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Law, life coaching and the breath between

How Dr Kate Cashman built a career from the “two parts of her personality.”

Alumnus Dr Kate Cashman has two unlikely passions that work surprisingly well together: law and life coaching.

It was Dr Cashman’s experience being coached while completing her PhD in Law at the University of Tasmania that led her towards creating her own coaching business, The Breath Between.

 “I needed to get over that mental hurdle of not feeling ready. The coaching completely transformed everything.

The conversations I had with my coach were extraordinary, and that's when I realised that starting a business in that area was going to be the best fit for me.

Dr Cashman obtained certification and The Breath Between was born to help other busy professionals gain the clarity and calm that she benefited from.

Dr Cashman and a consultant colleague recently ran Work+Life x, an event to help professionals reimagine their work/life experience.

“It was amazing. We had academics, we had professionals, we had great speakers. It was really incredible.”

Dr Cashman spends 50 per cent of her time teaching law students at the University and students at the police academy

I get this interesting combination of academic work and this personal work that is so different, but it's really complementary for me.

While law and life coaching might seem worlds apart, for Dr Cashman they’re the perfect combination - and there are quite a few helpful crossovers.

“I always felt that I had two parts of my personality anyway. When I was first deciding on uni, it was either a law degree or being a masseuse!

“I use the coaching skills in the law work more and more in the ways that I communicate with students.

“Through coaching I learnt deep listening and active listening; asking people questions rather than answering questions for them.

If students come to me now in my office and they're struggling or they have questions, I’m able to use the active listening skills that I have in coaching to explore what's going on if they feel stuck or if they are lacking confidence.

Dr Cashman said the writing skills she honed throughout her academic study are always very useful, particularly now she is working on her first book.

“Being a lecturer and having done a lot of group work in my undergraduate degree really helped me with public speaking. I'm now speaking on stages, at workshops and in businesses regularly,” she said.

My law study helps with everything. Even if I hadn't started a business, the skills that it gave me were just amazing.

Find out more about studying Law at the University of Tasmania.