About

Hello!

I’m James Farrell, a warm, curious, and genuine coach and environmentalist. I do good things for people and Nature.

Here’s a brief summary of my career and what I offer.

My coaching draws on a long career as a senior leader in the environment sector – as an executive responsible for multi-million pound budgets and hundreds of staff; as a programme lead for national change initiatives; and as someone who has always been interested in people as much – if not more – than outcomes.

I began to pivot away from corporate life in 2019, and – as of February 2026 – work full time at my businesses The Natural Coaching Company and The Human Nature Partnership. This is the work I love to do – helping people grow in confidence and happiness, and take action for themselves, their communities, and the planet.

Clients I have enjoyed working so far have included leaders and staff in major blue-chip and listed companies; growing tech firms; Founders and small business owners; and public and third sector clients including NHS Trusts, Natural England, Microbiology Society, iSealAlliance, and central Government. I also do associate work for the global tech sector through Modern Health, and I coach individuals – especially those with neurodevelopmental differences or mental health needs.

I have developed and delivered training, speaking and engagement for bodies including TEDx, Defra, Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management, Climate Coaching Alliance and Greenpeace. I now lead The Natural Coaching Course^TM, which is accredited with the International Coaching Federation.

A ‘natural history’

Here’s a longer version – what I call my ‘natural history’.

Long before I knew what coaching was, I was being coached by Nature. Born in Australia, I grew up in London where, as a child, I looked after rescued wildlife and kept a menagerie of terrapins, snakes and stick insects. I found fascination in the spiders along the school walls and the tiny lives in the garden soil. I believed these creatures and I shared an understanding, and could communicate with one another!  

Having failed to get into medical school, I returned to my love of Nature through a degree in biology. I specialised in animal ecology: how behaviour and relationships shape communities and ecosystems. My early years as a budding conservationist brought moments I’ll never forget: quiet Sunday mornings as warden of a tiny inner-London nature reserve after the nightclubs had emptied; freezing in a bird hide in Scotland, patiently recording the identification numbers on the legs of thousands of barnacle geese; hours on a wet coastline in Shetland, scanning for harbour porpoises to study; and long days in the steaming Borneo rainforest, catching and releasing brilliantly coloured birds from our nets.

Most powerful of all in this period of my career was managing Noss, a small island in Shetland, home to tens of thousands of seabirds. The sounds, the smells, the sheer vitality of life there was a deeply spiritual experience – proving me with a profound sense of peace, calm and connectedness I’ve sought ever since (though I was nearly ‘lost at sea’!).

In my fifties, I discovered, without much surprise to my family, that I have ADHD. The constant drive, distractibility and emotional sensitivity that come with the condition have shaped much of my life. Nature, I now realise, has always been my source – helping me regulate, find focus, be creative, and connect to something larger than myself. I’ve always wanted to give back in return.

Coaching came later, as part of my evolution as a manager and leader. In 2016, during my first formal session as a newly qualified coach, I found myself walking with a client along a shingle beach in West Sussex. A lightbulb came on: it was possible to combine the power of coaching with the power of natural places.

Since then, my drive to work with the natural world in coaching has come from three sources: the urgent reality of ecological and climate breakdown; a wish to spend more of my life connected with Nature and helping others do the same; and a belief that coaching as a profession can, and should, contribute more to the wellbeing of people and planet.

Before turning fully to coaching, my environmental career took me through the worlds of conservation, public policy and organisational change. I learned the principles of systems thinking and change management, built multi-sector partnerships, and led programmes for culture change, inclusion and sustainability. Those experiences deepened my understanding of how to work with – and for – people across cultures and systems. And they strengthened my conviction that lasting change depends on healthy relationships.

By the late 2010s I felt the pull back to the Earth. I spent several years learning about the science linking Nature and human health, and in 2019 co-founded The Human Nature Partnership, the first consultancy dedicated to creating nature-connected organisations. I developed the first chartered training on the science of nature and health in the UK, supported organisations from the NHS to large corporates build nature into their strategies, engagement and estates. And published my first book ‘Being in Nature: 20 Practices to Help You Flourish in a Busy World (2021)’, which spoke to these experiences. That same year I founded The Natural Coaching Company, aiming to ‘grow natural leaders’ through coaching and training.

Today my coaching work supporting clients from a range of backgrounds and sectors – including adults with ADHD – to connect with themselves, their purpose, and the planet. And I am thrilled to be able to share my learning with others, through accredited coach training in nature based coaching skills.

Roles

• Director, The Natural Coaching Company
• Founding Partner, The Human Nature Partnership
• Fellow Coach and Mental Health Coach, Modern Health
• Support Group Lead, ADHDUK
• Founder, Brighton & Hove Building Green

Qualifications

• Advanced Executive Accredited Coach (Universal Coaching Alliance)
• Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation)
• Chartered Environmentalist (Chartered Institute Ecology & Environmental Management)
• Diploma in Professional Coaching Skills (Coaching Development Ltd)
• Accredited Award in ADHD coaching (Association for Coaching)
• ADHD – Key Knowledge and Skills for Effective Biopsychosocial Intervention (Association for Psychological Therapies, Level 2)
• Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice (Kings College London)
• Mental Health Coach (Modern Health)
• Certificate in Science of Happiness (University of California, Berkeley)
• Certificate in Mind Management Skills for Life (Chimp Management Ltd)
• Certificate in Self Determination Theory (University of Rochester)
• Certificate in Lean Thinking Knowledge & Practice (Cardiff University)
• MSc Nature Conservation (University College London)

Registrations

• Professional Member, Universal Coaching Alliance
• Member, International Coaching Federation
• Corporate Member, Association for Coaching
• Member, Association for Psychological Therapies
• Member, Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management
• Member, Society for the Environment

Links

• Book – ‘Being in Nature – 20 practices to help you flourish in a busy world’
• TEDx Talk – Let Nature Be Your Coach – TEDx
• Film – Great Green Wall of Brighton – Film for LatestTV
• Personal writing – War of Nature