After 5 sessions of Coach Surfing this year, my fellows from De Universiteit and I felt the urgence for taking our form of peer coaching to the next level. We sat down with a core group of four people and decided we should host a series of gatherings for those willing to step up and participate. The first of these gatherings last week, with no less than seven passionate people was very fruitful, and brought a lot of insight into what’s needed for this organic group to grow. Two new members came to the round table, willing to inject their passion and knowledge with regards to coaching and group dynamics. Wonderful!

Not only that, we also managed to find a very inspiring place to host these sessions: Huis a/d Werf in Utrecht, a stage/meeting place for the arts and the creative industry. They immediately saw the possible synergy between our group and the people that come there during the day, working by themselves and with others on their own projects.
Now we have 4 dates lined up there, till the end of the year, with 2 sessions each month, one afternoon and one evening (to cater to those who work 5 days a week :).

For the next phase in our evolution we foresee more people stepping up, bringing their knowledge, tools and baggage to the table, with the hope that the group will be self organizing, as an organic and flat structure, allowing room for those who are willing to add to the mix of peer coaching potential.
We also hope to quickly cristallize this vision and knowledge into  guidelines and tools, enabling others to take Coach Surfing wherever they see fit.

All of this we do for free, because we have felt how wonderful it is to be coached by each other, and believe that our work together ultimately leads to a better world, through refection, mindfulness and helping each other.
I do hope however, that by immersing myself into this new way of thinking and collaborating, that it might one day be feasible to sustain myself through this work I so much enjoy ;)