Testimonials
Here’s What My Clients Say
As a psychologist, coach, author and speaker, I bring 20 years of experience to my work.
If you’d like to know what other people say about working with me, please see below. (I promise I haven’t paid any of them).
There are three sections below:
coaching clients who’ve worked with me over a period of several months
corporate clients who’ve paid me to speak or facilitate a session for their employees or members
online course clients who have joined one or more of my group coaching programmes
One-to-One Coaching Clients
“I was looking for a women’s leadership coach to support me in my multinational career to adapt to a new environment, having travelled from East Asia to work in the UAE.
Jess immediately understood my issues well. She is a good listener. I followed her practical advice in my daily work and improved my ways of dealing with difficult situations. The most important thing is that she opened my eyes to the psychological factors that impact my life a lot.
It has been a great experience working with Jess. I appreciate her professional services and will recommend her to people around me who are looking for more confidence in a multinational leadership role.”
“Having struggled with MS and IBS symptoms for over 10 years I had bottled up so many things. My lack of energy was not only effecting my daily routine but also my relationships with others. I was stuck in the fight or flight mode and didn’t want to leave the house or get up on a morning.
Kate, Property Developer
“In 2019 I returned to work after a 2nd maternity leave in France. I had moved from Scotland to work in a senior technical role for a new company and new company culture to navigate. After a very bumpy start to our journey in France and a challenging work environment I embarked on a highly positive journey with Jess. I’ve learnt a huge amount about myself, re-ignited my self confidence and belief and built an extra layer of emotional resilience that I didn’t know I had.
Katie, Senior Geologist, Total, France
“Hi Jess, I just wanted to send you some feedback on our sessions together:
You’ve taken me on a journey of deep discovery and I feel that I can finally see myself for who I am meant to be. For years I would shy away, not recognising my own skills and strengths. Always doubting my own capabilities and far too often listening to the strong self-critic that would dominate a large part of my thoughts.
With your incredible patience, support and guidance you’ve given me the tools that will allow me to be stronger. You’ve taught me how to grow.
Before I met you, I was scared. Scared of my future and what it would bring. Scared that I didn’t know what I wanted. Today, I want to grab my future with both hands! I’m so excited about what lies ahead. And For once I feel like I know who I am! I owe all of this to you and all of your support.
I could list off a million things! You’re incredibly knowledgeable, and kind. You are a great listener and your openness encourages honesty and authenticity. I always felt that I could be 100% myself with you.
I can’t thank you enough for helping me. My grumpy little fairy will always be balanced with the kind and empathetic voice of the inner cheerleader that will forever be the voice of Jess! Thank you ❤️”
Emma, Geologist & Senior Manager, Total UK
“Jess is brilliant. I met her when she was Dean at the Association of Business Psychology conference five years ago and her energy, positivity stayed with me since then.
I had reached a point in my career, where I had returned from maternity leave a second time, and I was ready to start refocusing on me again. I needed someone who could help me figure out what it was that I wanted to do, and I thought of Jess.
Jess has a positive approach to coaching, she has a really positive energy that is contagious! She helps you see your strengths that you didn’t even know you had. For example, two areas of exploration were: reigniting my identity as a psychologist, which I felt I had lost since I paused my career to start my new life as a working mum; and coaching – something I had not even considered.
Jess encourages you to push past your boundaries. Once I identified that I liked coaching people, and that naturally did it, my goal was to train as a coach in 10 years time when my kids are older. Jess challenged me to set a more short term goal…to be a trained coach within a year. I thought this was totally ludicrous, but Jess’s faith in me made me feel like I could do it.
Jess also helped me tame my inner critic – I now have an inner cheerleader…Jess’s voice being one of them! Whenever I criticise myself, I counter with my inner cheerleader to challenge my own perception of myself.
Since I started coaching with Jess, I have:
– Listened to my inner cheerleader. I can confidently highlight my strengths as well as accept and develop my areas of growth – something I struggled with before.
– Secured a job as a Business Psychologist in Leadership Strategy. I have also started introducing myself as a psychologist confidently (it felt really alien initially) – and this has opened up a new network of psychologists who also see the potential in me and are supporting my growth in this area.
– Am trained as a coach at the Foundation level, and working on accreditation, and as part of my new role, oversee the internal coaching as part of our Leadership Strategy.
