Sima Gatea

Coaching & Facilitation for people working towards change

As a coach, facilitator and social entrepreneur myself, I believe that the impact we have externally, in our projects, personal circles and larger communities, is directly influenced by our level of wellbeing internally. Since co-founding SINGA, a non-profit in the field of migration and inclusion, I have been fascinated by and committed to supporting people to reflect, act and learn from a place of authenticity, conscious intention and wellbeing.I offer all my services in English, French and German.

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Coaching

I use a blended approach of classic Transformative Coaching methods as well as Compassionate Inquiry, a psycho-somatic therapy method created by Dr. Gabor Maté. With this, I am trained to hold spaces of attunement - meaning that I am able to show up for you from a place of present awareness, warm-heartedness and a regulated nervous system, allowing us to create safety through co-regulation.
This kind of space, together with my sharp questions and genuine deep listening enables people to feel seen, heard and held. Together, we will explore your questions, doubts and wishes, uncovering what is holding you back and supporting you to move forward with what Zen Buddhist Roshi Joan Halifax describes as a, ''strong back, soft front.''

Facilitation

I facilitate warm and engaging learning journeys for teams to connect and collaborate in safety. Themes often include: building awareness and practice around inclusion and belonging, psychological safety, social impact intentions and wellbeing. Next to my years of experience facilitating my own programs with my non-profit SINGA, I also trained in the digital and in-person Network Facilitation Training of ChangemakerXchange - spin-off from Ashoka Germany and Turkey.

Training

I have designed and delivered over one hundred workshops and capacity building formats on topics including: a Transcultural lens on diversity, inclusion and power dynamics, unconscious bias, inclusive language, inclusive program design, co-creation methods, social impact strategy development, systems change theory, collective impact tools.

consulting

I am a great advisor and sparring partner for any entrepreneur, leader or team that wishes to identify, develop and write their social impact strategy and theory of change; their purpose, vision and values statement; and overall, to shift their organisational language and practice from one of Othering to belonging.
I am also a specialist when it comes to strategic and inclusive communications - how to identify which message you want to communicate to whom, why and how.

A glance into my own journey

Having co-founded SINGA Berlin, a leading non-profit in the field of migration and inclusion in Germany, I know how easy it is to lose yourself in the process of building a team, organisation and community for everyone but yourself. I also know the difference between talking and walking the talk. At the United Nations in Geneva, I spoke about the power of belonging. At the Obama Foundation, I proposed to President Barack Obama, that global peace can only stem from inner peace and asked him whether there was space for mindfulness in global politics (I guess we have our answer). All this to say, that I brought my questions to the highest stages and yet I struggled to apply these values to my own life. I learned the hard way about the consequences of prioritising work and impact over my own health. Unaware of my own boundaries, being emotionally attached and having unattainable expectations of myself, I ultimately experienced burnout, anxiety and depression. Naturally, this affected the wellbeing of our team, the sustainability of our impact and ultimately my own quality of life. This led me to engage in a deep process of introspection, contemplation and healing. My trainings in programs like the Dalai Lama Fellowship, Transformative Coaching, Compassionate Inquiry and Sufi Psychology have all contributed to my own awareness building and healing journey and I feel called to share this with others.

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Short and sweet biography

Some of the earliest themes that influenced my life included questions around identity, home and belonging. I grew up in Toronto, Canada with German-Iraqi roots. As the only mixed one in my family, I always felt a bit different. Code switching became my mother tongue and later drew me to do a Master's in Transcultural Studies at the University of Heidelberg. There, I started my community building work, exploring how to create spaces of belonging, bringing together newcomers and locals that had so much in common but would never meet. When I co-founded SINGA in Berlin, we brought this community building and narrative change around migration and diversity to a higher level. After creating nation-wide capacity building programs on unconscious bias and inclusive mindsets, leaders that I was training in the field told me I had a coaching style. This is what led me to first explore the world of coaching and later healing, through my work with the Dalai Lama Fellowship and Compassionate Inquiry. I am now merging worlds, uniting the forces of community, healing and belonging. My dream is for more people to create spaces of belonging for others, from a space of belonging within.

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