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Interview

Career coaching for career uncertainty: Hannah Ray on work identity, self-trust and career change in professionals (2026)

Career change coaching with Hannah Ray at Take Coaching helps English-speaking professionals in Amsterdam or online explore career uncertainty, work identity and career change. Her core principle is to step back from outside expectations and examine what the client values, their strengths and what they want from life.

Interview Emilie SporreAmsterdam4 min
Photo of the practitioner in their practice

**A useful career decision may begin not with choosing the next job, but with examining whose expectations have shaped the choice.**

Hannah Ray is a life, career and business coach at Take Coaching in Amsterdam, working in English online and in person. In conversation with basispsycholoog Emilie Sporre, she explains how persistent career doubt can open questions about values, self-belief and identity, and why her role is not to choose a direction for the client.

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The conversation · 4 minutes

In 30 seconds
Who
Hannah Ray is a life, career and business coach at Take Coaching in Amsterdam. She works in English, online and in person.
Registration
Hannah is not a BIG-registered healthcare provider and uses no protected healthcare title.
For whom
Her coaching is aimed at people questioning a long-held career, considering change or trying to understand how work connects with identity and self-trust.
Method
She steps back from external expectations and explores the client's own values, strengths, preferred future and definition of success.
Why the wider view fits
Thuisarts states that work and private life influence each other, supporting a view of work questions within their wider life context.
Her core line
“Most of my coaching is actually about your identity and your sense of self-trust and self-belief.”
The practitioner

Who is Hannah Ray?

Hannah Ray works as a life, career and business coach through Take Coaching in Amsterdam. She previously worked as an advertising strategist, a background she says now informs the strategic side of her coaching.

Hannah states that she completed ICF-certified life and business coach training with Barefoot Coaching in 2021. She also lists training in relational self-awareness, CBT tools for coaches, Mental Health First Aid, guided visualisation, and advanced yoga and therapeutic yoga teaching. These are Hannah's stated certifications and training, not BIG healthcare qualifications.

Hannah is not a BIG-registered healthcare provider, works alongside rather than instead of the GP or specialist, and uses no protected healthcare title. Take Coaching has a complaints procedure, but there is no independent disciplinary route through BIG, RBCZ or SKJ; the first route is the practice itself.

Her foundation is person-centred rather than prescriptive. Hannah describes listening closely, asking questions and introducing frameworks for the client to test rather than presenting a ready-made answer. Her practice profile also states that she has monthly supervision and maintains a boundary between coaching and mental health therapy.

Beneath the decision

Career uncertainty can also be a question of identity

Hannah describes a familiar starting point: someone has remained in a career for years, perhaps changing roles along the way, while a quiet doubt keeps returning. Her first move is not to assume that the person should resign. She steps back from the immediate decision and looks at the expectations beneath it.

That opens broader questions. What does success mean to this person? Do they agree with the expectations they have inherited? What do they value, where are their strengths, and how do they want life to feel in the next few years? In Hannah's account, a career question can therefore also concern self-belief, self-trust and identity within a role.

This relationship is complementary rather than oppositional: coaching can support reflection and choice, while healthcare and occupational-health professionals retain their own roles. Thuisarts advises contacting an occupational physician about work-related solutions and a GP when stress does not improve or symptoms worsen.

Source: Thuisarts: when work negatively affects private life

Emilie

Is it mainly related to work, like expectations from work?

Hannah

“I position myself as a life coach, career coach and business coach, which is the kind of top-line category. But I think most of my coaching is actually about your identity and your sense of self-trust and self-belief.”

The questions she names

The building blocks Hannah uses to explore a career decision

Hannah describes a sequence of reflective questions, not a fixed programme. It moves from loosening the grip of outside expectations to clarifying the client's own view of a worthwhile life.

Hannah

“Rather than thinking, what should I be doing, or what are my expectations of where I'm meant to be successful, what I'm meant to do, we take it back inwards.”

  1. [1]
    Step back from the immediate choice

    Pause the pressure to decide what one should do or what success is supposed to look like.

  2. [2]
    Examine expectations

    Ask what the client expects from life and whether those expectations actually fit.

  3. [3]
    Name strengths and values

    Explore what the person values and what strengths they bring, rather than starting with a prescribed job title.

  4. [4]
    Look a few years ahead

    Consider how the client wants life to be in the next few years. The answer may inform whether they stay, change roles or pursue a different direction.

