 Today I am sharing a wonderful article on the positive spectrum of psychology (growth, inner peace, and fulfilling a purpose). I noted that in this article, the author features the "dark side of coaching". I couldn't agree more. Being in and around higher education since 2005, I learned about "certificate mills". Why go through a robust, high-caliber, rigorous program when you can pay $75 online, receive a few PDFs, and be given a "certification" as a trained life or leadership coach? The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has answered the call. Since 1995, they have been the steward of standard-setting and provide the highest-caliber accreditation to proper coaching schools (I am speaking in the US - I am not up to speed on other country's standards). To me, proper certification means someone else who is trained in current standards of excellence, ethics, and skill mastery has evaluated your coaching skills and determined if you meet or exceed the standard to pass. Proper certification takes place in the ICF's Level One and Two accredited programs. I run the Institute for Integrative Intelligence - a Level Two coaching program. It is a rigorous one-year minimum and completes once you have demonstrated you meet or exceed standards of excellence, ethics, and skill mastery. Certification is only granted if you pass the final Performance Evaluation and complete all of the additional five requirements. My message is "buyer beware". If you are seeking to transition into the amazing profession of coaching, I highly recommend seeking out an ICF accredited coach training program, Level One or Two (depending on your goals). If you ever need guidance on the variety of options to become a professional coach, Lauren and I are here to help. We also have a wonderful team of coaches to support you! If you ever want to hire a life or leadership coach, these coaches are outstanding! 30 Proven Benefits of Life Coaching & Mentoring by: Kori D. Miller Life coaching and mentoring are booming fields.
They are popular professions worldwide and show no signs of decreasing. Certification programs abound, but as you will read, this is an unregulated field. Certification is not required. Testing and licensing do not exist. Unlike people trained as psychologists or counselors who are licensed, life coaches are not therapists. A life coach could have no, some, or extensive education in almost any field and still hold the title of “life coach.” Knowing this, why do people hire a life coach? Education does not equal wisdom, but experience often does in the minds of many. Would you rather work with someone who has traveled the same path and succeeded or someone who has little-to-no real-world experience? Regardless which you choose, you can reap the benefits of a life coaching or mentoring relationship." Click here to read more ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  Autumn coaches business owners and professionals using customized methods which inspire and optimize professional potential. She partners with her clients to encourage the authentic self in business while focusing on relational business practices, business development, and organization.
She has well over a decade of experience in corporate America, as a business owner in sales, entrepreneur, and Certified Negotiation Expert. She's parlayed those skills and coupled them with her education and certification in coaching to bring value as a Business Coach and Consultant. Autumn loves making a difference in her client's lives while also being a disrupter of many antiquated business models. She enjoys watching her clients embrace the idea of letting their personality show in their business and then seeing how that connects them to other people on a deeper level. In turn, she witnesses their businesses and/or careers thrive at an accelerated rate. When asked about her journey into coaching, Autumn said, "I was feeling called to coach for two years before I made the leap and followed my heart. The path has not always been easy, but it has been well worth it. If you're being called, the calling won't stop... it will just get louder. I did a lot of research before committing to a program and still feel I made the right choice with the Institute for Integrative Intelligence. I was supported from Day 1 and still have support as an Alumni." ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  I hope your January is off to a wonderful start and feels full of possibility!
Did you know that possibilities not only exist all around us but also within us? This week's article is all about engaging the possibilities that exist within us, especially when life feels challenging. Facing Challenges: Using the Gifts 🎁 of the Human Spirit to Solve Them by: Laurel Elders Vision. Let it illuminate the path to what is calling you. Courage. Let it move you to not look away and step forward. Trust. Let it build the bridge to your success. Grace. Let it lift you above the grime. Commitment. Let it anchor you to the real. Humility. Let it be the keystone of your empowerment. Gratitude. Let it fill you with the blessings of each moment. Love. Let it fulfill your heart with inspired action. Life’s Virtues You may not be able to see, yet feeling their presence sets you free. That which you feel is what becomes real. Everything you need, is planted as a seed within your heart… Which is always the best place to start. What I just shared above came to me in a dream. I woke up feeling surprised and inspired, so I wrote it out fully the next day. The timing was quite miraculous! I had been grappling with my husband being states away from me as he was at Air Force Search and Rescue training. I had been waking up struggling. I felt sad and lonely, like a single mom again. So, I went to my heart for the answer and asked myself, “While he is away following his life’s calling, what do I want to be the possibility of?” Click here to read more! ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  Karen is a Social Media Manager who has worked with coaches, entrepreneurs, and business owners who needed help with building an online presence on social media.
