COACHING | Barefoot Coaching and Counselling

Jo Ryan

Coaching with

learning together

Coaching.

Coaching at Barefoot Coaching & Counselling is a supportive and forward-focused process designed to help you create meaningful change in your life. It provides a space to gain clarity, explore what’s really important to you, and move beyond the patterns, beliefs, or habits that may be holding you back. Jo Ryan works alongside you to help strengthen self-awareness, confidence, and direction, while supporting you to set and achieve goals that feel aligned and purposeful.

Coaching is not about being told what to do - it’s about uncovering your own answers, building momentum, and creating the mindset and strategies needed to move toward the life you want.

Performance Coaching.

Jo has worked with a local football club for 9 years, supporting the leadership group, playing team and individuals through sessions focused on peak performance, resilience and mindfulness strategies both on and off the field. As Wellbeing Director for more than 200 footballers and netballers aged 17-35, Jo developed and facilitated wellbeing programs designed to support both personal growth and optimal sporting performance. Individual sessions assisted athletes with confidence and mindset while competing, anxiety surrounding upcoming finals, recovering from traumatic injury, motivation and a range of personal and sporting challenges.

Jo also facilitated weekly meditation sessions and reflective meetings to help players identify strengths, improve performance and develop a stronger mindset for each game. Techniques incorporated visualisation, meditation and mindfulness, positive psychology, Heartmath and Clinical EFT.

Life Coaching.

Life Coaching at Barefoot Coaching & Counselling is designed to support people in creating meaningful change, personal growth, and greater alignment in their lives. Coaching helps bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be by exploring the beliefs, fears, habits, and patterns that may be holding you back from living fully and authentically.

A large part of personal transformation begins with understanding your values - the things that truly matter to you. Our values shape the decisions we make every day, and those decisions ultimately influence the direction of our lives. Through coaching, Jo Ryan works alongside clients to uncover what is most important to them, gain clarity around their goals, and create supportive, realistic strategies to move forward with confidence and purpose.

Life coaching can support people to:

Gain clarity, direction, and momentum
Set meaningful goals and stay accountable
Build confidence and self-awareness
Navigate stress and overwhelm
Create healthier work/life balance
Explore purpose and personal fulfilment
Develop positive habits and mindset shifts
Create a business or pursue new opportunities
Understand behaviours, emotions, and patterns more deeply
Live a more balanced, intentional, and fulfilling life

Each coaching journey is personalised, supportive, and focused on helping you reconnect with your strengths, values, and the life you truly want to create.

What Clients Say

The meditation program being delivered to our cohort has added immeasurable value to the playing group from both an on field and off field perspective. I’ve received several comments from individuals who now feel they are equipped with the skills to address their mental health struggles and I can equivocally say that our weekly practice has removed the stigmas in opening up through difficult times. One of the proudest moments was coming into our half time huddle and seeing the players through their own initiative meditating to rebalance themselves for the remainder of the game. We are extremely grateful to Jo Ryan who has been a fantastic Wellbeing Mentor and the boys are truly lucky to have access to this platform on a regular basis.

~ Tom

Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan

BELIEVE

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao Tzu

Techniques Used.

At Barefoot Coaching & Counselling, a range of evidence-informed techniques are used to support mental clarity, emotional regulation, and peak performance. These approaches are tailored to each individual, helping you develop stronger self-awareness, resilience, and focus in both life and performance settings.

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) / Tapping

EFT is a modern mind–body technique often described as “acupuncture without needles.” It is increasingly used by elite athletes across sports such as baseball, the NFL, and golf to help improve performance under pressure. See further information - https://www.evidencebasedeft.com/sport

EFT works by helping to release emotional stress, anxiety, and mental blocks that may be impacting confidence, focus, or performance. It supports a sense of calm, balance, and emotional freedom so you can perform at your best. You can learn more about EFT under Modalities.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is widely used in elite sport, including the AFL and NBA, to enhance focus and performance under pressure. It teaches the ability to stay fully present in the moment, rather than becoming distracted by past mistakes or future worries. When the mind is anchored in the present, performance becomes clearer, more consistent, and more controlled. Mindfulness helps you develop awareness of your thoughts without being driven by them, allowing you to respond rather than react.

Together, these techniques provide practical, effective tools to strengthen mindset, improve emotional regulation, and support consistent high-level performance.

Benefits of Meditation in
Sports Performance.

Meditation is increasingly used by elite athletes as a tool to strengthen mental performance, build resilience, and support consistency under pressure. By training the mind to stay present and calm, athletes are better able to respond to high-stakes moments with clarity rather than reactivity.

Key benefits include:

Increased focus and reduced stress
Greater emotional stability and reduced impact of negative thoughts
Strengthened immune system and improved sleep quality
Improved ability to cope with pain, fear, and performance anxiety
Enhanced mental recovery after setbacks, losses, or poor performances
Improved ability to create calm quickly in high-pressure situations

Elite athletes who have incorporated meditation into their performance routines include Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, highlighting its value at the highest level of sport.

For further insight into how mindfulness and meditation are being used in elite sport, see articles and resources shared through AFL players’ wellbeing and performance education platforms.

Free
Guide

A simple guide to listening to the wisdom of the heart

Jo Ryan from Barefoot Coaching & Counselling shares her
gentle reflection and practice for returning
to the heart and opening to gratitude