Understanding
How People
Think
is the throughline of my work.
My background combines formal training in social psychology, psychotherapy, and adult education with decades of professional practice as a writer, editor, and communications specialist in scientific and medical research.
Across those fields, the question seems to come back to:
How do capable people organize attention, interpret information, and decide what to do next?
That question shows up in audiences.
On the page.
On Zoom.
The Key Barrier
Hope Lafferty, AM, ELS
Much of my work is with people in science and medicine.
They value careful observation.
They want precise information before taking action.
They do not rush conclusions.
The Habit Finder reflects that orientation. Its results offer structure before suggestion and emphasize clarity before change.
Training and Professional Pursuits
My academic training includes graduate work in group process and social psychology, which has led me to psychotherapy-informed coaching and adult education.
My professional life has included:
Writing and editing in scientific and medical settings
Teaching and training for university students and professional audiences
Board leadership in the life sciences and in broadcast media
Ongoing work in performance and physical theatre
The throughline is not performance or productivity.
It is attention.
Over time, I have learned that most friction does not come from lack of intelligence, effort, or imagination.
It comes from patterns that are invisible to the person living inside them.
The work is to make those patterns visible.
The Habit Finder
I discovered the Habit Finder in 2016. Having taken and studied many psychometric assessments throughout my career, I was attentive to its structure.
What stood out was that it didn't lump people into categories or personality profiles.
The assessment describes habits of thinking that tend to surface under pressure.
It does not diagnose or assign labels. It provides language.
In 2020, I became certified as a Habit Finder coach and began integrating it into my work with professionals who value precision and meaning.
For some, the assessment is sufficient on its own.
For others, it becomes a shared framework for deeper coaching.
How I Work
Coaching, writing, and communicating with audiences are not separate endeavors.
Each is a way of slowing down thinking long enough to see what is actually happening.
I work primarily with people who are already thoughtful and capable.
They are not looking for motivation.
They are looking for a throughline.
The work begins with understanding.
What follows depends on the cascade of insight that comes with understanding.
