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September 2025 | Evokes Awareness – The Spark That Shifts Everything
From Rachel Dungan – The Pharmacist Coach
This month, we explore the ICF Core Competency Evokes Awareness, the quiet but profound shift that changes everything. You’ll read a client story that captures the power of a single question, reflections from practice, and prompts to expand your awareness, whether you’re leading a team, serving patients, or holding space as a coach.
We’ll also explore how evoking awareness shows up in our practice, whether you’re leading a team, serving patients, or navigating the complexities of healthcare and business leadership. We also invite you to reflect on key industry observances and celebrate our latest Lead With Coaching Certification Programme cohort in Cork and how they are using this opportunity to deepen their awareness as leaders.
💬 “I Never Saw It That Way Before”
A senior healthcare leader arrived to coaching feeling frustrated and stuck. She had been navigating a high-pressure transition and found herself repeating the same conversations with her team, hoping for different results.
Despite all her effort, the tension was building, not easing.
Midway through our session, I asked,
"What belief might be keeping this pattern in place?"
She went quiet. Her posture shifted.
Then she said,
"That question changed everything. I never saw it that way before."
She realised she had been holding onto a belief that being strong meant never asking for help. That belief shaped her leadership decisions, her delegation habits, and the immense pressure she carried alone. Once she named it, everything softened. She began to lead with more openness, trust, and shared responsibility.
This is Evokes Awareness in action. It is not about telling someone what to do. It is about creating the space for insight to emerge, gently, courageously, and with curiosity.
ICF Core Competency in Focus: Evokes Awareness
At the heart of powerful coaching is the ability to illuminate what is hidden, unspoken, or assumed. This competency is about more than asking good questions. It is about creating conditions where insight can arise organically.
We guide clients to see their world differently by inviting curiosity, using silence intentionally, offering metaphor, or gently challenging habitual thinking. We are not directing someone to an answer. We are helping them uncover the clarity already within.
When we evoke awareness, we become companions on a journey. Not experts with a map, but fellow travellers who ask,
"What do you see now?"
"What might be possible from here?"
"What truth is asking to be acknowledged?"
How This Shows Up in Practice
🔍 "I’ve tried everything, but nothing’s working."
This is often where clients begin. Before offering tools or reframes, we pause to consider what is most relevant for this person at this moment. Their lived experience holds the key. One-to-one coaching provides an opportunity to slow down, unpack layers, and uncover what lies beneath the surface.
Awareness begins when we honour what already exists.
💡 "What if the opposite were true?"
Challenge can evoke insight when used with care. A leader wrestling with team tension might believe “being direct creates conflict.” But when we ask, “What if being direct is a strength?” it opens a new door. In coaching, this kind of challenge is not confrontation. It is liberation.
The right question can shift everything.
🧠 "What belief is driving this decision?"
We often examine a client’s choices without exploring the story underneath. Coaching invites people to notice their frameworks, not just their facts. When we name the belief, we take back agency over the choices that follow.
Awareness breaks the cycle of autopilot.
🖼️ "What if this story is a well-worn path? What new trail might you create?"
Metaphor helps clients think beyond their current frames. It opens up creative reflection. One client noticed she was telling the same story repeatedly. That realisation allowed her to shift her identity from “problem solver” to “possibility creator.”
When the lens changes, the view expands.
🎭 "What’s happening for you right now?"
Sometimes, the shift happens in the moment. In a recent session, I noticed a client’s shoulders tense. I paused and asked what she was feeling. That invitation cracked something open. She found clarity not from a plan, but from presence.
The body often speaks before the mind catches up.
🧩 "What helped you shift last time?"
Progress is also awareness. When clients reflect on what is working, they build trust in their own wisdom. This reframes growth as something already in motion, not something far away.
Celebrate insight, not just milestones.
🌀 "I’ll stay with you in the silence."
