Transformational Group Coaching is a free 6-session group coaching programme being offered to Christian ministry leaders to benefit their wellbeing and promote flourishing in ministry. This is being offered for free as part of a research project, being carried out by Niky Dix, under the supervision of the University of East London.

Niky uses a transformational integrative coaching approach, providing a person, or in this case, group centred approach. Because this offer is exclusively for Christian ministry leaders, who are on mission, we thought we’d be “clever” and create a new work for this transformational coaching approach to serve those in mission.

Does "Transformissional Group coaching” offer a plausible means to promoting flourishing in ministry?

To answer this, question, we’re inviting Christian ministry leaders to join a 6 week online Transformissional Group coaching (TGC*) programme. This will be free to attend, for up to 30 participants, who will need to complete some short questionnaires, before and after the group coaching sessions, and also take part in an online recorded conversation to answer some questions and share their experiences a week after the programme is finished.

*TGC is my proposed 6-week integrative group coaching intervention informed by current research in ministry flourishing. Group coaching sessions are not prescriptive; rather, the content comes from within the group participants.

This opportunity is for Christian ministry leaders. This could include clergy and laity, ministers, pastors, local church and multi-denominational leaders or para-church (Christian charity) and Christian missional leaders.

The common factor is that all the group members believe they are Christian disciple of Jesus, working in a leadership role as part of a ministry calling from God.

As this research is interested in flourishing in ministry, the proposed content and themes are based on the latest research relating to Christian ministry leaders. The themes are detailed above.

If you self - identify as “a Christian disciple of Jesus, working in a leadership role as part of a ministry calling from God”* then this research is for you. You also need to be an Adult over 18 years old, speak fluent English, and have access to internet with the ability to join MS Teams with your camera on, from a quiet private space.

*Participants who identify as having no faith or an alternative faith to Christianity are not included, as the research informing the evidence-based intervention is based on Clergy wellbeing, and aligned values in the group is critical for building a safe place for conversations.

If you take part, you will be asked to join 6 online sessions of between 90-120 minutes a week for 6 weeks. The times and dates will be confirmed when we know how many participants are interested. Please click this link to express your interest asap. After which we will send you details of the individual sessions, which will take place after 22nd Jan 2024. You will also be asked to complete a consent form, anonymous demographics, and an anonymous Pre-and post intervention survey.
After the intervention, you will be invited to share your experiences in a recorded conversation, which will take place on Teams. All and any information used to analyse the findings will be anonymised and strictly confidential.

The research will be written up as a thesis and submitted for assessment. Findings will also be disseminated to a range of audiences (e.g., academics, clinicians, public, etc.) through journal articles, conference presentations, talks, magazine articles, blogs. In all material produced, your identity will remain anonymous, in that, it will not be possible to identify you personally. Any or all personally identifying information (including names, locations and any mentioned relationships) will either be removed and redacted from interview transcripts, or replaced with pseudonyms, meaning your data becomes unidentifiable.

Your researcher is Niky Dix. Niky spent ten years as a secondary school PE and Science teacher, followed by ten years running a Christian faith-based charity, partnering with local churches to delivering community health and wellbeing interventions. Niky is now a postgraduate student in the School of Psychology at the University of East London (UEL), studying for an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology. Niky is also an EMCC-accredited coach (foundation), with appropriate professional insurance, and has completed a professional group coaching training programme (34 core and six resource CCE units accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)). Now in the final year of her three-year study, Niky is conducting this research into group coaching as a means of fostering flourishing in Christian ministry leaders.

Because the research is based on theory, the planned outcomes and potential benefits of the research are that individuals may find new means, or be reminded of existing strategies that could enhance wellbeing and encourage flourishing in day-to-day ministry.

It is expected that ministry leaders will have a positive experience and we hope will leave with an increased sense of autonomy and improved wellbeing, as well as build supportive and accountable relationships. The qualitative aspect of this research will enable learning from each individual's experiences.

Being involved in the research is not expected to cause any negative consequences, and all reasonable measures have been complied with. However unlikely, there is a small chance you might still be triggered during group participation or data collecting. Being challenged by the group could result in small levels of emotional distress and discomfort. If you think any of these have affected you, please contact a certified mental health charity or your GP. If you need non-urgent information about mental health support and services that may be available to you, please call the MIND Info Helpline page on 0300 123 3393. For more urgent support, please contact the Samaritans on 116 123. For additional services and individuals from countries outside the UK,, support services can be found at Safe In Our World - https://safeinourworld.org/find-help.

If you agree to take part, you will be asked to join 6 online group sessions of between 90-120 minutes a week for 6 weeks. The times and dates will be confirmed when we know how many participants are interested. The groups will contain a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12 participants. Please email Niky on u2187029@uel.ac.uk or click this link to express your interest asap.
We will reply with details of the individual sessions, which will take place after 22nd Jan 2024. You will also be asked to complete a consent form, anonymous demographics, and an anonymised Pre-and post-intervention survey.
After the intervention, you will be invited to share your experiences in a video recorded interview conversation, which will take place on Teams. All and any information will be treated confidentially.

Yes, you can change your mind at any time and withdraw without explanation, disadvantage, or consequence. If you would like to withdraw from the 6-week group coaching intervention, or from the pre-post surveys or before or 1:1 recorded interview, you can do so by contacting Niky Dix on u2187029@uel.ac.uk.

If you withdraw before 4th April 2024, your data will not be used as part of the research. You can also request to withdraw your data from being used even after you have taken part in the study, provided that this request is made before 4th April 2024 (after which point the data analysis will begin, and withdrawal will not be possible).

This research has been approved by the School of Psychology Ethics Committee. This means that the Committee’s evaluation of this ethics application has been guided by the standards of research ethics set by the British Psychological Society.
You can download a full Participant information sheet here.
if you still have questions please contact Niky Dix u2187029@uel.ac.uk or Niky’s supervisor : Ana Paula Nacif a.nacif@uel.ac.uk

The University of East London is the Data Controller for the personal information processed as part of this research project. The University will ensure that the personal data it processes is held securely and processed in accordance with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
More detailed information is available in the Participant Information Sheet, which you can download using the link above. You will also receive a copy when you consent to take part in the research.

If you would like to receive a summary of the research findings once the study has been completed please click here This information is collected and stored separately, so anyone can sign up to find out about the results. Please provide your name and email address to learn of the findings. Also, if you participate in the research, this information will not be automatically be collected or deleted if you withdraw. If you change your mind and would like to be removed from this findings email list, please let us know by contacting Niky at u2187029@uel.ac.uk

Click any of the sign up now buttons on this page, Click here, or copy and paste this link into your browser,
https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fW3zIxXjQdSaua

All of these options will take you to a form and express your interest in being a research participant, and hopefully inspire flourishing in your ministry and potentially inspire others too.