I now feel confident in myself, am clear where I want to be and am building my support network so I can continually improve and be even better.
I couldn’t have found my way without Jess’s guidance and faith in me, I highly recommend Jess to anyone who needs someone to light the way and give them the nudge they need to grow their self confidence and belief, and strive to achieve things that they never thought they could. Thanks Jess, you truly are amazing, thanks for helping me find myself, my strength, and my way.”
Alice, Business Psychologist & Coach, MET Police
L.B., Lawyer, Civil Service
“I turned to Jess when I was struggling with overly strong feelings that were impacting on my relationships with partner, family and friends. I was hoping she could help me understand why this was happening and that I might learn how to feel more in charge of my life.
From the outset I knew she was absolutely the right person to turn to. She is vibrant, warm, fun and a brilliant listener. She was very clear and straight talking and through carefully structured exercises tailored to identify and tackle my own personal issues, she skilfully guided me from a very confused and angry person with low self-esteem to a kind-hearted, positive and courageous one, ready to take on anything my heart desired without limitations. Thanks Jess xx”
Abbie, Sculptor, Shropshire
Corporate Clients – Live Interactive Webinars
“We invited Jess to talk about workplace wellbeing during ACCA’s flagship annual virtual conference Accounting for the Future in November. Her presentation on Helping Others and Yourself was informative, engaging, well-delivered and packed with tips on how meet the needs of others with compassion. Her experiences of working with clients along with her insights into nurturing healthy relationships were relatable and relevant. And the workbook and slides introduced to highlight points during the presentation were useful tools appreciated by the audience.
Over 7,900 ACCA members attended the presentation and live Q&A session, which generated a large number of questions from participants keen to learn more and ask advice. We received some excellent feedback with many commenting on the relevance of the session to their professional lives:
‘The session was thought-provoking and most helpful.’
‘Thoroughly enjoyed the session with lots of practical advice on managing your own expectations as well as others.’
‘This was a fantastic session. I will go through the workbook and start putting into practice some of the suggestions Jess has offered.’
We are looking forward to working more with Jess on issues of health and wellbeing with the readership of ACCA’s Accounting and Business magazine.”
Jo Malvern, Editor-In-Chief, Accounting and Business Magazine, ACCA
“We engaged Jess to deliver a three-part series of workshops focusing on building confidence and having courageous conversations over the course of 6 months in 2021. This was to support the Wiley Marketing Mentor Program which teamed up over 115 teammates to create mentoring partnerships. The sessions focused on exploring your inner confidence, strengthening your confidence and building this to create connections and be needle movers in our organisation.
The time and care Jess spent in helping us to shape the series of workshops to enable our team was very thoughtful. An example of the care Jess took was to align the content to our company values which created a strong connection with the audience. She was able to create a blend of theory and practical exercises that gave attendees the tools to be in charge of their growth.
The mentors and mentees on our program are grateful to have the opportunity to attend the sessions, they feel supported and understood by Jess, and it has helped build trust amongst the team. I feel in Jess we have a true partner and would absolutely recommend her.”
Kate Smith, Employee Enablement Director. Global Enterprise Marketing, Wiley
“A colleague introduced me to Jess when we needed an engaging speaker on “How to Tackle the Imposter Syndrome” for our employees in this tough year, (Dec 2020) and boy did Jess deliver! As someone who has suffered from Imposter Syndrome for many years, I was gobsmacked to hear this was a real state of mind for so many people well educated and successful people.
We had over 750 people attend the live interactive session from the US and EMEA and so many reached out afterwards (to me and each other) to share stories and offer support. The supporting documents and follow up has been super helpful and well timed.
Luckily I had the foresight to book Jess for future sessions on How to Enhance Personal Resilience and I, along with many of my colleagues, look forward to these with great anticipation. Our employees have benefited from learning how to tackle the imposter syndrome, and they are owning their own accomplishments. We all need this positivity in this testing year! What a gift to share. Thanks Jess”
Louise Lord, Engagement Leader, Global Multicloud Tech provider
“Jess delivered her ‘Stop Self-Sabotaging’ workshop as a live webinar for the Wiley Lean In communities in Oxford and Chichester on 10th March 2020 as a part of our International Women’s Day event series. Her content was thought-provoking and relevant; her manner of delivery was thoughtful, knowledgeable, and incredibly engaging.
