This blog was written by Andrée Roberts, Health and Wellbeing Coach, AKG Health
In December 2025, I completed a qualitative research project exploring the experiences of participants on the UK Government’s Restart employability programme who had engaged with an AKG Health Coach to manage health-related barriers to employment.
As a Health and Wellbeing Coach, I was already familiar with some of the challenges health can create for people moving towards employment. I wanted to look beyond the outcomes we see in practice and understand the experience from the participant’s perspective. What did they value about health coaching? Did they value it at all? What made them engage? Did they feel the support had influenced their wellbeing, confidence and readiness for work?
The research gave me an opportunity to explore these questions. However, undertaking the project taught me just as much as the findings themselves.
Moving from Practitioner to Researcher
One of my biggest learning curves was shifting from my role as practitioner to that of researcher.
As a Health and Wellbeing Coach, I am accustomed to supporting people, asking questions, building rapport and helping individuals identify their goals. Research required me to approach these skills differently: remaining curious, avoiding assumptions and allowing participants’ experiences to shape the findings.
Semi-structured interviews gave participants the flexibility to share their experiences firsthand. Having an independent, non-health coach conduct the interviews also provided valuable separation between my professional role and the research process.
Working with the interview transcripts offered an insightful perspective during the qualitative analysis. Participants’ natural responses were preserved, including hesitations, repetitions and moments of silence. These subtle details provided context beyond the words themselves, deepening my understanding of their experiences.
This reminded me that qualitative research involves more than collecting answers; it requires contextualising human experiences and recognising the emotions underlying what is being said.
Learning to listen differently
A key takeaway was the importance of listening without immediately trying to interpret or solve.
In my professional role, there is often a natural instinct to help. When someone describes a difficulty, I may begin thinking about what support or intervention could be useful.
Research required me to pause that instinct and consider: What is this person actually telling me? What does this experience mean to them? Am I interpreting their words based on what I expected to hear?
This encouraged me to examine my own assumptions and how they influence my work and research. It also reinforced something fundamental to health coaching: people are experts in their own experiences.
The challenge of analysing people’s experiences
Analysing qualitative data was perhaps the most challenging part of the project.
Working with people’s lived experiences is very different from analysing numbers. Each participant had their own circumstances, challenges and understanding of their journey. My role was to identify common themes while respecting the individuality of each person’s story.
I had to move between the detail of individual accounts and the broader picture emerging from the data.
This process strengthened my critical thinking and taught me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. Research does not always provide simple or definitive answers. Sometimes, the most valuable outcome is identifying questions that need further exploration.
What the experience taught me about health coaching
Although the project was not simply about confirming what I already believed about health coaching, participants’ experiences reinforced the importance of a holistic and individualised approach.
Participants described the value of having someone who could consider their physical and mental wellbeing alongside practical barriers to employment. They also highlighted the importance of feeling listened to, understood and supported.
At the same time, the research reminded me that one approach cannot meet everyone’s needs. People experiencing more complex or persistent barriers may require additional or more tailored support.
This has encouraged me to think more critically about how we evaluate our services and whether we are sufficiently responsive to individual circumstances.
Taking research back into practice
Perhaps the greatest benefit of this project has been its impact on my professional practice.
It has made me more conscious of the importance of giving people space to tell their stories, listening carefully to what is said and remaining aware of what may sit behind the words.
It has also strengthened my interest in evidence-informed practice. In frontline services, it is easy to become focused on delivery, targets and outcomes. Research provides an opportunity to step back and ask whether the support we provide is experienced as helpful by the people receiving it.
For me, this is one of the most important reasons to undertake research.
Looking back
Completing this project was both challenging and rewarding. It developed my confidence in qualitative research, strengthened my critical thinking and deepened my appreciation of the importance of participant voice.
Most importantly, it reminded me that behind every outcome measure is a person with their own experiences, challenges and understanding of what helped them move forward.
I began the research wanting to understand participants’ experiences of health coaching. I finished with a greater appreciation of the value of listening, questioning and remaining open to what people tell us.
Research does not always have to begin in a university. Sometimes, it begins with a question that emerges from everyday practice: Are we really understanding the people we support, and are we providing what they need?
About the author:
Andrée Roberts is a Health and Wellbeing Coach at AKG Health, supporting individuals to address health-related barriers to employment. Her interests include holistic health coaching, evidence-informed practice and the role of research in improving service delivery.
Connect with Andrée: www.linkedin.com/in/drée-roberts-ma-mbacp-cicyp-cctp-ii-aiep-7b752a17a
AKG Health
Supporting people to address health barriers and move towards employment.
Website: https://akguk.co.uk/what-we-do/health/
Follow AKG Health: https://www.linkedin.com/company/akghealth/about/