Some clients process in images, others in logic, others in stories. Coaching requires flexibility. Sometimes metaphor resonates. Sometimes silence does more than any question could. We adapt, not because it is convenient, but because it is compassionate.
Presence is the most powerful coaching tool we have.
🔁 "Where else is this showing up?"
Patterns hold clues. When we notice the same response in different scenarios, we help clients connect the dots. Whether it is a recurring emotion or a behaviour, awareness turns noise into a signal.
What repeats reveals what matters.
🧭 "What would you like to do with this awareness?"
Insight without movement is just a nice idea. Coaching invites clients to consider what is next. Not what they should do, but what they want to do what they are ready for.
Insight becomes momentum.
🔄 "Is there another perspective that feels more empowering?"
Reframing is not about denying the problem. It is about finding a more useful truth. Clients often leave coaching not with a new answer, but with a new way of seeing.
Sometimes the most radical thing we can offer is a new lens.
👁️ "May I share something I’m noticing?"
We offer reflections without attachment. We trust the client to decide what resonates. One client once replied, “That feels true, but I hadn’t named it until now.” That is the sweet spot when the insight belongs to them.
Coaching is about sparking, not steering.
🧠 Listening for Insight in Leadership
Evoking awareness is not just for coaches. Leaders who ask better questions build stronger teams.
Imagine someone on your team seems disengaged. Instead of assuming, try asking:
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“What has been draining or energising for you lately?”
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“What do you need more or less of right now?”
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“Where do you feel most stretched or stuck?”
These are not performance questions. They are permission questions.
They evoke awareness and build trust.
If you are ready to strengthen your leadership presence through practical coaching tools like these, I invite you to book a 90-minute strategy session today:
👉 Book here
Observances for the Month: Reflecting on Awareness in Context
Each of this month’s observances offers an opportunity to deepen our awareness, both personally and professionally, as leaders. These key dates prompt us to challenge assumptions, broaden our perspective, and consider how we can incorporate insights into our conversations and decisions. They remind us that awareness is not a passive state. It is intentional, relational, and often transformative. When we pause to reflect on what matters, we create space for new understanding to emerge
World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September)
Theme: "Changing the Narrative on Suicide"
World Suicide Prevention Day 2025 – HSE.ie
This day challenges us to rethink how we speak about mental health. Conversations around suicide can be weighed down by fear, shame, or silence. But evoking awareness offers a different path one that replaces stigma with understanding.
In coaching, these are the moments when holding space matters most - when we invite people to be heard, not fixed, and when we create a culture where vulnerability is met with compassion.
This week, consider:
🟡 What would help you feel less alone right now?
🟡 What story are you carrying that needs to be seen?
🟡 How can I create a safer space for open, honest conversation?
When awareness replaces assumption, connection becomes possible.
World Patient Safety Day (17 September)
Theme: "Patient Safety from the Start!"
World Patient Safety Day – WHO
This year’s focus on systems and teamwork reminds us that patient safety is more than a checklist. It is relational. It is cultural. It begins with how we see, hear, and support one another especially in complex, high-pressure environments like healthcare.
Evoking awareness in this context means helping leaders and teams notice what’s been normalised, overlooked, or left unsaid. Safety is not created solely through policies. It is nurtured through presence, trust, and courage.
In healthcare, evoking awareness means supporting all parties (leaders, healthcare professionals, patients, carers etc) to see blind spots. Sometimes it sounds like:
🟡 Where else might this pattern be playing out?
🟡 What are your team/family not saying because they don’t feel safe enough to?
🟡 What assumptions are shaping your response to this situation?
These questions spark safer systems and braver conversations. Awareness is the first step toward meaningful action and sustainable safety.
Listening for Meaning – International Day for Listening (18 September)
International Day for Listening
True listening is an act of presence, not performance. This day reminds us that listening is not just hearing it is attending, holding space, and noticing what is said, unsaid, or implied.