She made a live webinar feel dynamic, and managed to educate and entertain which can be tough when delivering an event remotely!
We had over 100 attendees on the day and got a great response. We have also since shared the recording and supporting materials to help colleagues adjust in this new global working-from-home culture, which has been positively received. The Lean In Steering Group is now working to secure Jess for a follow up event, for which we are very excited. Jess is excellent to work with and I would recommend her wholeheartedly.”
Laura Martin, Senior Project & Change Manager, Wiley
“The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) strives to deliver high quality, actionable advice and support to help small business owners realise their ambitions. We were therefore delighted that Jess Baker, acclaimed Business Psychologist & Women’s Leadership Coach, joined us to present a series of three interactive, online workshops. Each session was designed for 20-25 participants to facilitate discussion, and each ran at full capacity.
Topics covered included: how to avoid self-sabotaging; finding your focus; and having a healthy money mindset. All of these were delivered in an extremely professional and personable style. This gave participants confidence in the information and advice that Jess provided and also the confidence to take an active role throughout the discussion and Q&A sessions.
These FSB events were delivered as part of a virtual programme to support small business owners through the CV-19 crisis and beyond. It was really important therefore, that participants were given the ideas, tools and inspiration to help them through these most challenging times – both professionally and personally. From the 100% positive feedback received during and post event, I am assured that, with Jess’ help we achieved exactly that.”
Mike Goodall, Development Manager, Federation of Small Businesses
“As a chartered building surveyor and member of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), I organised the largest conference ever held at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in November 2019. One of the attractions was a talk on ‘Imposter Syndrome’, led by Jess Baker. I had not heard that term before, but instantly recognised it.
Jess led an open and honest talk about her own experiences and spoke with other successful women who all confirmed similar issues. Jess is a great speaker, being warm, open, honest and engaging. She offers women a way to change long held debilitating beliefs, and I am so glad many of us were able to benefit by hearing Jess speak. Since then, many of us have joined her uplifting workshops to try and change our old behaviours.
Rosemary Silver, FRICS, Associate Director, Building Consultancy
“I first saw Jess speak on stage at the Women Into Leadership conference and booked her to speak at an in-house conference at BEIS. The Imposter Syndrome and Managing Your Inner Critic workshop delivered by Jess Baker was thought provoking and instructive. Jess presents in such a calm and soothing manner that it creates the perfect safe environment for participants to share their inner most criticisms of themselves. Excellent session! I would thoroughly recommend this.”
Joan McGarvey, Senior Policy Advisor, Dept. Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Coaching Clients – Online Programmes
“To be honest it took me a while to sign up because I didn’t want to admit that I needed help, but when you give all your energy to helping to other people you’re not giving yourself anything. I felt really under-confident at the time, I was really beating myself up about a recent redundancy, struggling to move forward in a way that I wanted and needed to. I wanted to feel good about myself.
I wanted to learn some techniques that I could do in my own time to help me deal with things that affect me as they come along. I wanted to walk away with something tangible that I could continue to engage with after the course.
The tasks were small and manageable but had a really big impact. It was a really good mix of content, with videos, written workbooks, and meditations. I liked all the practical tips, and even little things like Jess explaining how challenging it can be to meditate, which made it much easier to try it. Jess also encouraged us to work to our own style – write lists, draw, map out, visualise things, the exercises are designed so we could work with the ones that resonate with us at the time rather than feel pressured to get through them all. And I can go back and do the same ones or different exercises depending on what’s going on in my life.
The group coaching calls helped to push me forward every time, so I’d have time to work on things on my own then come together as a group. It was good to understand that people were feeling the same way, and we were able to support each other. I really liked that Jess is a psychologist and backed up everything with facts and research, and she was really good at explaining things with analogies and examples. She encouraged us to make up our own way of relating to our inner critic, and gave us the tools to write our own personalised affirmations, which I still say out loud when I need a quick confidence boost. I feel like I’ve come quite a long way in just a month.
I feel like the shame I had around my redundancy has lifted and given me the confidence to take a step forward – and now I have a new job! I’ve set new boundaries with things that don’t make me feel good, and I feel like it’s having a lasting and positive impact on my self-compassion…and I’m still doing the work. It was genuinely fantastic.”