She got her B.S. in Psychology and went on to get her M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications. After 2 years working with small businesses in NYC, she launched her freelancing career that helps coaches and entrepreneurs build a community on social media. Throughout her career, she has launched multiple digital marketing campaigns for business consultants, life coaches, meditation teachers, and psychiatrists. She especially loves working with clients who are passionate about their work. Many of her clients don't have the time or capability to handle social media, so she takes on many of the time-consuming tasks, such as community engagement, content creation, and analytic reports. Using her experience working at a psychology research lab, Karen creates content that helps maximize growth and drive engagement. As a result, she has helped many of her clients grow consistently in the form of engagements, followers, and reach on their social media accounts. ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  They say that "no success is created in a vacuum." I've also heard that there is "no such thing as an overnight success" because "all overnight success is ten years in the making." It stands to reason that succeeding includes stepping into something that will contain us through the thick and thin.
This week's reflection is about containers. As coaches, we hold space for others, and this provides a container for their success. What space are you holding for yourself? What Contains Your Success? by: Laurel Elders "Success is not perfection, it is preparedness." ~ Note to Self As previously mentioned, each year I reflect on what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve learned, new pearls of wisdom gleaned from any challenges I faced, and what I wish to achieve in the new year. For the last seven years, I’ve honored a personal tradition that helps me embody virtues in my life. For example, one year my virtue was “simplicity.” Everything I did that year, I looked at first through the eyes of simplicity. Simplicity became my container. That year, my life began to flow with greater ease. Every year after, simplicity now comes with me, like a muscle I’ve built, and is now easy to use. I experienced how spending an entire year integrating a virtue into my way of being helps sustain the development I’ve accomplished. We can also learn from the containers we choose. As I lived through simplicity, I learned how simplifying is more efficient than over-complication. I learned simplicity is way more fun, and my work felt lighter, not taxing. I learned how to “work smarter, not harder.” I learned to let go of society’s maxim “you must work hard to succeed” and “no pain, no gain.” Neither were true. I was more successful that year and a happier version of myself. This year, the word that found its way into my awareness is “alignment.” This year is not going to be about making blind choices. It is about taking any choice and finding alignment before proceeding. It is about living each day aligned with my values, my potentials, and my gifts. I look forward to seeing how this shapes the year and what I learn about myself, others, and the world. With our quality of focus, we become a beacon for success. With our quality of focus, we see, feel, touch, and experience life optimally. With our quality of focus, we grow deeper roots. As the saying goes, the deeper the roots, the better the fruits. The irony? When we choose one quality to focus on, we empower other qualities to flourish as well. That virtue then becomes the fertilizer to the entire garden of our life. I invite you to adventure into your potential by choosing a virtue to focus on in 2022. What container can support you in success? How can you bring it with you? ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  Carrie is a Spiritual Resilience Coach working with men and women experiencing major life transitions, whether it be in relationships, career, health, or spirituality.