Evoking awareness begins when we listen beyond the surface. In healthcare, leadership, or coaching, insight often arises when we stop trying to answer too quickly and start listening more deeply.
This week, reflect on:
🟡 How does my listening create space for awareness?
🟡 What’s the difference between hearing to reply and listening to understand?
🟡 What have I missed by listening only through my assumptions?
When we listen for meaning, we unlock deeper connection, clarity, and care.
Rethinking Pharmacists' Role – World Pharmacist Day (25 September)
Theme: "Think Health, Think Pharmacist"
World Pharmacist Day – FIP
This day invites us to expand how we see pharmacists—not confined to being dispensers of medication, but also as trusted healthcare leaders who ensure safe, effective treatment and informed patient decisions.
Evoking awareness here means helping others notice the invisible impact of pharmacists; the questions they ask, the interactions they guide, the safety nets they hold in place.
As pharmacists, coaches and leaders, we can draw inspiration from pharmacists' vigilance and care. Awareness helps prevent errors, empower teams, and protect what matters most.
This week, ask yourself:
🟡 How might I support or highlight the role of pharmacists in my life?
🟡 What healthcare roles do I overlook that make a significant impact?
🟡 What assumptions do I carry about whose insight matters most?
When we think of health, we should also think of collaboration, listening, and shared awareness.
Reframing Ageing – Positive Ageing Week (29 September – 3 October)
Theme: "Challenging Ageism – Reframing How We Think, Feel and Act Towards Aging and Older Persons"
Positive Ageing Week – Age Action
Positive Ageing Week reminds us that every generation holds wisdom. Yet ageism whether overt or subtle often shapes decisions in healthcare, leadership, and daily life. Evoking awareness means surfacing those unconscious beliefs and making space for respectful, inclusive dialogue.
In coaching and leadership, we can ask questions that challenge the narrative and honour the value of lived experience.
This week, consider:
🟡 What age-based assumptions are still operating in your world?
🟡 How are you honouring the strengths of those with lived experience?
🟡 Where could your team benefit from more intergenerational perspectives?
Insight leads to equity. Let’s start with how we see ageing.
Spotlight on Lead With Coaching 'Coaching for Leaders' Programme
As we head into the final quarter of the year, the Lead With Coaching 'Coaching for Leaders' Certificate Programme offers an invaluable opportunity for leaders and teams to embrace the power of Evokes Awareness. By cultivating a coaching mindset, this programme enables leaders to transition from reactive thinking to strategic, proactive leadership.
We’re excited to celebrate the current cohort, who will be deepening their awareness and transforming their leadership approach in Cork this September at the Silver Springs Hotel. Enrollment for the September cohort is now full, but we encourage you to secure your spot for the Spring 2026 cohort. Prioritising the programme dates has been one of the biggest wins for this cohort by clearing space in their calendars, they are fully embracing this opportunity to grow as leaders.
The first three days of the Lead With Coaching Certification Programme have already brought powerful insights, including how our participants have embraced the questions and challenges that evoke deeper awareness. Here are a few reflections from our cohort:
“This programme has forced me to rethink how I approach my team. The space for reflection and the questions I’ve been asked have really shifted my perspective.”
“The awareness I’ve gained about my leadership style and the dynamics I create with my team has been invaluable. I feel much more equipped to lead with clarity and purpose.”
As we move into Q4 and look ahead to 2026, consider these reflective questions:
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How might deepening your awareness help you and your team thrive in 2026?
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What patterns are you noticing in your leadership or team dynamics that could benefit from a fresh perspective?
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What beliefs might be holding you or your team back from reaching new heights?
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How can you make space for insight and growth in your leadership journey?
If you’re ready to take your leadership to the next level and deepen your awareness, I invite you to enroll in the Lead With Coaching 'Coaching for Leaders' Programme and step confidently into 2026 with clarity, confidence, and a coaching mindset.
