Sam Adams runs Coaching for Men
Sam is a men’s coach based in the UK. His coaching practice helps men manage the pressures of modern life, including the challenges of mental health, changes in identity and everyday stress. With 25 years of experience under his belt, Sam has developed a method that helps men get past the rigid ideas and a sense of shame that can prevent them from asking for help in the first place.
His work does not give general advice or tell men to “man up.” Instead, it gives the guys permission to slow down, feel what they feel, and accept that it’s completely fine not to have everything figured out.
What Shapes Sam Adam’s Coaching
Sam draws from an unusually wide array of influences. His framework of knowledge is a blend of counselling theory (level 3 diploma), Jungian archetypal psychology, mythology and mindfulness balanced with a practical, real-world grounding in chaplaincy, eco-psychology and regenerative agriculture.
Core Areas of Work
Personal 1:1 Coaching: He offers one-to-one sessions. The work is individual, and it focuses on long-term, sustainable change, rather than quick fixes. Initial Discovery: It starts with a free, no-strings-attached 30-minute consultation to establish whether you’re a good fit for each other and to get a feel for what you want to work on.
Bespoke Focus: He does not prescribe a rigid course of study, but rather designs the coaching program according to your current needs and challenges, be it a stale job situation, a broken relationship, lost confidence, or self-sabotage.
Uncovering Root Patterns: Through deep listening, he helps map out the automatic coping habits and unspoken shame holding you back.
Structured Blocks: Sessions can be arranged in dedicated blocks to keep momentum steady while building out a practical, day-to-day toolkit.
Group Work & Community: Since isolation is at the root of almost every psychological problem, group settings are an essential part of Sam’s work.
Normalizing Shared Struggles: Hearing other men talk openly about the exact same stress and expectations makes it far easier to drop your own guard.
Grassroots Support: He also collaborates with grassroots movements such as MenTell, and provides a judgment-free space where men can talk freely without receiving unsolicited advice.
Leadership Coaching: He also supports managers and team leaders, equipping them with the emotional language and confidence needed to spot when other men are struggling and support them properly. Handling heavy emotional loads requires practical tools, not just theoretical concepts.
Granting Permission: Sam believes that the best way to deal with emotional stress is to teach men not to hide it, but to give themselves permission to feel exhausted, angry or unsure, and thus lower their anxiety and tension.
Nature-Based Grounding: Sam draws on his knowledge of landscape gardening and eco-psychology to introduce men to their natural surroundings and away from the overload of work.
Everyday Habits: The men who leave his coaching learn everyday ways of defining boundaries, processing stress and returning to a clear and focused mind.
Healing The Shadow (HTS) is a foundation set up by Marianne Hill and Rod Boothroyd in 2018. It is based on the principles of shadow work and emotional processing and runs a training course for practitioners.
HTS describes its approach as Deep Process Psychotherapy, a combination of shadow work, depth psychology and the theory of archetypes. We can explain this concept as follows: the task is to allow people to become aware of certain aspects of themselves that they have suppressed or pushed away in the course of their lives, often out of shame or guilt, aspects that may be associated with certain irrational experiences such as gambling, spontaneous outbursts of anger, verbal or physical violence, acting out of character, and so on. But the other side is of course that people may perform in a way that is based on their need to be accepted by others.
Two of the main activities of HTS are providing individual and group shadow work. These sessions are given by trained practitioners, and can be given in person or over the Internet. They can also be longer than a normal counselling session, often lasting from two to five hours. The advantage of this method is that the client has time to explore their emotions, fears and habits to a greater depth.
Compassion is shown by giving the concept of the inner child and the parts of the personality which have been rejected and are unable to find acceptance a position which is open to the individual. It is stated that the emotional work is guided by the individual and it consists of exploring his or her own experiences, rather than being led, conscious or unconscious, by the therapist.
The various HTS workshops and group programmes include introductory shadowwork courses, advanced shadowwork courses, relationship courses, parts-work, and group intensives. Each workshop or group programme includes practical work and a chance for participants to reflect on their own experiences. People can explore their unconscious beliefs, emotional responses, and ways of protecting themselves, in order to understand the origin of their emotional patterning and the consequences this has for their everyday life and relationships.
The most important part of HTS is probably the two-year practitioner’s course, which is aimed at people who want to practice the Healing The Shadow approach. The course contains both theory and practice, including topics such as shadow, archetypes, emotional wounds, the inner child, the relationship between the therapist and client, and clear communication. The method also includes the Five Fields Framework, developed by Marianne Hill herself, which helps people develop more open communication and deal more effectively with the many difficulties that can arise in the context of relationships and conflicts.
HTS also gives Continuing Professional Development courses for those already in the profession of counselling, psychotherapy or therapeutic guidance. These courses give an opportunity to professionals to learn more about shadow work and how it may be adapted to their current work.