UKCP Psychotherapist · Therapeutic Coach
Confidence coaching is for situations you want to handle differently, such as speaking in meetings, setting boundaries or making decisions you keep putting off.
I am Sabbir Ahmed, a UKCP-registered psychotherapist and EMCC-accredited therapeutic coach. I work at 96 Harley Street (W1G 7HY), 335 City Road in Angel (EC1V 1LJ) and online across the UK. We start with a free 20-minute consultation to discuss what you want to change and whether coaching is suitable.
Years of experience
On the outside, you look like you have it together. Capable, reliable, handling things. Inside, it can be a different story: a loop of second-guessing, over-preparing and waiting to be found out.
You’ve probably tried the affirmations, the power poses, the fake-it-till-you-make-it advice. The lift never lasts, because the problem was never a shortage of positive thinking. Somewhere along the way you learned to distrust yourself, and surface-level tips can’t undo that.
Now picture walking into a room without rehearsing what you’ll say. Setting a boundary without the guilt spiral. Backing your own judgement even when someone senior disagrees. That isn’t arrogance. That’s what confidence feels like when it’s built from the inside out.
I trained as a psychotherapist before I coached. CBT, DBT, analytic and systemic work, applied to confidence rather than read about.
We work on where the doubt started, not just on how to hide it, so the change holds when life gets loud.
Your job, family and commitments are the raw material. No abstract frameworks, no homework that ignores your week.
If you’re ADHD, autistic or wondering, the work adapts to how your mind actually runs. I’ve written a separate guide to confidence coaching for neurodivergent professionals.
Your background, faith and family context are part of the work, never obstacles to it. Non-judgemental as standard.
Clear goals, one to three actions a session, and progress you can measure. Momentum you can see, not just a lift you can feel.
In the free 20-minute consultation, tell me about a situation you want to handle differently and ask how coaching might help. We can discuss the approach, session arrangements and fees before you decide whether to book.
Psychological insight plus practical coaching, so your thinking and your behaviour shift together. Most people bring some mix of these six.
Map the voice, learn where it got its script, and build self-talk that’s kinder and more accurate.
Small, repeatable acts of bravery that compound into confidence. No deep-end heroics required.
Sharing ideas before they’re perfect, asking for what you need, and staying steady when attention lands on you.
Saying no cleanly, holding it calmly, and letting go of the over-explaining.
Loosening the standards that keep you rehearsing, delaying and apologising for taking up space.
Five to seven minutes to anchor your day and track wins, so progress stays visible between sessions.
If your self-doubt centres on a particular situation, coaching can focus on what you want to do differently and what gets in the way. If you feel persistently worthless or self-critical across much of your life, low self-esteem therapy may be a better fit. We can discuss both options in the initial consultation.
We map where the doubt shows up, what triggers it and what it has cost you so far. Values and strengths work gives us a picture of what matters, not just what’s wrong.
Drawing on CBT, DBT and analytic training, we build kinder self-talk, scripts for hard conversations and small experiments that fit your actual week.
You practise between sessions and we review what happened. Confidence starts to rest on things you’ve actually done, and we finish with a plan you can run without me.
Clear fees for confidence coaching, with a free 20-minute initial consultation.
Foundation session from
£350
NHS-trained · King's College London
I know what it’s like to feel stuck, doubted and unsure whether things will ever change.
I arrived in the UK as an immigrant, working days and evenings to pay for my psychotherapy training. When my son was diagnosed with autism and excluded from more than one school, we were told to lower our expectations. We didn’t. Watching him build a life everyone said was out of reach taught me more about confidence than any qualification.
That experience sits underneath how I coach. I’ve spent over 20 years across NHS, private and community practice, trained at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, and studied CBT at King’s College London. You get a psychotherapist’s understanding of where doubt comes from, with a coach’s focus on what you’ll do about it this week.
Questions people ask before their first confidence coaching session.
Structured one-to-one sessions focused on how self-doubt works in your life and what changes it. We map where the doubt comes from, then build practical tools: kinder self-talk, scripts for hard conversations, and small experiments between sessions. You leave each session with one to three specific actions, so confidence grows from what you’ve actually done rather than from positive thinking.
Coaching focuses on specific goals and the actions you want to take. Therapy can address persistent distress, depression, trauma and difficulties with self-worth, including what is happening in your life now. We can discuss which approach fits during the free 20-minute consultation.
Because confidence is built by doing, then noticing what happened. Self-doubt usually jumps in before you act, so you never collect the evidence that you’re capable. We work on quieting the doubt enough to take small steps, then let the results do the convincing. Affirmations on their own don’t hold because they add no evidence.
Most people notice small shifts within the first few sessions. Durable change usually takes three to six months of steady practice, depending on your goals and how much life is asking of you. We review progress openly as we go, and the aim is always to finish with a system you can run without me.
We discuss the situations you want to handle differently, what you have tried and what you would like to change. Together we agree a focus and something practical to try between sessions. Before booking, you can ask questions in the free 20-minute initial consultation.
Yes. Speaking in meetings, presenting, interviews, asking for a rise, pushing back on a workload: these are the most common situations people bring. We rehearse the real conversations you’re facing and build the skills inside the situations that matter, rather than in the abstract.
No. I work privately rather than through insurance panels. You pay directly for each session or block, which keeps the work confidential and free of diagnosis-led restrictions.
If you’re in crisis right now, call Samaritans free, 24/7, on 116 123, or call 999 in an emergency. This is planned support, not crisis care. Once things are steadier, coaching or therapy can help you rebuild at your own pace.
Choose the format that works best for you. I offer confidence coaching face-to-face at my City Road and Harley Street practices, alongside secure online sessions for clients across the UK.
Harley Street: 96 Harley Street, London W1G 7HY
London City Road: 335 City Rd, London EC1V 1LJ (Angel)
Online: Secure video sessions UK-wide and globally
Book your initial consultation today and take the first step towards clarity, confidence and lasting change.
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