WHAT PEOPLE SAY

The most significant change for me has been that I now have much more detailed discussions with my grant holders about their projects. I enjoy giving them the freedom to change their projects where I feel it is necessary to improve the outcomes. The feedback from grant holders has been overwhelmingly positive. They have been surprised by my flexibility and understanding. They share their success with me as well as their problems and this makes me feel much more part of the projects we fund. I can hardly express what a change this has made to my job. My job satisfaction has improved no end. It has all been an enriching journey. I love it. Thank you, Gary.

Gary has an energetic and informative style of delivery that is so much fun. His session taught us to get out and about and meet people where they live so we can see communities through residents’ eyes. I have advised community groups on how to have strength-based conversations and I have asked staff what they can do in their neighbourhoods to begin strength-based conversations. The feeling is very much, ‘we can do this.

Gary Loftus is a brilliant life coach for various reasons. He is a natural people person with a compassionate and caring nature, excellent communication skills, a sincere and genuine man with integrity and a wealth of knowledge on a variety of topics. Gary operates from a place of lived experience, so the coaching he offers runs alongside the personal issues and struggles that he contends with and overcomes on a daily basis. If you are looking for a life coach then look no further, they don’t come any more qualified than this man.

The Jeder Institute and The Orange Club combined to deliver two community-based sessions in Manchester during 2015. The workshops highlighted some of Gary’s incredible ABCD work. His strategies for engaging with local strengths and assets were thoughtful, fun and easy to grasp. And it was easy to see why he works with a variety of services, organisations and government departments to support them in helping themselves and others to identify and mobilise community assets.

It was a sell-out. And we had a waiting list for the training. The feedback from our police workforce was really encouraging. The session was delivered and organised very well. It was all good. Every division should have input from Gary. It would turn the culture positive.

Gary’s transformational life coaching sessions have given me a structured approach to using thinking space to explore my professional plans and goals. Gary brings empathy, time and patience to his coaching sessions, all of which have encouraged me to follow the coaching steps he provides. He suggests ways to incorporate my mindfulness and meditation practices and he brings his humour to our sessions so coaching with Gary becomes an enjoyable learning experience.

The Orange Club’s ABCD training prompted me to think differently about my approach to developing communities. It gave me reason to step back and look at communities and realise they have the answers, not me. It helped me to understand residents’ needs and abilities, and how to better develop and deliver resident engagement programs. It showed me how to take a more supportive role and allow residents to take leading roles. And back in the office, it influenced the way I contribute to policy decisions.

I got a lot out of the sessions you delivered for us back in May last year, perhaps more than I realised at the time.

I reconsidered my own community and my role within it, looking for opportunities to share my own skills and knowledge. I attended my local Soup, got to know the organisers and I’m now regularly involved as a volunteer. This has been a genuine transformative experience, opening my eyes to the huge amount of ‘good stuff’ happening in my community.

This experience and the insights I have gained were hugely beneficial in my being successful in securing one of our new Funding Officer roles as I was able to demonstrate my connections to where I lived. I am hugely excited by the prospect of being based in my community and responsible for the grant making that goes on there and I know there is a real appetite for this change from the communities where we fund.

So thanks once again Gary for your invaluable guidance at the start of this journey.

“I attended a workshop titled “Building Trust, relationships and confidence through laughter” and ahead of the event I have to admit was sceptical and nervous of making a fool of myself, something I should now be used to!

I loved it! the power of laughter brought down barriers and enabled the room to engage on a level that the usual networking just cannot do, I know that should I meet any of the attendees again in another setting we may just laugh before we engage on a business platform.

Gary’s style is strong but supportive and left the group energised and ready to get to work.

A great workshop. Thank you.”