How the Women's Wellbeing Lab Compares to Apps and Coaching Programmes

22 hours ago

8 min read

Updated: 11 minutes ago

Woman looking at a tablet using it for something that makes her feel good.

AT A GLANCE: How the Women's Wellbeing Lab compares

Essentials, at £10 a month, offers more than most wellbeing apps: an evidence-based, coach-created resource library and reflection tools across four wellbeing areas, plus the option to book a START Wellbeing Coaching Session whenever it's useful.
Connect & Reflect, at £25 a month, matches the structure of a fixed-length coaching package, £250 for 5 sessions or £500 for 10, but with far more flexibility, plus the full Essentials portal, a bonus coaching session, and the option to add more support.
Guided Growth, at £79 a month, includes monthly 1:1 coaching from Elizabeth, compared with UK one-to-one rates from £50 to £500 an hour, plus the option to add more sessions.
Elizabeth holds a Level 5 Wellness and Resilience Coach qualification, Level 6 training in counselling and CBT, and a Level 7 master's degree in the psychology of mental health and wellbeing, and is an accredited member of the Association for Coaching.

Before choosing the Women's Wellbeing Lab, many women have already been weighing other options: doing this on their own, a self-help book, a short course, waiting to see if things get bad enough to look at therapy, an employer's wellbeing programme, or finding a coach or therapist directly. Wherever you've been looking, the Women's Wellbeing Lab gives you a real place to start: evidence-based, created by an accredited coach, and structured so you can go as deep as is useful, from entirely self-paced tools through to ongoing one-to-one coaching. Depending on the level you choose, it can be directly compared with other formats, such as a wellbeing app, a fixed-length coaching programme, or hiring a coach directly, each shaped differently, priced differently, and suited to different needs.

Essentials Compared with a Wellbeing App

Essentials, at £10 a month, is built for working through this at your own pace, without needing a self-help book, a short course, or the right moment to arrive on its own. The interactive reflection tools give you a space to record your own reflections whenever it suits you, on any device, so there's no journal to find and no waiting for a set time. You choose the moment.

The resource library brings together two kinds of material, both grounded in evidence-based science: Wellbeing Wisdom pieces, which explore a wellbeing area in more depth, and Wellbeing Tools, specific coaching activities set out with an overview, the steps to follow, and the research behind each one. Between them, they bring together what you'd otherwise be piecing together yourself from a self-help book or a short course, all in one place, ready when you are.

The library is grouped into four areas:

Stress and Overwhelm
Change and Resilience
Habits That Stick
Thriving and Growth

So you can go straight to what's relevant right now. Everything is framed around the Women's Wellbeing Lab Method:

Pause
Build clarity
Choose an activity
Keep experimenting and evolving

All with self-compassion, on your own terms, time, energy and budget.

Opening almost any wellbeing app does something valuable on its own: it gives you a moment to pause, and puts your attention onto something that matters to your wellbeing. Every level of the Women's Wellbeing Lab offers that same moment too. The real difference is in the type of support behind it. Many wellbeing apps are built around one delivery format, often passive, learning about your wellbeing and engaging in a single style of activity. Essentials offers the fuller combination already described above: interactive reflection, an evidence-based resource library across four areas, and the WWL Method running through all of it.

Wellbeing apps are also entirely self-directed, with no way to change that. Essentials is self-directed too, but when you want to speak to a person or increase your level of support, that's built in: you can book a START Wellbeing Coaching Session whenever it's useful, or move up to Connect & Reflect or Guided Growth. That option doesn't exist within other wellbeing apps.

Connect & Reflect Compared with a Fixed-Length Coaching Programme

Connect & Reflect is a monthly reflection session with no programme to complete, unlike a fixed-length life coaching package, for example 5 sessions for £250 or 10 for £500, that expects you to attend every session and keep up with any work in between.

Connect & Reflect works differently. There's no deadline and nothing to keep up with. You remain a member of the Women's Wellbeing Lab community regardless of how much or how little you engage, and one Monthly Reflection Session is included in your package each month to give you a point of accountability without demanding fixed attendance.

If you can't make a session, because life is complex and demanding, you note it on your sign-up along with your wellbeing area, and you're acknowledged as a member who chose to give that time and focus to her wellbeing, rather than marked as present or absent. No session is recorded, for confidentiality, but each Monthly Reflection Session has a recap video, and anyone who couldn't attend live is still included in it by their wellbeing area, along with a follow-up email with relevant resources. You can then work through the activities independently, in your own time, using the video as guidance.

There's nothing to finish and nothing to fall behind on. You come back to it for as long as it's useful, in whatever way actually fits your life.

Many coaching programmes follow a set formula: a fixed number of sessions on a fixed timeline, with a set attendance expectation. The Monthly Reflection Session is similar to that formula, which is why it's a fair like-for-like comparison. But the difference is everything else around it: the full self-paced wellbeing portal from Essentials sitting alongside it, sessions run at more than one time each month, being included through the recap video and follow-up resources even on the occasions you can't attend, and a bonus START Wellbeing Coaching Session you can take whenever suits you. If you want more support than that, the option to add it is there too, agreeing your own cadence through a discovery call. None of that is something a fixed-length programme is built to offer.

