Episode Eleven - When life gives you lemons - Life after a spinal injury
‘‘It's a shock when something like that happens to you, and… I don't think…Well, I can only speak for myself, but I can't see a time when I will stop grieving for being able to walk. It's also a privilege in a way, because it really makes you stop, reassess, and think. And not many of us get that opportunity, or give ourselves that opportunity in life to properly pause for a long time, you know, it does take a while to go through a huge life change".
Tracey Falcon, Life Coach, Artist Educator and Wheel Chair User
Artist and creative life coach Tracey Falcon joins us from Whitstable, Kent where she lives with her youngest son, dog and a steady stream of refugees. In 2018, her spinal injury prompted an inner search to redefine value within herself and discover ‘who she is’ and ‘what she does’. How she navigated this huge life transition and relationship with grief is a testament to her perseverance and determination. Tracy shares an infectious delight at her off-road wheel chair crowdfunded by her eldest son that enables her to be reunited and immersed within her beloved trees.
Tracey speaks openly about the challenges she faces as a wheel chair user from accessibility, vulnerability and her enemy otherwise known as mud. She touches on her recent collaboration with Durham University and reads a metaphor rich exert from her article in ‘Polyphony’ the Medical Humanities Institute magazine that offers deep insights into her lived experience.
Discover the pun behind her business name ‘Still Life Coaching’ and her strap line based on the concept of ‘lemonading’ that brings an element of playfulness and resilience into her work. Plus, the influence of philosophical enquiry that enters her coaching; ‘what do I think I know?’, ‘why do I think know it, and can I be certain? If not, then what other possibilities could there be?’ From tadpoles to prosthetic tree limbs our conversations are filled with metaphors, perspectives, possibilities…
Listen here.
About
As an artist educator working in galleries, museums and even in a forest, also teaching at universities, Tracey creatively worked with vulnerable groups and individuals, igniting curiosity and connecting to places, people, objects and ideas.
A spinal injury in 2018 limited what she can now cope with physically and subsequently had to rethink her career. She learned a great deal through her major life change experience. A disabled, single parent, she is no stranger to a struggle. Drawing on this and her creative project work helping people gain confidence and problem solve, she decided to retrain, first gaining two counselling qualifications and then as a life coach. She has a passion for nature, especially trees and continues to make art.
She is trained in Integrative Transformational Coaching, CBC (Cognitive Behavioural Coaching), NLP, Positive Psychology and Coaching Creatively through art and nature. She also has a certificate in Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Advocacy. She is trauma informed and has experience working with neurodiversity.
Insights
Bewitched by the novel… The Overstory by Richard Powers.
Inspired by the quote... "Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right". - Attributed to Henry Ford. Closely followed by a line from the Mary Oliver Poem, The Summer Day, "Tell me, just what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life".
Self-described relationship with nature… We are the same.
Favourite pastimes… Staring at nature, being outdoors, collecting natural materials, creating/making, writing, reading and singing.
Behind the scenes... Looking out over the clouds from the top of a mountain.
Resources
Disability Rights UK
Moving Social Work
The Polyphony
Give Us a Shout - text 85258
Refugees at Home
The Conversation Agency
Blog – Lemons and Lemonade
Concept ‘lemonading’ from research by Shen X and Crawley Z (2025) How does playfulness (re)frame the world? Evidence for selective cognitive and behavioral redirecting in times of adversity. Front. Psychol. 15:1462980. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1462980
