Hi, I’m Patrick Phillips.
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 September, I will be furthering my academic and professional foundations by undertaking a Diploma in the Science and Application of the Compassionate Mind — a qualification that deepens my understanding of compassion-based approaches to human wellbeing and reflects my commitment to evidence-informed practice.
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 serve you.
A Strong Foundation — The Story Behind Lawers Skai From the Lowlands to the Scottish Highlands
Finding my connection with nature did not begin with the mountains. It began in the Lowlands of Scotland, in an old farm orchard, standing in front of an apple tree in bloom. In January 2017, I wrote about this moment in an essay titled Blossoming Hands, published in Elsewhere: A Journal of Place. It remains, for me, a genuine starting point — it was the first time I understood that a connection with nature was not something abstract, but something that can be felt entirely through the body and senses. That apple tree was my first teacher.
In October 2019, I started my own walking tour guide business in the Scottish Highlands — returning to Killin, a small mountain village in the ancient landscape of Breadalbane, with a different quality of attention than I had ever brought before. I found a mountain landscape that had not abandoned me, even when I felt I had abandoned it. Living and working alongside mountains over 500 million years old gave me something I could not have found anywhere else — something I wrote about in Eternal Mountain: Essays from Afar: "With the mountains, I was able to experience for the first time in my life the weight and depth of my own soul; the deeper our connection with nature, the deeper our experience of life and therefore its richness and true meaning — our destiny." Between the rocks and water of Breadalbane, I found what I came to call sanctuaries — places of rest, inspiration, and rejuvenation — and it was here that the foundations of Lawers Skai were quietly laid.
Over the four years that followed, Eternal Mountain grew into something I could not have imagined at the outset. What began as guided walking tours became a genuine practice of sustainable geotourism — weaving local history, geology, and landscape together with a focus on physical and mental wellbeing. I taught courses in drawing, nature writing, and painting across the Highlands, and built a small community around fitness walking and creative practice. I designed a historical comic in partnership with VisitScotland and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, appeared in a French television documentary filmed at the Three Sisters in Glen Coe, and worked alongside national tour operators as a recognised heritage destination in Scotland. Every part of it — the walking, the teaching, the writing, the partnerships — was, in hindsight, an apprenticeship. Eternal Mountain taught me not only how to guide people through a landscape, but how to help them navigate their own way through the challenges of life.
Lawers Skai is what I built once I understood the difference — an exemplification of my own journey of self-actualisation and transformation, lived through nature connection, creative expression, and mindfulness practice. A journey I continue every week: walking the rural landscape around Kippen and Stirling, drawing, painting, and practising yoga — and teaching adult art classes, bringing that same creative practice into the community.
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.