She supports people to navigate through the upheaval and chaos of major life transitions and the sense of profound loss and identity confusion that are part of these changes. She assists her clients in discovering their natural resilience and wholeness when faced with difficult life challenges, utilizing a potential-based coaching philosophy. Ultimately, her clients learn to embrace change as a co-creative partner and transformational opportunity – and even as a blessing – that leads them to creating a life they love on the other side of change. As the founder of Life’s Next Chapter Coaching, her passion is helping men and women accelerate their healing process, discover new dreams for themselves, and consciously and powerfully rebuild their lives. The mission of LNCC is to assist clients to reconnect with their heart, reclaim their power, and realign with their purpose to create their life’s next chapter. Carrie provides mentoring for practicing coaches and students who are seeking ICF credentialing at the ACC and PCC levels. She holds a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology With an Emphasis in Consciousness, Health, and Healing as well as certifications in Grief Counseling, Mentor Coaching, Transformational Presence Coaching, and Relationship and Divorce Coaching. ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach  Happy New Year!!!
I genuinely wish you a fruitful start to an outstanding 2022 for you and yours. I hope you enjoyed the year-end integration process we left you with in December! If you missed it, you can find it attached to that email! Today’s resource is an article about what life coaches do and don’t do. There is so much confusion around this! Many folks I have run into think life coaching is a form of light counseling. I know I was shocked to find out that coaching didn’t include any counseling. Zero, zip, nada. Wow! If you want clarity or know someone who does, today’s outline on coaching is for you. Please feel free to forward, so we can share the education on the key distinctions. Should I Hire a Life Coach? by: Laurel Elders Are you wondering… What exactly does a life coach do? Wonder no more! Today, I will teach you exactly what a life coach does and does NOT do. My name is Laurel, and I’ve been a professional coach since 2005. I started my coaching practice to have a flexible schedule with my kids, leave a positive impact on people’s lives, and make a living doing meaningful work in the world. I now own and operate an accredited coach training organization, the Institute for Integrative Intelligence. I have to admit... I’m a coaching geek! I have so much to share with you on this subject, and I LOVE clearing up misconceptions! Let’s dive in. First, it is critical to understand what coaching is exactly and what coaching is NOT. Coaching is a professional service that invites healthy and resourced individuals to explore and reach new potentials. A professional coach is trained in a Socratic method that enables clients to unlock hidden possibilities, grow new skill sets, and leverage their lives to a new level. This process is called Self-actualization or Integration. Coaches do NOT: give advice, tell clients what to do, take an expert role, or diagnose. Advisors, therapists, counselors, and consultants advise and diagnose. The premise in coaching is highly unique! In coaching, the client is respected as the expert of their own life, and the coach is there to provide a container for the client’s chosen self-actualization process. Coaching includes powerful questions, challenges, accountability, and a safe self-inquiry space ripe for personal growth. You can sum it up this way. Therapy is focused on emotional healing and making sense of the past to inform the present – like an archeologist. Coaching is focused on future goals, attaining those goals, and building a future you love – like an architect. Second, coaches provide programs. A coaching program is a 3-12 month commitment that includes goal setting, action-taking, accountability, and self-reflection. Some coaches may have a niche, like “taking your life back after a divorce” or “career transition”, while others may coach in any area of personal growth. Third, according to research conducted by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), 99% of professional coaches have invested in training by an accredited program. If you are seeking to hire a coach, working with a trained and credentialed coach can make a world of difference. This is because coaching is a peer-regulated industry, so anyone can use the title without any formal experience or training. For example, if someone calls themselves a coach but tells you what to do, they are not coaching. They are advising. It is also good to note that if a coach is trained AND ICF credentialed, this indicates that their skills have been assessed. That coach has also met or exceeded standards of excellence in the field. So there you have it! To close, let’s sum it up: 1. A professional coach does not advise. They provide a self-development space where the client is in the driver’s seat. They offer a robust self-inquiry process that elevates potential, eliminates blind spots, and is 100% client-directed. 2. Coaches offer programs that support integration and self-actualization. 3. Hiring a credentialed coach means that the coach has been evaluated and meets standards of professionalism. Currently, the ICF is the leader in standards and credentialing. I recommend visiting the ICF’s coach directory for a listing of credentialed coaches that have been vetted. I hope this has been illuminating! To learn more about the amazing field of coaching, visit us at www.IntegrativeIntelligence.Global ************* FOLLOW US AT: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegrativeIntelligence Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/integrativeIntelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A Certified Professional Coach |
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