Laura Cockram’s Journey into Transformative Coaching
After two decades supporting people to think more clearly in organisational settings, Laura Cockram has taken her own leap of faith. In September 2025, Laura launched her freelance coaching practice in Midlothian, combining her expertise in organisational culture with a passion for helping mid-career women navigate one of life’s most challenging transitions.
A Career Built on Communication and Culture
Laura’s professional foundation lies in organisational communications, engagement and culture work. She spent her career in the third sector and higher education, supporting leaders, managers and their teams to communicate with intention and build positive workplace cultures together. It was this experience and watching people gain clarity and confidence through thoughtful conversation that inspired her to train as a transformative coach.
“I’d spent 20 years helping people think more clearly as a colleague, manager and leader,” Laura explains. “Training as a coach felt like the natural next step, allowing me to focus entirely on that transformational work with individuals.”
Walk, Talk and Transform
What sets Laura’s coaching apart is her innovative approach to the traditional coaching session. Based in Midlothian, she offers ‘walk and talk’ coaching sessions that take full advantage of the local countryside. These outdoor sessions provide more than just a change of scenery; they help busy minds slow down and create space for new perspectives to emerge.
Her primary focus is mid-career women, a demographic she recognises as facing unique pressures. “This can be a tricky time juggling multiple responsibilities,” Laura notes. “It can feel hard to find the headspace to think through work challenges, and even harder to see them as potential opportunities.” Through her coaching, conversations often naturally turn towards self-care and self-compassion, essential elements that frequently slip down the priority list in midlife.
Laura also works with women in leadership and management positions in for-purpose organisations, helping them create positive and empowering workplace cultures within their teams.
Support from Business Gateway Midlothian
Taking the step into freelance coaching was daunting, but Laura found crucial support through Business Gateway Midlothian. “Going freelance felt like a scary leap but the support from Business Gateway Midlothian has been invaluable,” she says. “Knowing there are helpful and responsive experts there to advise and guide me made it all feel less daunting.”
Laura regularly attends Business Gateway Midlothian’s coffee mornings and recently joined their Spark & Scale Women in Business Programme in the Autumn of 2025. “I loved the mix of really practical sessions, expert speakers, support and the networking,” she reflects.
The coffee mornings proved particularly fruitful, leading to an unexpected collaboration with Emily Porth of Heart of Yew Ceremonies. Together, they ran a winter workshop combining meditation, group coaching and a labyrinth walk, receiving excellent feedback from participants. The success has inspired plans for future workshops. “This is a collaboration that wouldn’t have come about if I hadn’t been at the coffee morning.”.
Upcoming Workshop
After the success of their first joint workshop in November 2025, Laura Cockram and Emily Porth are back for a Spring workshop, hosted at St James the Less Church Hall in Penicuik on the 28th March, to help you reconnect with yourself and the natural world. With space to move and quietly reflect, time to connect with others and a beautiful labyrinth walk included, this unique workshop will give you a renewed sense of what you need, and where you want to focus your energy, in order to flourish through the coming months.
Creating Space for Growth
Laura’s journey from an organisational communications professional to an independent coach exemplifies the kind of mid-career transformation she now helps others navigate. By bringing her expertise outdoors and creating space for reflection, amid Midlothian’s natural beauty, she is offering local women a unique opportunity to pause, reflect and move forward with renewed clarity and purpose.
Find out more about Laura and the support she can provide >>
