Since launching its scheme three years ago, more than 75 employees have received coaching, and clients who have been absent due to anxiety and depression have returned to work much sooner than expected, said the council.
The UK council launched the scheme to revolutionise its working culture and better equip staff to step up to take on the increased responsibility which accompanies tightening budgets at local authorities.
It was prompted by the success of the initiative to expand the service, training up another 15 coaches.
Strategic manager Mary Moran said: “We re-launched our expanded and refocused coaching service in the summer of 2014 and we have seen an unprecedented demand for it… staff [who] have received coaching have all given very positive feedback.
“All our coaches continue to have a day job and yet their passion and enthusiasm for the service is clearly evident.
“The results achieved and the progress made by our coaches is rewarding to see and we are proud to be in a position to support staff at all levels of the organisation, regardless of what they are wanting to achieve,” said Moran.
The council brought in external specialist, Quality Culture, to train 10 staff in NLP coaching skills, one to Master Practitioner level: manager Helen Dos Santos. She works closely with the HR team to help those on long-term sick leave return to and re-integrate into the work force.
She said: “I know how difficult it can be to juggle a service when staff are ill for any length of time.
“One referral made to me was a lady who had been off work for five months with depression and who had been seeing a psychiatrist for the past two years.
“After speaking with her I got to the root cause of her depression – an attack she had experienced some years previously, which had left her
feeling unworthy.
“She came out of the meeting immensely focused, with even her own psychiatrist amazed at the progress she has made. This psychiatrist is now going to explore some NLP training himself to help other patients.
“Within five weeks of our first session, that lady went back to work in a new job having taken longer hours.”