About Mel
My name is Melissa Luck and I’m the Founder and lead coach of Rook: Coaching, Consultancy, Training.
My story
Finding reasons to laugh and smile has always been part of my personality and it’s fair to say that’s what I’m often remembered for.
Alongside my smile, I guess I’m also remembered for my love of all things aviation because in another life, I was a commercial pilot. Years later, I still have a passion for flying and maintaining vintage aircraft.
Did you know most aircraft accidents are caused by human error?
Interestingly, flying isn’t just about learning how to fly and understanding technical systems, it’s mostly about decision-making. To be able to do that effectively we need to understand the human factor.
This is where my interest in human psychology started and led me to be part of a small team training human factors (or crew resource management) to all crew in my airline. Whilst all this sounds pretty good on the outside, I was really struggling inside.
The further I got into aviation, the more I felt the need to prove myself and this was also true in my hobbies outside of work.
I didn’t have any inherent self-worth and self-care was a completely alien concept so I was writing cheques my body couldn’t cash. There were warning signs but eventually, my body completely gave up on me. I’d been asking it to run on adrenaline, alcohol and self-hatred for too long.
In a year when I was getting my airline command, training for off-road motorbike endurance races and unaided mountain climbs, overnight I was unable to stand or formulate words. Only then did I realise the depth of the subconscious patterns that had been driving me and how much I’d harmed myself.
Rock bottom became a firm foundation
As part of my healing journey, I found the correlation between childhood trauma and chronic illness. I also realised that my lifestyle was fuelled by PTSD and high-functioning anxiety. I had felt seen only for my accomplishments and my usefulness but not the worth of me as a human being instead of a human doing. So, I decided to start a new intentional, loving existence but there were times when I wanted to end it – it was painful avoiding the feelings that I’d dodged for so long, through my barren but busy life.
I had ravaged my body so completely that intense fatigue and dizziness became a constant. So I chose to pursue a career that I could put my precious energy into and I realised that I wanted to help stop others from getting to the same point that I did.
My greatest privilege is helping people smile more
So my journey took me to coaching as this is the only space where people are met where they are. I’ve tried counselling and many different therapies but it is in coaching that I still make my biggest breakthroughs and my clients feel the same.
So now I’m qualified and trained in trauma-informed coaching and use a range of different modalities if required. But mostly I give people a safe space to be themselves – to voice their emotions and thoughts and start to hear their voice under the echoes of what others have told them they should be.
Alongside this, I live with my husband in Bedfordshire and also rescue dogs with traumatic backgrounds. I still love vintage aviation and vintage machinery of any sort but life is gentler now and my favourite spot is by the river with a dog or three but always smiling.
Maybe I’ll see you there.