About Pete Tobias
Certified Psychodynamic Life Coach based in Dubai
I'm Pete Tobias, a Certified Psychodynamic Life Coach based in Dubai, providing online life coaching for adults.
I'm professional, friendly and experienced in getting to the heart of an issue.
My approach is about understanding more than simply the difficulty you initially bring to coaching. I want to understand your situation, your experiences and your story so that together we can begin to identify what may actually be keeping you stuck.
Once we have a clearer understanding of what may be at the root of the issue, I can share what I'm noticing with you and suggest a way that we might work on it together.
Listening at Different Levels
An important part of how I work is the way I listen.
I listen at multiple layers: what you say, how you say it, your experiences, your story and the non-verbal signals that accompany what you're telling me.
I bring this together with years of experience working with hundreds of people.
This helps me look beyond the immediate difficulty and develop an understanding of what may be at the heart of the issue.
I can then share that understanding with you so that we can consider together how we might work with what is getting in the way.
Understanding that can be part of the work.
Feeling Heard and Understood
The relationship we develop is an important part of coaching.
I want you to feel heard at a deep level and understood without judgement.
That requires more than listening to the words you are saying.
Personal presence, attunement, compassion, empathy and pacing are all important parts of how I work.
It also involves knowing when it is useful to continue talking and exploring something and when it may be more helpful to move from talking into a technique or a different way of working.
The approach is shaped around you rather than requiring you to fit a predetermined way of coaching.
The Experience I Bring to Coaching
I bring considerable professional and lived experience to my work as a life coach.
I've worked within many different organisations and have spent years working one-to-one with hundreds of people.
I also bring experience from a clinical professional background. That experience informs the depth of my listening, my understanding of people and my ability to work relationally, while the service I provide is life coaching rather than counselling, psychotherapy or mental-health treatment.
I bring my full self to my work as a coach.
For me, knowing how to use yourself effectively as a coach is a skill. It involves presence, attunement, compassion, empathy and pacing, alongside professional knowledge and experience.
I've Done My Own Work Too
I believe personal development is essential when your work involves helping other people make changes in their lives.
I've worked extensively on myself and my own personal development.
There is a principle that you can only take someone as far as you have been prepared to go yourself. That principle is important to me.
Doing my own work helps me bring greater awareness of myself to coaching and allows me to bring my full self to the relationship.
I'm not asking you to explore yourself from a distance.
I understand the experience of looking at yourself, becoming curious about your own patterns and working towards meaningful change.
Why I Coach
I have a passion for helping people and wanted to bring my particular combination of skills, professional experience and lived experience to coaching clients.
I'm interested in what prevents people from moving forward even when they genuinely want something to change.
Sometimes the answer is practical.
Sometimes there is something beneath the apparent problem that needs to be better understood.
My Values
There are several values that are fundamental to how I work:
For me, these aren't separate from the coaching itself.
Compassion and understanding don't mean avoiding something important. Equally, being direct doesn't mean losing sight of the person I'm working with.
I want you to experience a professional relationship in which you can feel understood without judgement, while also knowing that I will bring my experience and perspective to the work.
Coaching With Clear Professional Boundaries
The service I provide is life coaching.
Coaching focuses on your personal or professional goals, what you want to change and what may be preventing you from moving forward.
Our work can involve self-understanding, emotional responses, relationships and recurring patterns where these are relevant to your coaching goals.
Coaching is not counselling, psychotherapy or mental-health treatment, and I do not use coaching to diagnose or treat mental-health conditions.
If something emerges that would be more appropriately supported through psychological or mental-health treatment, we can discuss this and consider what additional or alternative support may be appropriate.
If You're Not Sure, Start With a Conversation
You don't need to decide whether I'm the right coach for you from a website.
If you're in doubt, try a free 20-minute discovery call and get to know me.
You can tell me a little about what is happening and what you would like to change. You can ask any questions you have about me, my approach or how we might work together.
There is no obligation to go any further.
The purpose is simply to give us an opportunity to meet and for you to decide whether working with me feels right for you.
Book Your Free 20-Minute Discovery CallCoaching Built Around What You Want to Change
My coaching work includes neurodivergent coaching, relationship coaching and personal development coaching. Explore each area to find out more about how we might work together.
ADHD & Neurodivergent Coaching
Coaching that works with how you think, process, organise, respond and make sense of your experiences.
Relationship Coaching
A space to understand relationship patterns, communication, connection and the changes you would like to make in your relationships.
Personal Development Coaching
Focused coaching for personal or professional goals, confidence, decisions, career development and the next steps you want to take.