Naomi Jordan and Martin Pemberton share how lived experience, personal growth and emotional understanding became the foundation of a transformational coaching business.
Tell us about your journey! What led you to this point?
Our journey into this work came through lived experience long before it ever became a business.
Between us, we came from very different professional backgrounds. Naomi was a midwife, and Martin was a professional footballer, but underneath both careers was always a fascination with people, behaviour, emotional patterns and why human beings so often repeat the same struggles whilst desperately wanting different outcomes.
Before we ever worked with couples professionally, we had both experienced relationship breakdown ourselves and carried the pain, confusion, frustration and emotional exhaustion that often comes with it.
A huge turning point came through Naomi’s own experience of seeking couples counselling back in 2019. She entered that process genuinely wanting help, clarity and connection, but instead found herself inside sessions that felt unstructured, emotionally unsafe and focused far more on revisiting problems than truly understanding what was happening underneath them.
Martin also had similar experiences within the traditional counselling and therapy system where he was encouraged to talk, yet very little ever seemed to move forward because the focus repeatedly returned to the problem itself rather than creating meaningful understanding or change.
Those experiences became the beginning of everything.
Instead of accepting that relationships simply “become hard,” we started deeply studying human behaviour, attachment, emotional regulation, nervous system responses and relationship dynamics, and over time we realised that most people do not actually have a communication problem in the way they have been taught to believe.
More often, they are stuck inside emotional patterns they do not yet understand.
What became even more powerful for us was then navigating our own relationship together whilst carrying past hurt, previous experiences and old emotional protection from relationships before each other.
The understanding we now teach through The Space Between® became something we had to actively live ourselves.
It helped us stop reacting purely from fear, defensiveness or assumption and instead begin understanding what was happening underneath each other’s reactions in a much calmer and more compassionate way.
And through that, we found ourselves creating a relationship that felt very different to anything either of us had experienced before, not because we never face stress, challenges or emotional moments, but because we understand them differently now.
The work has helped us feel calmer, safer and far more understanding not only within our own relationship, but also towards other people and situations that in the past may have created huge amounts of anger, resentment, conflict or emotional overwhelm.
That understanding eventually became The Space Between® and today our work focuses on helping individuals and couples understand emotional safety, relationship patterns and human connection in a much deeper, more practical and more human way.
What has been your biggest achievement?
Our biggest achievement is not just financial or business-related.
It is watching people reconnect with themselves and each other in ways they genuinely thought were no longer possible.
We have watched couples move from emotional shutdown, defensiveness and disconnection to sitting together with softness, honesty and understanding again. We have watched individuals who spent years trapped in overwhelm, self-doubt or emotional survival finally begin feeling calmer, safer and more connected to themselves.
One of the most meaningful moments for us recently was hearing a couple describe our programme as “life-changing” because we knew how much courage it had taken for them to trust the process and stay committed to the work together.
But alongside the work we do with others, one of the biggest achievements has also been our own growth as individuals.
The business has only grown because we have grown.
We have learned that people often try to build businesses externally without recognising that a business can usually only grow to the level of the emotional capacity, self-belief and internal stability of the person running it.
For us, that has meant doing our own deeper work around self-esteem, confidence, emotional regulation, self-trust, visibility and learning how to manage criticism, judgement and other people’s opinions without abandoning ourselves in the process.
The more secure, grounded and emotionally aware we have become individually, the more naturally the business has expanded alongside us because people do not just build businesses from strategy; they build them from identity, nervous system capacity, belief and the ability to keep showing up consistently even when fear, doubt or external noise appears.
That personal growth journey has shaped not only our business, but the way we parent, communicate, lead, love and move through life generally.
That kind of transformation never stops feeling important to us.
What’s the biggest result you help your clients achieve?
The biggest result we help people achieve is emotional awareness and emotional safety because once somebody begins understanding the patterns underneath their reactions instead of simply becoming trapped inside them, everything else starts changing from there.
Couples begin communicating differently because they stop seeing each other purely as “the problem” and start recognising the emotional patterns, fears, protection and misunderstandings underneath the conflict itself.
Individuals become calmer because they stop living entirely inside automatic emotional survival responses and begin understanding themselves with far more awareness and compassion.
People start reacting less impulsively, communicating more honestly and creating healthier relationships not only with partners, but with children, family members, work colleagues and themselves too.
And what many people do not initially realise is that once somebody truly begins understanding themselves differently, that understanding naturally transfers into every relationship and environment they are part of.
The way somebody communicates at home often mirrors the way they communicate at work. The way somebody handles conflict in relationships often mirrors the way they handle pressure, criticism or leadership professionally. The emotional patterns people carry internally do not suddenly disappear when they enter a workplace or business environment. They come with them.
So when somebody becomes calmer, more emotionally aware and more secure internally, it often changes the way they lead, parent, communicate, make decisions, manage stress and show up everywhere else in life too.
Even the relationship somebody has with their business is often a reflection of the relationship they have with themselves. If somebody is constantly driven by fear, insecurity, pressure, overthinking or the need to prove themselves, that emotional
state eventually becomes embedded into the way they run their business too. But when somebody develops more self-awareness, self-trust and emotional stability internally, they often begin building businesses, relationships and lives from a much calmer, clearer and healthier place.
The ripple effect of emotional awareness is enormous because people do not exist in isolation. The way somebody feels emotionally impacts the way they parent, work, lead, connect, cope and move through the world every single day.
What would be your biggest piece of advice for readers who want to achieve the same?
