About Stephen Bradshaw
Qualifications & Credentials
A Diploma-qualified Professional Coach with 20+ years of relevant skills, qualifications and experience. The full list of certifications, CPD and frameworks I draw on.
Experience
20+ years
Relevant experience working exclusively with couples.
Why this page exists
The relationship-help space in the UK is largely unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a “coach”, and the difference between a weekend-certified influencer and a properly qualified practitioner is not always obvious from the outside.
This page lays out my full set of qualifications, certifications, continued professional development, and the bodies and frameworks I draw on. If you are weighing me against another option, you deserve the detail.
Primary qualification
Diploma in Professional Coaching, The Coaching Academy
What the Diploma includes
- Foundation, intermediate and advanced coaching skills
- Supervised, assessed live sessions
- Coaching ethics and professional standards
- Building a sustainable coaching practice
Coaching Academy accreditations
- Association for Coaching (AC)
- International Coach Federation (ICF)
- European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
Continued professional development
In-depth CPD across the disciplines that inform the way I work with couples.
Positive Intelligence
Founded by Shirzad Chamine, former Stanford lecturer and author of Positive Intelligence. Mental fitness and the inner saboteurs that hijack behaviour under stress. Directly relevant to reactive arguments.
The Brain Academy
Neuroscience of patience, impulse control, and the gap between trigger and response. Practical work for clients in high-conflict cycles.
The Chimp Theory
Developed by Professor Steve Peters, author of The Chimp Paradox. A working model for how the emotional and rational brain interact, and why a calm conversation can spiral within seconds.
Irene Lyon (Trauma & Stress Regulation)
Nervous-system-based stress regulation, drawing on Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) and Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory). The grounding tools I teach couples for de-escalating in real time.
Additional in-depth study
The three most evidence-backed frameworks for couples work.
Imago Therapy
Hendrix and Hunt’s framework for how partners mirror each other’s unmet needs. I use Imago’s “Couples Dialogue” to slow conversations down so each partner actually hears the other.
The Gottman Institute
Forty-plus years of research on what makes relationships succeed or fail. Frameworks for conflict, friendship, and the “Four Horsemen” patterns that predict relationship breakdown.
Attachment Theory
Bowlby and Ainsworth, developed for adults by Sue Johnson (EFT). Anxious, avoidant and secure styles, and how they collide. One of the most common “lightbulb” moments in my sessions.
Specialist focus
“I work with couples all day, every day. Not a side of what I do, the whole of what I do.”
Published work
Mindset Dad (2020)
I am the author of Mindset Dad, a book written to help new dads navigate the emotional, practical and relational transition into fatherhood. Available on Amazon and through major UK booksellers.
The book grew out of my own experience after my son was born, the same experience that led me into coaching in the first place.
Lived-experience expertise
- Transition into fatherhood
- Postnatal relationship strain
- Recovery from disconnection in long-term partnerships
- Building resilience as a couple under pressure
Ethics and professional standards
I work to the ethical standards of the coaching profession.
Confidentiality
What is discussed in sessions stays in sessions, with the standard legal exceptions (risk of harm to self or others, safeguarding concerns).
No false promises
I do not guarantee outcomes. I will tell you honestly on the discovery call whether I think the work is likely to help in your specific situation.
Honest scope of practice
I am a coach, not a clinical therapist. If a client needs CBT, EMDR or psychiatric support, I will say so and signpost.
Ongoing development
I invest in CPD every year. The frameworks above grow over time as the field evolves.
Where I am listed and verified
Reviews and the legitimacy of my practice are publicly verifiable.
Bark
Rebooting Relationships profile, 5.0 across 29 reviews.
Companies House
Registered UK business operating as Rebooting Relationships.
Google Business Profile
4.9 across 16 verified reviews on Google.
Amazon Author Profile
Listed author of Mindset Dad (2020).
Still want to check?
The discovery call is the right place to ask. Happy to walk you through any qualification, framework, or boundary of what I do.
Related pages
About Stephen
Background and why I do this work.
My approach
The frameworks I use and how sessions actually run.
Client reviews
45+ five-star reviews from past clients.
FAQs
Pricing, timeline and what to expect.