Methodology

This article is based on one recorded conversation of 4 minutes between Emilie Sporre and Hannah Ray on 17 September 2026. Quoted statements are verbatim from that transcript, with light punctuation cleanup; screened reformulations appear outside quotation marks as indirect speech. The guideline reference was added afterwards and verified against the listed sources. Described outcomes are reported practice experience, not study results.

Work and self

“What's my relationship with work? But ultimately that's saying: what's my relationship with myself, and who am I in this role?”

Hannah Ray
What clients value

Feeling heard, with room for a practical framework

Hannah says the feedback she hears most often is that clients feel listened to, heard and seen. She links that experience to an approach in which she pays close attention, asks questions and then offers a strategic framework as something to consider, not an instruction.

Her strategist background matters here because it adds structure without deciding for the client. The aim, as Hannah describes it, is to create enough space for the person to regain ownership of their thinking and choices.

Emilie

What kind of feedback do you receive from your clients, what they really appreciate in the way you work?

Hannah

“It's more, I think, a balance of intuitively really seeing someone and tuning into them and asking insightful questions, but then also balancing that with, I've got a background as a strategist, so very strategic, and actually going, well, here's some frameworks. How does that feel?”

Before choosing

Should I see a career coach if I do not know whether to stay or leave?

Hannah's approach may fit when the uncertainty itself is the starting point. She does not describe coaching as a process that pushes everyone toward a career switch. The work can instead examine the standards you are using, the life you want, and whether your present role still fits.

A free 10 to 15-minute introductory chat can help you assess the fit. A discounted first try-out session is also offered, and worksheets are required before the full intake. Start with Hannah's Carefinder profile. You can then visit the Take Coaching website or email hannah@takecoachingamsterdam.nl.

Portrait of the practitioner
On Carefinder

Hannah Ray

Not BIG-registered

Works alongside and not instead of your GP, psychologist or specialist.

Hannah Ray is an ICF-certified therapeutic life, career and business coach in Amsterdam. She holds space for thoughtful humans who are questioning or re-thinking what success looks and feels like. Common themes are around self belief, self trust, finding meaning and balance in work and life, making choices in uncertainty, and self-leadership. She works primarily in English, with founders, leaders, international expats and young adults navigating confusion, change or choice in life, career or business (or a holistic blend of all 3). She offers a gentle yet firm, tailored approach (rather than a set roadmap) with the intention to create space for you to take back ownership of your own ideas, needs, dreams, identity, self-trust, strengths and agency. She leverages a blend of training and experience in integrative and person-centered coaching, evidence-based frameworks including CBT tools for coaching, Gestalt techniques, positive psychology, somatic methods, and mindfulness practices, as well as a high-level past career as an advertising strategist. Alongside 1:1 individual work, Hannah offers group coaching - TEND Circles for Founders or Leaders, wellbeing at work workshops for corporates or events, focusing on areas such as career transitions, leadership development, burnout prevention, work-life balance, brand strategy (business or personal), and emotional resilience. She maintains professional standards through monthly supervision (ICF and EMCC) and a clear ethical boundary between coaching and mental health therapy.

career uncertaintywork identitycareer change
View profiletakecoachingamsterdam.nl
Practical answers

Frequently asked questions

Does career coaching with Hannah Ray replace my GP or specialist?

No. Hannah is a coach, not a BIG-registered healthcare provider. Her work can support reflection about work, identity and choices, but it does not replace assessment or care from a GP, occupational physician or specialist. Contact the appropriate healthcare professional when stress persists, symptoms worsen or you need medical or mental healthcare.

Is Hannah Ray BIG-registered?

No. Hannah Ray is not BIG-registered and does not use a protected healthcare title. She works as a life, career and business coach. Her stated coaching and related training should not be read as a BIG healthcare qualification.

Where can I go with a complaint about Hannah Ray?

Take Coaching has a complaints procedure. There is no independent disciplinary route through BIG, RBCZ or SKJ; the first route is the practice itself. Ask Take Coaching for the current procedure and contact details if you want to raise a concern.

Who is Take Coaching for?

Hannah works primarily in English with founders, leaders, international residents and young adults navigating change or choice in life, career or business. The interview particularly describes people who have spent a long time in a career but keep wondering whether it is still right for them.

What is the difference between Hannah's coaching and therapy?

