FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We work with humanitarian and development professionals, organizations, teams, and leaders across the globe. Our clients include practitioners in crisis-affected areas, donor agencies, researchers, senior leaders, and staff care teams — all of whom are committed to making meaningful impact without burning out in the process.

We offer:

• Individual and group coaching

• Team coaching and leadership development

• Organizational consulting for staff care, culture, and well-being

• Psychosocial support for individuals and teams navigating stress, burnout, or trauma

We also offer customized workshops, trainings, and retreats by request.

Our consulting services are designed to help organizations create environments where people can do meaningful work without sacrificing their health or humanity. This might include:

• Developing or strengthening staff care and well-being strategies

• Facilitating team coaching or leadership retreats

• Designing psychosocial support systems for crisis or emergency contexts

• Creating toolkits, guidance, or internal capacity-building materials

We tailor each engagement to your specific needs and organizational culture.

The Olive Pages began as a quiet idea in the margins—notes I was scribbling between meetings, during long walks, or in the early hours before work. I needed somewhere to put everything I was carrying. A place to hold the stories, quiet questions, and patterns I kept seeing over and over again in the humanitarian and helping professions. The weight of caring—about people, about justice, about work that matters—and the toll it can take. The ache of burnout, the longing for integrity, the small, stubborn hope that we can do good without losing ourselves in the process.

The name The Olive Pages came later, but once it arrived, it felt just right.

Olives are ancient, resilient, complicated little fruits–and deeply symbolic. Across cultures, they represent peace, healing, endurance, and return. Olives remind me of the long game. Of things that are bitter and beautiful at once. They grow slowly and only bear fruit after years of careful tending—much like the inner work required to stay whole in work that so often asks us to fragment ourselves. And they don’t give their oil easily. All of that felt… familiar.

I chose “pages” because I wanted this to feel like a journal you might leaf through slowly, not a loud platform or a finished book. Just a collection of reflections and resources to return to when you're feeling tired, tender, or unsure—and in need of something grounding. A place to gather the threads and hopefully give something steady back to others who are walking similar roads.

So The Olive Pages is my way of holding space—for questions without quick answers, for the messy in-between, and for anyone trying to do good without going numb, trying to stay human in systems that sometimes forget what being human even means.

Great question.

• Coaching is a forward-focused process that supports you to clarify your goals, uncover your strengths, and move intentionally toward change.

• Psychosocial support provides a therapeutic, trauma-informed space to process stress, loss, moral injury, or burnout — especially if you’ve experienced overwhelming or high-intensity work.

Both approaches are rooted in deep listening, collaboration, and care — and we’ll help you decide what’s best for your context.

Our first session is always about you. We’ll get clear on what brings you here, explore what’s going on below the surface, and begin mapping a path forward.

There’s no pressure to commit to a full package — but if we decide to continue, we’ll co-create a plan that’s tailored to your needs, goals, and pace.

It depends. Some clients work with us for a few targeted sessions; others continue for several months or longer as part of their ongoing development. We’ll co-create a structure that fits your rhythm, availability, and depth of need.

Not at all. While we support many clients through times of transition or challenge, coaching isn’t just for moments of breakdown — it’s also for growth, renewal, and re-alignment.

Many people come to us because they’re ready to live or lead with more intention. Others are trying to stay grounded in the midst of change. Wherever you are in your journey, we’ll meet you there.

Yes. All of our work is grounded in trauma-informed principles, with a strong focus on psychological safety, boundaries, autonomy, and cultural sensitivity. Kate has specialized training in crisis response, burnout recovery, grief processing, and resilience-building in humanitarian contexts.

We work with care, not intensity — and always at your pace.

We are based in Portugal and work virtually with clients around the world. We’ve partnered with individuals and organizations across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, North America, and Europe.

In-person facilitation and retreats are possible by arrangement.

Yes. We hold strict ethical standards and never share your information without consent. We create safe, confidential spaces — especially for those in sensitive roles or high-responsibility positions.

You can reach out via our Contact Page or click “Book a Consultation” to schedule an initial conversation. We’ll listen, ask a few grounding questions, and recommend next steps based on your needs and goals.

There’s no pressure. Just a space to explore what’s possible.

So glad you asked! We chose this symbol very deliberately, known for it’s many meanings, including:

1. Peace and Restoration

The olive branch has long symbolized peace, dating back to Ancient Greece and the story of Noah in the Bible. In our work, this reflects our mission to create psychological safety, foster relational repair, and support wholeness within fractured systems. We help people and organizations come back to peace — with themselves, with each other, and with their purpose.

2. Resilience and Rootedness

Olive trees are exceptionally resilient — they survive drought, poor soil, fire, and even war-torn landscapes. Their roots run deep, anchoring them even in harsh conditions — and they can regenerate from the stump. Our work centers on sustaining well-being, especially in crisis contexts. We help individuals and systems recover and regenerate from burnout, trauma, and change.

3. Wisdom and Longevity

Olive trees can live for thousands of years, often becoming sacred gathering places. They represent intergenerational wisdom, memory, and quiet strength. We don’t offer quick fixes — we bring slow, thoughtful, enduring transformation.

4. Nourishment and Wholeness

The olive itself offers oil for healing, food for sustenance, and light (traditionally in lamps). It is a symbol of wholeness — body, mind, spirit. Whole Work is about integrated, life-giving well-being. Our work nourishes others and lights a path, especially in dark or uncertain times.

5. Global Presence and Cultural Resonance

Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean, but present in many regions across the Middle East and humanitarian settings — including Palestine, Lebanon, and others we've supported. The olive connects across borders and contexts, just like our work. It honors place-based wisdom, especially in regions affected by conflict or displacement.