The Story Behind Lawers Skai
Hi, I'm Patrick Phillips — the founder of Lawers Skai, and your wellness coach.
My connection with nature didn't begin in the mountains. It began in an old Lowland orchard, standing in front of an apple tree in bloom — the first time I understood that a connection with nature was not something abstract, but something felt entirely through the body and senses.
Years later, that same quality of attention carried me into the Scottish Highlands, where I built a walking tour business amongst mountains over 500 million years old — and where the foundations of Lawers Skai were quietly laid. Over four years, that business grew into something I couldn't have imagined: guided walks, creative courses, a historical comic, even a French television documentary. Every part of it, in hindsight, was an apprenticeship — not just in guiding people through a landscape, but in helping them navigate their own way through the challenges of life.
All of this happened through years of showing up — to a landscape, a sketchbook, a room full of people learning something new. Looking back, I can see it clearly now: every part of that journey was shaping me into the wellness coach I am today.
You can read the full version here
Why I'm Studying the Science and Application of the Compassionate Mind
“Human beings are shaped by evolutionary systems that help us navigate threat, pursue goals, and seek connection. The science of compassion offers a powerful way to understand these systems, and how they influence our behaviour, relationships, and wellbeing across every area of life.” — Dr Wendy Wood, Programme Leader at the Compassionate Mind Foundation
This September, I begin studying the Diploma in the Science and Application of the Compassionate Mind (Non-Psychotherapist Route) — and I wanted to share why, from two different directions: the professional, and the personal.
Community, Leadership & Organisational Development
This diploma, led by Dr Wendy Wood, Programme Leader at the Compassionate Mind Foundation, is strongly influenced by the pioneering work of Professor Paul Gilbert OBE, whose development of Compassion Focused Therapy has provided a rich, evidence-based framework for understanding how our threat, drive, and soothing systems shape human experience. As the course description puts it, this training explores human compassion and its relevance "far beyond psychological therapy, including organisational life, leadership, teamwork" and “experiences of physical illness.”
Furthermore, I will examine “how shame, self-criticism, and fear can arise in any environment where people feel evaluated or exposed, and how cultivating compassion—understood as sensitivity to suffering with a commitment to alleviate or prevent it—can transform those environments.”
Through this diploma, I’ll be learning how to apply compassion science to real-world challenges, including understanding “how organisations can become threat-driven systems, how cultures of competition or perfectionism can undermine wellbeing, and how compassionate leadership can create psychological safety and resilience” — whether in healthcare, education, organisational development, or a community setting.
This course is, in many ways, a natural extension of everything I have learnt thus far about human wellbeing. The same principles that helped me understand my own childhood are the ones that can help a team recover from fragmentation, or a leader build a genuinely safer culture around them.
Course description quoted from the Diploma in the Science and Application of the Compassionate Mind via The Compassionate Mind Foundation website.
Personal Development
My path to wellness coaching was shaped by a childhood in Greater Manchester marked by significant adversity. Growing up, I witnessed domestic violence, experienced emotional abuse, and navigated the hardships of extreme poverty — experiences that left lasting effects I would only fully come to understand nearly four decades later.
Among the most defining of these experiences was being thrust into a caregiving role at the age of four. In psychological terms, this is known as parentification — a phenomenon in which a child is required to assume adult responsibilities well before they are developmentally prepared to do so. With no other support present, I became my mother's primary caregiver almost overnight, taking on a level of responsibility that no young child should ever have to bear.
I share this not to dwell on hardship, but because it speaks directly to the heart of what wellness truly means. At its core, wellness is about care — paying deliberate attention to what matters most, in the present moment of your life. It is a deeply personal journey; one that honours your own life story as a foundation for lasting wellbeing.
Having not merely survived these experiences but grown through them, I am driven today by a genuine desire to support others in living fuller, more intentional lives. It is important to note that wellness coaching is distinct from therapy or clinical treatment. I work with individuals who have already done the foundational work — whether through therapy or other means — and are now ready to move forward; focusing on personal growth, career progression, lifestyle change, family relationships, and overall quality of life.
It is this lived experience, combined with ongoing professional development, that I believe equips me to offer meaningful, grounded guidance on your wellness journey.
In many ways, it has taken forty years to arrive at this point — and I consider it both a privilege and a profound responsibility to now be in a position to bring this understanding, in both its personal and professional dimensions, to the people and communities I work with.
“Your mind is like a garden, it will grow come what may.”
— Professor Paul Gilbert, author of The Compassionate Mind
My Approach
A Holistic, Artistic, Ontological, Mindful and Compassionate Approach
Our lives began no differently from one another. We came into this world, discovered life — life being life — moved through the difficulties of childhood and into adulthood. And then somehow, we each had to find a way forward. A way of knowing who we were, who we are, and who we can become — not only economically or socially, but deeply, as human beings.
And so I take being your wellness coach with passion, professionalism and a gentle playfulness — with genuine human warmth. Because your happiness matters to me. I know firsthand the immense challenge of being an adult in the world today.
At the heart of everything, my approach to your wellness is multifaceted and integrated — woven together through many different experiences and ways of being. It is holistic, meeting you as a whole person. Artistic, making space for self-expression. Ontological, nurturing your connection with nature and with existence itself. Mindful, anchoring you in the present moment. And compassionate, holding you always with empathy and kindness.
Together, these threads offer you something deeper — greater self-awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, and a life that feels more meaningful and more connected.
Nature, creativity, and mindfulness
Nature awakens your authentic self, creativity unleashes your imagination, and mindfulness slows you down long enough to truly experience both.
The Compassionate Mind
By understanding how your mind evolved, you can cultivate compassion for yourself and others, building the foundation for true and lasting wellbeing.