📩 Enroll Now: Lead With Coaching Foundation Programme or CLICK https://scheduler.zoom.us/rachel-dungan/lci to book a 30-minute call with Rachel Dungan, LCI Director of Education.
🛠️ Professional Development Opportunities
Evoking awareness is not just a coaching skill. It’s a leadership posture.
It’s the art of making space for clarity, noticing patterns, questioning assumptions, and opening up new ways forward.
The opportunities below are designed to support you in doing just that—whether you're preparing for review, leading through complexity, or seeking greater alignment in your work and life.
Each offering creates a reflective space where awareness can emerge, insight can flourish, and lasting impact can unfold.
🧭 Book a 90-Minute Strategy Session
When you're in the thick of decision-making or transition, it can be hard to see clearly. This focused session helps you slow down, make sense of what’s unfolding, and identify what’s true and possible now.
🤝 Enquire about 1:1 Coaching for Healthcare and Business Leaders
Leadership can be isolating—especially when you feel pressure to have the answers. Coaching creates a space where powerful questions reveal what lies beneath the surface, and where new ways forward can take shape.
🎓 Lead With Coaching Certificate & Diploma for Leaders and their Teams
Want to bring deeper awareness into your organisation? This programme equips you to lead with presence, listen beneath the surface, and create environments where people grow. Autumn 2025 and Spring 2026 cohorts now enrolling. CLICK https://scheduler.zoom.us/rachel-dungan/lci to book a 30-minute call with Rachel Dungan, LCI Director of Education.
📋 Independent Pharmacy Assessment System Reviews for Irish Pharmacies
If you're preparing for a QMS or IPAS review, it’s easy to default to reactive mode. This service helps you take a step back, see the big picture, and engage the process with clarity, calm, and confidence.
📝 CPD Mentoring for Pharmacists
If you received your PSI ePortfolio Review notification recently, you are not alone. This structured, supportive process helps you reflect with intention, align your learning with practice, and complete your submission with purpose—not panic.
🎯 ICF Mentor Coaching for Coaches
Whether you're applying for your first credential or preparing to renew, these sessions help you refine your coaching presence and develop your capacity to evoke awareness with greater confidence and skill.
🪞 Reflective Practice Super-Vision for 1:1 and Team Coaches
Super-vision is not about critique—it’s about insight. This safe, reflective space enables you to examine your coaching patterns, assumptions, and inner responses, allowing you to show up more fully for those you serve.
🔗 Stay Connected Beyond the Newsletter
The conversation doesn’t end here. Join me across platforms where I share practical insights, reflective prompts, and a behind-the-scenes look at leadership, coaching, and professional development in real time.
📍 LCI LinkedIn Page – Follow the Lead With Coaching Institute for programme updates and community inspiration.
💼 Rachel Dungan on LinkedIn – Connect with me directly for thought leadership, professional reflections, and networking.
📘 Facebook – Follow for coaching reflections, upcoming offerings, and conversations that matter.
📸 Instagram – Connect for visual inspiration, quotes, and moments from the coaching journey.
📍 Google My Business – Explore ways to collaborate or leave a review to help others find the right support.
Let’s keep the momentum going—your next insight might be one post away.
💬 Final Reflection
Insight doesn’t shout.
It whispers in moments of reflection, honesty, and unexpected clarity.
As we explored this month, evoking awareness is about helping others see what they could not see before not by telling, but by inviting, not by pushing, but by pausing.
In your leadership, your conversations, and your coaching, may you continue to ask the questions that open new paths, challenge assumptions, and honour the wisdom already within.
At the end of September, you will receive your Q3 quarterly review newsletter and next month, we’ll focus on the ICF Core Competency Facilitates Client Growth the bridge between insight and meaningful action.
Until then:
Notice observantly.
Question wisely.
And honour the moments that shift everything.
Warmest wishes,
Rachel
The Pharmacist Coach
Also, not sure what kind of support would help most right now? Email me at rachel@racheldungan.com, and we’ll figure it out together.
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