adores the birds she’s seen roaming around on beaches, so when she decided to set up her own business, it was the perfect symbol to promote her new profession.

Helen launched Pelican Coaching and Development five years ago. Before that she worked for pharmaceutical companies as an analytical chemist, testing products such as paint.

She became involved in IT, working with databases, but eventually started running teams, triggering her interest in seeing how people approached their work.

“I realised the bit I was more interested in was what made people tick, work together and be good at what they were doing,” says Helen.

She was encouraged to develop her interpersonal skills through Neuro Linguistic Programming, a technique which aims to understand how people think. She trained to become a coach through the course.

“It was then that I realised there was a set of skills for what I was doing already,” says Helen, who decided to launch her own business.

“It was a big risk because I was pretty successful and was likely to continue to be very successful, but I felt I was on a hamster wheel. Although I enjoyed working with the people and continuing to make teams successful, I didn’t feel free. I wanted to feel free to do what I wanted to do, and I figured it was worth the risk.”

Pelican is based in Askwith, near Otley. There is another base in Hertfordshire. Helen works with individuals and teams, enabling them to work more effectively through coaching, team development and bespoke workshops.

She and fellow executive coach Clare Gallagher are currently running a series of resilience workshops throughout the county to give people the skills to perform effectively through the recession. Helen has also written a booklet called Being Resilient.

She says the venture is primarily aimed at people in business, although she does an element of life coaching with individuals.

While such psychological training is a relatively new approach for businesses, she believes it is an important one. “I think the difference these days is that everything is so much more manic than it used to be. Most companies have technology, which means there is no end to the hours people can work.”

She says the credit crunch is also having a massive impact on companies. “The pressure is huge, so a lot of what I do is helping people to be more resilient and not to get so wound up about it. But it is also about how they can be more effective in what they are doing.”

Helen says most people are stressed and so busy they can’t see what can often be a simple solution.

“I love it when I give people what I call an ‘aha!’ moment, when they think ‘that is what I need to do’ or a little light bulb comes on and they realise they’ve been fretting about something for years and they can sort it out in an instant,” she says.

Helen believes coaches need to like meeting people, to believe that everybody has it in them to be a good person and to be a good listener.

For more information about a career in executive coaching, contact the Association For Coaching at enquiries@associationforcoaching.com or the International Coach Federation on 01922 660088. To find out more about Pelican Coaching and Development, go to pelicancoaching.com.