Coaching as a Counterspace: Extending the Conceptual Counterspace Framework to Workplace Coaching for Individuals with Concealable Stigmatised Identities

Individuals with concealable stigmatised identities (CSIs), which are identities not perceivable to others, face workplace consequences, including limited career development, isolation, discrimination and stereotyping, which may constrain disclosure. Such experiences can contribute to the workplace being experienced as oppressive. Despite this, organisations may overlook CSIs within equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, including coaching programmes. Findings from a constructivist grounded theory study demonstrate how coaching can function as a counterspace in which deficit-based narratives can be challenged, enabling adaptive responding to oppression. This research has valuable implications for coaches, coach educators and organisations, and provides practical guidance to support inclusion for individuals with CSIs through coaching.