Suzanne, The Art of Self-Compassion
“I was resistant to signing up at first. I was so busy managing the business and having the children at home during lockdown (and I because I don’t like asking for help), but I wanted to find ways to support myself better without feeling guilty for taking time for me. A couple of friends had worked with Jess before and I’d heard good things. She was very approachable and professional: she got more out of me than I was expecting, which I do appreciate because it meant that she was able to help me become more self-aware.
The course covered more than I initially expected. The module on boundaries made me reconsider what I can do differently moving forward. I can see how my Inner Critic gets in my way and I choose to react differently to it. The meditations were really nice, and I felt proud of myself for making the time to sit still and do them.
The group calls helped each of us progress. It’s so nice to have the extra support and encouragement. Knowing that the calls were booked in helped me to really focus on working through each module. But Jess would reassure us and say ‘just do whatever you can do and you can come back to it when you’re ready’.
Hannah, The Art of Self-Compassion
“TASC came at a good time for me, I was taking on lots of new things and I knew I also had to take time out to breathe and meditate, and be in the moment. I’m very sensitive and it does take my energy. I’m a healing practitioner and I have great tools for keeping myself but even though you have all these skills and tools you still need to have someone else guiding you and supporting you.
It was a really useful programme, the exercises, and videos. And I really benefitted from the group calls – to have contact with others (during lockdown). I was drawn to Jess’ nature, and her approach to topics like boundaries. Jess allows people the space to become more self-aware and look after themselves.
I liked that she allowed us to be part of the group as much as we wanted to be. And when you are, you feel that you’re there, not being judged. Jess creates such a lovely space for people to come forward and reveal themselves.”
F.D, Artist & Healer, The Art of Self-Compassion
“I can’t recommend Jess Baker enough. I took part in Tame Your Inner Critic week earlier in 2020 and it has helped me realise that all those negative thoughts are not always real and you can try to control them. By doing the exercises, watching the videos and Facebook lives it helps you see things differently. I look forward to putting more of the strategies in place in 2021 when I start my own VA Business! Thank you so much Jess for your kind and supportive ways that have been a massive help to me and I’m sure many others! xxx!
Rebecca, Nutritionist, Tame Your Inner Critic
“I wanted to thank you for your amazing course! It has really helped me turn a corner and I’m feeling much more positive and confident in general as well as empowered to recognise and take control when my Inner Critics pop-up! I have continued to do the journaling, visualisations and breathing exercises every day and they have all been very helpful. I’m now doing the Lifestyle Review too! I’m so glad that I found your course and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to take steps to free themselves from feelings of self-doubt and imposter-syndrome. I am sharing the link to your course with my dog training colleagues as imposter syndrome is rampant in our industry!”
Jo, Youth Worker, Tame Your Inner Critic
“Highly recommended. This is my third time taking part in Jess’ Tame Your Inner Critic and she is just fabulous. Each time I get something different out of it. I have learnt how to talk to myself nicer and realised I am not alone in the way we self sobatage ourselves. Jess keeps it real and answers so many questions. I have recommended her lots times to friends and family and will continue to do so. If your mind needs a good talking to, to realise you are a strong powerful women… You have come to right place! Thanks Jess as always x”
Participant, Tame Your Inner Critic
“Feeling slightly lost and doubting myself I embarked on Jess’ Tame Your Inner Critic challenge and all I can say is WoW. In 5 short days I have really managed to get a good understanding of that voice that says I can’t do something or I am not good enough – my Inner Critic. I now have tools to help me deal with it and recognise the physical indicators too which has helped me tame it. It is still there but I can now turn down its volume and not let it stop me achieving. I really warmed to Jess and her supportive and kind approach which made us all feel brave enough to open up. Thanks Jess ”
Sarah, Virtual Assistant, Tame Your Inner Critic
You can find more reviews of my online programmes and talks here.
How to Tackle the Imposter Syndrome & Own Your Accomplishments
Jess Baker Psychologist & Coach, Women Into Leadership Annual Conference, Westminster 2018
When a BBC World News producer called to invite me to give my expert opinion on the psychological impact of working from home, and then tells me they’ve changed the topic literally 20 seconds before going live on air…well…watch for yourself! (Jump to 1:05)