Start by looking honestly at yourself before constantly focusing on what is happening outside of you. What are your fears? What is stressing you out? What is preventing your growth, peace, confidence or progress? What keeps repeating in your relationships, business, reactions or emotional life over and over again?
We will let you in on a secret that changed everything for us. Most of the answers are not “out there.” They are inside you. Inside your patterns, your emotional conditioning, your fears, your beliefs, your nervous system responses and the stories you have unknowingly built your life around.
Most people spend years trying to fix their life externally whilst avoiding looking inward because inward work feels uncomfortable, vulnerable and confronting at times. They think they need another strategy, another system, another qualification, another business idea, another programme, another freebie or another productivity tool when often what is really limiting their growth is not a lack of information, but the internal patterns driving the way they think, react, avoid, protect themselves and move through life.
Stop focusing only on the surface behaviour and become curious about what is happening underneath it. Most people spend years trying to control reactions without ever understanding the fear, protection, insecurity or emotional pattern driving the reaction in the first place.
Real change usually begins with awareness, honesty and the willingness to pause long enough to truly see yourself clearly instead of constantly reacting automatically.
The moment somebody stops asking “Why does this keep happening to me?” and starts asking “What is this showing me about me?” everything begins changing differently.
That is where awareness begins, and awareness changes everything.
Once you begin understanding yourself more deeply, you stop reacting automatically quite so much. You become calmer, clearer, more emotionally aware and far more able to make decisions from intention rather than fear, insecurity or emotional survival.
And one other thing: stop waiting until things become unbearable before seeking support. Most people try to survive emotionally for far too long on their own. Whether it is relationships, business, confidence, or life generally, sustainable growth almost always begins internally first.
What are the biggest mistakes you see people make, and how can they be avoided?
One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is building their life entirely around coping instead of understanding. People become incredibly good at functioning whilst quietly feeling overwhelmed underneath it all.
They stay busy, keep pushing, keep achieving, keep performing and keep distracting themselves. But very rarely stop long enough to ask themselves why they feel constantly stressed, emotionally reactive, disconnected, anxious, exhausted or stuck in the same repeating situations over and over again.
In relationships, many people focus almost entirely on the visible problem. The arguments, the communication, the frustration, the lack of intimacy and the distance. But what is usually driving those things underneath is fear, emotional protection, insecurity, unresolved hurt, stress or nervous system overwhelm that neither person fully understands yet.
In business, we see something very similar. People often believe the answer is working harder, doing more, producing more content, creating more offers or constantly chasing growth whilst completely ignoring the emotional state they are building the business from.
If somebody feels internally unsafe, emotionally dysregulated or constantly driven by fear and pressure, eventually that shows up in their business too through burnout, inconsistency, people pleasing, overworking, comparison, perfectionism or the inability to trust themselves.
Many people are trying to build externally successful lives whilst internally feeling emotionally exhausted and eventually the nervous system always catches up.
The people who create the most sustainable relationships, businesses and lives are usually not the people endlessly chasing more. They are the people willing to understand themselves more deeply because once somebody begins recognising their own patterns, they stop being unconsciously controlled by them.
They pause more, react less, think more clearly, communicate differently, make calmer decisions and begin creating relationships, businesses and lives that actually feel good to live inside rather than simply look good from the outside.
Awareness changes everything because people cannot change patterns they do not yet recognise.
How do you plan on further growing your business?
We want to continue growing The Space Between® in ways that make emotional understanding, relationship support and human behaviour feel more accessible, practical and human for everyday people.
A huge part of our vision is helping people understand that emotional wellbeing and relationship health are not separate from business, leadership, parenting, confidence or performance. They shape all of it.
The emotional patterns somebody carries internally impact the way they communicate, cope with pressure, lead teams, manage relationships, handle criticism and move through everyday life and we believe those conversations need to happen far more openly, especially in business and professional environments where people are often expected to keep functioning regardless of what is happening emotionally underneath the surface.
We want to continue helping people understand that success without emotional safety, self-awareness or healthy relationships often still leaves people feeling exhausted, disconnected or emotionally unfulfilled.
That is why our work will continue expanding beyond traditional relationship conversations alone.
We plan to keep growing our books, online programmes, WhatsApp experiences, speaking opportunities, media work and educational content whilst still continuing the deeper private work we do with individuals and couples.
We are especially passionate about creating support that feels realistic for modern life because many people are emotionally overwhelmed, time poor and quietly struggling underneath the surface whilst still trying to function professionally and personally every single day.
Long term, we would love to see conversations around emotional awareness, nervous system health, relationships and human behaviour become a more normal part of leadership, workplace wellbeing, education and everyday life generally because people do not leave their emotional world at home when they go to work.
Everything connects and when people begin understanding themselves more deeply, the ripple effect reaches far beyond the individual themselves into families, relationships, workplaces, businesses and communities too.
Where can the readers find you?
Website: www.just1to11itcoaching.co.uk
Email: info@just1to11itcoaching.co.uk
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-and-martin-42b713369
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/The_SpaceBetween
Naomi Jordan and Martin Pemberton are the founders of The Space Between® and Just 1 to 11 It Coaching, specialising in relationship patterns, emotional safety and human behaviour. Drawing from both professional training and lived experience, they help individuals and couples better understand themselves, their relationships and the emotional patterns shaping their lives. Through private work, books, programmes and educational content, their work focuses on creating calmer, healthier and more connected relationships at home, at work and within ourselves.
