#199 When the Past Walks Into the Room

Most coaches and supervisors are trained to work in the present moment, with a future intention in mind. All well and good, but what if one of the most important things happening in the room is not immediately visible? What if the past is already there, silently shaping the conversation?

In a fascinating episode of The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast, Jeremy Lewis speaks with Fiona Adamson about a supervision case that explores a deceptively simple idea: the past is always alive in the present.

Drawing on decades of experience as both therapist and coach, Fiona describes how supervision helped her supervisee spot elusive echoes of a client's history appearing in current patterns, behaviours and choices. The breakthrough was not a clever intervention or a diagnostic insight. It began with Noticing.

As Fiona explains, the question is not whether the past is present, but what shape it is taking now.

That perspective challenges many of us in coaching and supervision. We often focus on goals, actions, performance and future outcomes. Yet beneath a client's current challenge may be an old story, an inherited belief, an unfinished experience or a relationship pattern still exerting influence.

What becomes possible when we learn to listen for those echoes?

The conversation explores how somatic awareness, relational fine-tuning and deep curiosity can help practitioners notice what merits attention. Sometimes a client begins Exploring something in the very next session that was only lightly touched upon previously. Sometimes nothing is spoken directly at all. The supervisor and coach simply hold the possibility that there may be more to the story.

For coaches and supervisors, Fiona offers a compelling invitation:

• What patterns keep repeating in your client's present?

• What might those patterns be pointing back to?

• What sensations, emotions or intuitions are you Noticing but not yet trusting?

• How might the past be showing up in your sessions today?

As Fiona reminds us, ‘keep Noticing’.

This podcast episode offers a rich exploration of supervision, relational awareness and the profound possibility that understanding the past can transform what becomes possible in both the present and the future.

The Coaching Supervision Casebook Podcast is widely available (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, …. )

More resources - including a downloadable reflective journal to help you embed the learning from the book into your practice - at growthecoach.com/shop.