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The essential point
Coaching is a professional development service. It is not medical care, psychotherapy, diagnosis or treatment. Alexandra’s medical experience informs her understanding of healthcare context; she does not act as the participant’s doctor within a coaching engagement.
Last updated 26 July 2026.
Why this page exists
Alexandra Baker is both a practicing physician and an executive coach. That combination is the reason organizations engage the practice, and it is also the reason this boundary has to be stated explicitly rather than assumed. Holding a medical qualification does not mean a coaching relationship is a clinical one. It is not, and it is not intended to become one.
What a coaching engagement is
Coaching is a structured professional development service commissioned to improve leadership capability. It works on live organizational challenges: influence, decision-making, delegation, stakeholder relationships, executive presence, team effectiveness and sustainable performance in the role. Progress is reviewed against objectives agreed with the sponsoring organization and the participant at the outset.
What a coaching engagement is not
- It is not medical assessment, diagnosis or treatment.
- It is not psychotherapy, counselling or any form of mental-health treatment.
- It is not a clinical opinion on the participant’s health, fitness to practice, or fitness to work.
- It is not a substitute for care from the participant’s own physician or from a licensed mental-health professional.
- It is not occupational-health assessment, and it produces no clinical record.
No doctor—patient relationship is created by engaging The Wider Scope, by participating in coaching, or by using this website.
Where coaching is not the right intervention
Sometimes what presents as a leadership difficulty is, on closer examination, a health matter. Where that becomes apparent, the professional response is a referral rather than an extension of scope. Alexandra will say clearly that coaching is not the appropriate intervention and will suggest that the participant seek support from their own physician or an appropriately qualified practitioner. She will not attempt to treat it, and she will not simply continue coaching around it.
Where an organization commissions coaching in place of clinical or occupational-health support that a person actually needs, that will be raised with the sponsor.
Urgent situations
Nothing on this website and nothing in a coaching engagement is a route to urgent clinical help. Do not use the enquiry form, email or a coaching session to raise an urgent health matter.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency service. In the United States, call 911. For mental-health crisis support in the United States, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
If you are outside the United States, use your own local emergency number. In the United Kingdom that is 999, or 111 for urgent but non-emergency medical advice.
No guaranteed outcomes
Coaching outcomes depend on the participant, the organization and the context. The practice does not guarantee promotion, retention, financial return or any specific business result, and describes the forms of progress engagements are designed to produce rather than promising results.
Assessment instruments
Where the Hogan 360° instrument or the MBTI is used, it is used for development. Neither is a clinical instrument. The MBTI describes preference rather than capability and is not used to diagnose, select, or predict leadership performance or suitability.
Professional standards
Alexandra practices in line with the ICF Core Competencies and Code of Ethics. The site describes her practice as aligned with those standards; it does not claim an ICF credential.
Website content
Articles published on this website are general professional commentary. They are not advice for any specific person or organization, and they are not medical advice. Acting on general commentary without considering your own circumstances is unwise; where the stakes are material, take proper advice.