MEGAN
BUYS
PROFILE
Megan Buys is a coach and organisational consultant. Over the past decade, Megan has supported founders, teams, and businesses grow into successful, values-driven organisations. Her work as a coach is housed in Common Room: a coaching and consulting agency that guides founders and teams to build businesses that are both functional and human.
Alongside this, Megan is the founder and director of Finding Space: a psychotherapy practice where she leads a team of skilled therapists working with individuals, couples, and groups. She is also an award-winning academic, lecturer, and curriculum developer in the counselling and psychotherapy field; and sits on the executive committee for The University of Sydney Coaching and Mentoring Alumni Chapter. Megan also facilitates international residency programs for entrepreneurs.
Despite being a high-school drop-out, Megan holds a Master of Science in Coaching Psychology, a Master of Counselling, and a PhD where her research focused on internal psychological systems, contemporary psychotherapeutic modalities, and lived-experience of transformational change.
She weaves together her experience as a therapist, researcher, lecturer, business founder, and eldest daughter into her work as a coach.
CREDENTIALS
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), The University of Notre Dame Australia Master of Science in Coaching Psychology, The University of Sydney
Master of Counselling, The University of Notre Dame Australia
Bachelor of Arts in Communications, The University of Notre Dame Australia
Registered Counsellor + Psychotherapist, Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia
CURRENT ROLES
Founder + Principal Coach, Common Room
Executive Committee, The University of Sydney Coaching and Mentoring Alumni
Founder + Principal Psychotherapist, Finding Space
Group Facilitator + Residency Lead, Art of Mondays
Researcher + Research Supervisor, The University of Notre Dame Australia
Lecturer + Curriculum Developer Master of Counselling + Psychotherapy, Ikon Institute
PRACTICE PHILOSOPHY
Megan’s work as a coach is grounded in systems theory, evidence-based methods, and a humanistic lens.
Systems theory, the area of research for her PhD, has deeply informed her practice as a coach. Taking a systems approach to coaching is not a radical concept, as it is clear that individuals, teams, and organisations exist in interconnected and dynamic systems. Megan’s research extends systems theory into the psychological domain, where the psyche or personality is not viewed as a stagnant and singular entity, but rather a multifaceted collection of "parts" or aspects of the self, each with their own perspectives, desires, and roles. Where a more traditional coaching approach might address a single, presenting issue, Megan looks for the parts of the client that are in tension around it: the part that wants to move forward, and the part that is protecting them from doing so, often for good reason. Rather than overriding or eliminating the reluctant part, she works to understand its function, bringing the client's internal system into a more integrated, cooperative relationship with itself. This mirrors how she works with a client's external systems — teams, organisations, relationships — where sustainable change similarly depends on understanding each part's role rather than forcing alignment from outside. The result is coaching that moves beyond surface-level behaviour change.
Megan also draws on evidence-based coaching approaches, including cognitive-behavioural and solutions-focused modalities, alongside evidence-based change theories. Her use of cognitive-behavioural approaches gives clients a structured way to identify the specific thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that keep a pattern in place, and to test and shift these directly. Her solutions-focused orientation keeps this work forward-facing, helping clients define and move toward a clear picture of their preferred future. Change theory sits underneath both, describing not just what needs to change, but the conditions under which change is actually sustained. All of this is grounded in a humanistic belief that all people have an innate drive toward, and capacity for, growth and flourishing. Drawing on her background as a therapist, she offers a personalised, person-centred approach, bringing presence and attunement into every coaching relationship.