Hannah's coaching focuses on reflection, values, strengths, self-trust and choices in life or work. It does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions. Hannah's practice profile states that she maintains an ethical boundary between coaching and mental health therapy, and her coaching should run alongside rather than replace appropriate healthcare.

Will Hannah tell me to leave my job?

No. Hannah describes stepping back from the pressure to decide and examining your expectations, values, strengths and preferred future. In her account, some people reconsider their existing work while others consider a change. The direction remains the client's decision.

Can I meet Hannah online or in Amsterdam?

Yes. Take Coaching offers coaching online and in person in Amsterdam, in English. A free 10 to 15-minute introductory chat and a discounted first try-out session are offered. Pre-session worksheets are required for the full intake.

Colophon

Hannah Ray

life, career and business coach

Hannah Ray runs Take Coaching in Amsterdam and works in English online and in person. She states that she completed ICF-certified coach training and additional training in relational self-awareness, coaching tools and guided visualisation. She is not a BIG-registered healthcare provider.

Emilie Sporre

basispsycholoog and interviewer

Emilie Sporre is a basispsycholoog and co-founder of Stories. She interviewed Hannah about career uncertainty, identity, client feedback and the relational choices Hannah makes during coaching.

Medical disclaimer

This article is informative and not medical advice. If you have complaints, contact your GP or specialist. It is not a replacement for diagnosis or treatment in regular care.

About Carefinder

Carefinder matches people with verified psychologists and therapists in the Netherlands. We do not treat; we help you find the right care provider. Carefinder is an initiative of Stories.

Sources · 1 references
  1. Thuisarts, “Mijn werk heeft een negatieve invloed op mijn privé-leven”, last updated 13 October 2025
Full transcript of the conversation

someone coming in who has who is maybe in a career that they've been in for a very long time

but they've always had this niggle that's been this little whisper inside that's like

is this is this right and they've maybe changed roles they've maybe even changed careers a little

bit but they've got to a point where they are it just becomes they can't they can't ignore this

anymore it starts to maybe even become physical like there's just this feeling of i can't continue

ignoring this um and so then we've spent a lot of time kind of stepping back from that and going

okay rather than thinking what should i be doing or what are my expectations of where i'm meant to

be successful what i'm meant to do um we take it back inwards and we say okay what do you actually

like what are your expectations from life do you like those expectations what are your strengths

what do you um value and and also just how do you want your life to be in the next few years

so yeah it's really we step back ask those questions and sometimes people will just go

back into the work they were doing actually um and just feel more confident or trust themselves

more or have more balance sometimes it will give them that permission to actually listen to

themselves and take a bit of a leap and maybe start their own business or switch careers

um but i'd say the main transition is that they re-enter their relationship with work and it's

almost like this new chapter in their relationship with work yeah yeah is it mainly related to work

like expectations from work or is it also for example when uh when a woman goes through a

transition when she becomes a mother for example or is it always in your sessions related to

like the mother related to work for example well it is a good question because i position myself

as a life coach career coach and business coach which is the kind of top line category but i think

most of my coaching is actually about your identity and your sense of self-trust and

self-belief because yeah it's it's what's my relationship with work but ultimately that's

saying what's my relationship with myself and who am i in this role yeah makes so much sense yeah

yeah yeah and what do you like what kind of feedback do you receive from your clients what

they really appreciate in the way you work i'd say a big one is i get a lot of feedback that

people really feel listened to and heard and that i have a bit i kind of hold the space so it's it's

not me telling them actually no that's not one but it's more it's more i think a balance of

intuitively like really seeing someone and tuning into them and asking insightful questions

but then also balancing that with i mean i've got a background as a strategist so very strategic

and actually going well here's some frameworks like how does that feel so um yeah i'd say the

biggest one is just i think people feel really seen and that gives them space to then take back

ownership of their own yeah yeah yeah and last question but is there a specific moment in a

session what really has stayed with you i think something that stays with me and it's happened a

few times is when i have a realization in a session that i'm that i may be seeing something

of myself in someone else and i think as a coach when you see those moments and can then

step back and go oh am i asking this from my place and is that useful to put that on the table

or can i actually put myself in a different position to ask you a question that is more

in service of you i think that and that's a skill i'm quite open with with my clients and i've had

moments with my clients where i go oh this is bringing this up in me and but what's that

bringing up in you is this me is this you so it's it's quite a i'd say it's quite a relational

approach in that way um

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