Bernie Jacobs Gordon

Communication Skills Coach

Bernie Jacobs Gordon of Compass Coaching Solutions is a UCT trained Integral Coach. She holds an ACC Accreditation from the International Coach Federation, which monitors and regulates global Coaching standards. Bernie offers her services to organizations that don’t have in-house Coaches; or individuals who are striving for excellence and need assistance in identifying and overcoming their blind spots and obstacles to progress. She is based in Hout Bay, Cape Town but works nationally.

Her niche areas of expertise are:

• Executive Coaching
• Life Coaching
• Communications Coaching
• Relationship Coaching
• Corporate Communications
• Coaching to Weight Loss
• Style and Image Coaching
• Group Facilitation
• Enneagram Interpretation

Bernie’s Approach to Coaching

My Coaching is informed by my background in Education, Theatre and Broadcasting, Corporate Communications, my passion for Psychology, my interest in Jung (which has helped to broaden my insight into human development), and my past work in LifeLine.

My goal in Coaching is to assist people to create their most productive and fulfilling life, personally, professionally, physically and spiritually. I believe that people hold profound wisdom within themselves, and that the Coach’s job is to help them to uncover this wisdom, which may be temporarily outside their awareness.

I believe in the interrelatedness of the body, emotions and the mind, and that each has a profound impact on the other, and consequently I am holistic in my approach to Coaching. My approach is also results orientated, with explicit Coaching goals, which are constantly evaluated throughout the Coaching process.

About Bernie

I am passionate about people, and have a fascination with what motivates them and how they interrelate, evolve and develop. This was first expressed through my love of English literature and my deep interest in Theatre, where the most interesting and subtle elements lie beneath the words, in the unspoken intentions of each character.

In the drama of life, I want to help my clients reach their best potential and to communicate their intentions accurately and constructively.

Through teaching Drama, I have enabled students to experiment and play with different elements of communication, and also to ‘step into another person’s moccasins’ and thus increase their insight and understanding of both themselves and others.

I’m an enthusiastic student, and always on the lookout for new learning opportunities. I am fascinated by how the inner person is reflected in the outer persona, and have thus added Image and Style to my battery of learning, and have also attended the Martha Beck “Weight Loss for Smart Women” Coaching Course in Arizona, USA. (This helped me lose 30kg by simply changing my mindset!) I am also a certified Enneagram Practitioner. Currently I am a third year student in the Master Class at the Centre for Applied Jungian Studies.

Previous Background

I began my career teaching English, before returning to university to study Drama as a performance art. I moved to Johannesburg from Cape Town, and worked as a freelance actress for PACT, Pieter Toerien, the SABC/TV as well as working as broadcasting on Radio South Africa. I also presented Psychology of the Air for SATV2.

During this time, I wrote for Professional Marketing Review, the official journal of the IMM. I eventually left the acting and journalism professions to open my own business, Vocal Impact CC where I researched, designed, marketed and presented Corporate Communications courses, and eventually grew the business to include a client base which offered Communications training to companies such as ABSA, Standard Bank, the IFP and Radio 702, amongst others.

After having my children and a subsequent move back to Cape Town, I returned to University when my second child was a year old, where I studied Psychology to Honours level, achieving Firsts in all three of my undergraduate years.
I then taught Drama part time at Constantia Waldorf School and at Cedar High School in Mitchells Plain, before moving on to the University of Cape Town to lecture under- and postgraduate Commerce students in Corporate Communications. In 2011 I qualified as an Integral Coach through the Centre for Coaching at the UCT Graduate School of Business.

I still assist Abbotts College with their matriculation moderation in Drama and have written a screenplay. I belong to several Dramatic Societies and have an active involvement in amateur theatre – as I do believe in the power of Drama to fine-tune our sensitivity and insight into the human condition.

Education

My tertiary education has mostly taken place at the University of Cape Town. I have a BA in English, Drama, Geography and Mathematics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Education, and a three year Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama (Bilingual). I also returned to university as a mature student to study Psychology to Honours level, while also qualifying as a LifeLine counsellor. I hold a CTE, ACC and PCC from Centre for Coaching at the UCT Graduate School of Business, and an ACC Accreditation from the International Coaching Federation. I have also attended the Martha Beck “Weight Loss for Smart Women” Coaching Course in Arizona, USA, and I have an International qualification in Style and Image from the Colour Me Beautiful Academy. I am also a certified Enneagram Practitioner, and am a third year student at the Centre for Applied Jungian Studies.