About Me
Our stories bring us together so let me tell you mine
About Me
Our stories bring us together so let me tell you mine
I’m Kim Rutherford — a psychotherapist, coach, author, speaker, and the creator of the 8Wise® Method. I help adults, leaders, and organisations improve emotional wellbeing and mental clarity through compassionate support, simple tools, and practical, meaningful steps forward. I’m also neurodivergent, which gives me a deeper personal understanding of different thinking styles and emotional experiences.
With over 20 years of experience in mental health, personal development, and wellbeing, I’ve worked across education, employability, health, corporate and social care sectors, supporting people and workplaces to move beyond stress, anxiety, and burnout, and towards genuine balance, clarity, and resilience.
My Mission
I believe that everyone deserves to feel mentally steady, emotionally supported, and safe in their own mind. My mission is simple: to make mental health understandable, approachable, and something people can genuinely work on in real, everyday life.
Through therapy, coaching, and guided support, I help individuals and organisations build emotional resilience, strengthen self-awareness, and create environments — at home and at work — where wellbeing is prioritised and people feel able to thrive.
Transformation One
After leaving the West Country I started to bloom as my life, confidence and self-esteem blossomed. I graduated from the University of Liverpool and carved out a thriving career in people development working within Social Welfare organisations, such as: Education, Skills and Employability, Health and Social Care and Charities. My career led me internationally supporting with new business projects and ventures in Australia, China, Poland and the UAE. But the limiting beliefs that plagued me as a child continued to drive my ambition in unsustainable ways, impacting my psychological wellbeing negatively.
My Why
I do this work because I’ve lived through stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, agoraphobia, binge and emotional eating, obesity and extreme weight loss. Oh, and navigating a late neurodivergent diagnosis. I know what it’s like to try to keep functioning on the outside while feeling overwhelmed on the inside, and how isolating that can be.
My own journey through emotional struggles, identity challenges, and rebuilding my wellbeing is what drives me to help others. I know change is possible, not just in theory, but in reality. And I believe no one should have to go through that journey without understanding, compassion, and the right support.
Before starting my private practice, founding Dalton Wise Consultancy Ltd, creating the 8Wise® Method and writing my four books, I spent over a decade working as a senior leader in people development and wellbeing roles in the UK and internationally.
I’ve seen first-hand how stress, burnout, and emotional strain can affect individuals, leaders, and entire workplaces, especially when people are expected to “cope” without meaningful support.
Those experiences inspired me to create a different kind of approach, one that combines structure with empathy, and evidence with real humanity, giving people tools that genuinely support their mental and emotional wellbeing.
As a psychotherapist and coach, I choose to specialise in the types of challenges I’ve personally experienced and worked through. My approach is down-to-earth, compassionate, and honest. Change doesn’t need to be overwhelming. I won’t sugar-coat things, and I won’t do the work for you, but I’ll stand beside you and guide you every step of the way.
Using practical, evidence-based strategies, we’ll work together to strengthen emotional balance, build a healthier relationship with your mind, and regain the confidence to move forward with clarity and self-trust.
Transformation Two
I transitioned once again, this time from corporate leader to self-employed Psychotherapist and Coach, only this time with a thriving mind thanks to developing optimal psychological wellbeing with my 8Wise method. With my new healthier happier mind, I founded two companies, as well as published four books and hosted a global podcast, all based on my signature methodology, 8Wise™, which I firmly believe is the blueprint for developing optimal mental health and wellbeing and a happier healthy life.
Why 8Wise®?
The 8Wise® Method is the foundation of my work — a framework I created to make mental health support practical, accessible, and genuinely usable in everyday life. I developed it after seeing so many people struggle to find clear, structured guidance for long-term wellbeing, as well as navigating my own mental health challenges.
When I was working as a senior leader in the corporate world, it was incredibly hard to access the right support when I needed it, and even harder to understand where to begin. 8Wise® provides that missing structure, using practical psychology and eight core dimensions of wellness to create a simple, grounded roadmap for strengthening mental fitness and emotional resilience.
Alongside this, I created 8WiseED® to bring the same human-first, practical approach into education. I believe that mentally supported leaders and staff create safer, healthier environments for students, and that wellbeing must be lived, not just spoken about. When educators are emotionally equipped, students feel more secure, and that shapes healthier learning communities for the future.
8WiseED® helps colleges, schools, and training providers build wellbeing into the everyday culture of their institution, in a simple, authentic, and sustainable way.
Grounded in psychotherapy, behavioural science, and real-world lived insight, both 8Wise® and 8WiseED® offer a practical framework for building emotional resilience, balance, and sustainable wellbeing in life, work, and education.
How I Work
I made a decision as a professional coach and therapist, to focus on supporting clients who are experiencing issues that I myself have personally experienced and overcome.
I believe this helps us develop stronger rapport, a deeper level of trust and leads to enhanced levels of empathy and understanding. I want my personal story and lived experience along with my professional knowledge and skills, to support you in your coaching and therapy journey.
I’m renowned for my straight talking ‘tough love’ approach, I like to keep things simple and practical, because the chaos of life can be complicated enough. I am also fully aware that no one can make the changes for you, so my role is to support you, guide you and motivate you using a wide range of tools and techniques so you can take positive action and start building the life you want with a healthier happier mind and new sense of confidence and clarity.