Guided Growth Compared with Hiring a Coach Directly

One-to-one coaching in the UK varies widely depending on who it's for. Health and wellbeing coaching is an unregulated space: there's no legal requirement to hold any qualification, and where a coach does have one, it typically sits at Level 3 to Level 5. Health coaching itself typically runs £80–£100 an hour, general wellbeing coaching £50–£100 an hour, and career coaching £75–£250 a session. Executive coaching sits apart from these, at £150–£500 an hour. It's included here because women remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership, so this tier of support, often accessed through an employer, isn't something many women get the chance to use.

Elizabeth holds a Level 5 Wellness and Resilience Coach qualification, Level 6 training in counselling and CBT, and a Level 7 master's degree in the psychology of mental health and wellbeing, and is an accredited member of the Association for Coaching. This combination means her coaching draws on training in psychology and counselling, as well as coaching. Guided Growth includes one monthly 1:1 coaching session with Elizabeth (£70 value) as part of the £79 a month membership, alongside the tools, reflection space and support from the other levels.

Hiring a coach directly for a similar monthly arrangement is a fair comparison to the one-to-one coaching session included in Guided Growth. But there's more around it. Guided Growth also includes the Monthly Reflection Session, so if you can't make that one, you're still included through the recap video and follow-up resources, just as at Connect & Reflect. The full self-paced wellbeing portal from Essentials is there for the busy times when a live session isn't the right fit. And if one coaching session a month isn't enough, you can add more, agreeing your own cadence with Elizabeth. Hiring a coach directly doesn't offer any of that.

Woman looking relaxed and content in her thoughts and decisions.

Each level of the Women's Wellbeing Lab can be directly compared with what's already out there: Essentials with a single-purpose app, Connect & Reflect with a fixed-length programme, and Guided Growth with hiring a coach directly. In each comparison, the difference comes down to the same thing: more control over how you use it, and the option to add more support when you're ready.

FAQs: How the Lab Compares

How much time do I need to use this effectively?

None. You can check in for five minutes a week or a month, whenever the moment feels right. If you want to do more, more frequent reflection sessions or more coaching, you can book as much as you find useful.

What does it cost each month?

From £10 a month upward, depending on the level of support you want. You choose based on what's useful to you, not a fixed package.

Do I have to attend at a certain time?

No. Monthly reflection sessions run at more than one time each month, and if your circumstances change and you can't attend, you're still included in the recap sent afterwards.

Am I committed for a set period?

No. Every level, including an agreed 1:1 coaching cadence, runs month to month. You can cancel at any time.

How does the 7-day free trial work?

Cancel any time in the first 7 days and you won't be charged. If you don't cancel, payment is taken at the end of the trial for the following month. If you forget and it's no longer right for you, get in touch and we'll discuss your options.

Why should I do this rather than trying to manage it on my own?

You can keep working on it at your own pace. The Women's Wellbeing Lab gives you a range of self-paced tools and resources in one place, designed to help you coach yourself through any wellbeing area, however that changes.

Why should I do this rather than a self-help book or a short course?

The tools and resources here are grounded in the same evidence-based science, all in one place, created by an accredited coach specifically for women's wellbeing. The reflection tools keep a record of your own reflections, so what you've learnt stays with you, and you can come back to it whenever life shifts.

Why should I do this rather than waiting until it gets worse and looking at therapy?

You don't need to wait until things reach a certain point before doing something. The Lab isn't a substitute for therapy where that's genuinely needed, but it gives you somewhere to start now, rather than waiting to see how things develop. If you're experiencing acute mental health distress, support from your GP or a qualified mental health professional is likely to be more appropriate.

Why should I do this rather than my employer's wellbeing programme?

An employer's programme is shaped around a workplace population, often with engagement and productivity in mind. The Lab is shaped specifically around women's wellbeing. It's built around you and your needs, at whatever time and pace actually fits your life, rather than an employer's goals.

Why should I do this rather than finding a coach directly?

Coaching in the UK is unregulated, and rates and qualifications both vary widely. In the Women's Wellbeing Lab, coaching is one part of your membership, designed to be as flexible as possible and built specifically for women, around the reality of demanding lives. Guided Growth includes monthly one-to-one coaching from someone holding a Level 5 Wellness and Resilience Coach qualification, Level 6 counselling and CBT training, a Level 7 master's degree in the psychology of mental health and wellbeing, and Association for Coaching accreditation, alongside the tools and reflection space from the other levels.

Why should I do this rather than signing up to a wellbeing app?

Most apps focus on a single thing, such as meditation, sleep, or fitness tracking, aimed at a broad, general audience. Here, the tools and resource library are created by an accredited coach, grounded in evidence-based science, across four wellbeing areas, with the option to book a START Wellbeing Coaching Session whenever it's useful.