Yours truly is now an official Professional Certified Coach!
After well over 500 hours of coaching (and three years), well over 200 hours of coach training, lots of supervision hours, a long and nuanced and challenging exam (everyone’s finding the new exam, well, let’s call it “challenging”), a lot of paperwork (duh), and too much money (of course), I’m now officially a Professional Certified Coach!!!
The certification is through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the largest professional association for coaches in the world.
This is a big deal to me because, in my head, I still need some outward signs that what I’m doing is “acceptable,” and recognized as meeting high professional standards, but although it is a mark of accomplishment, it is also an outward sign of my inward commitment to continually learn and grow.
When I started coaching, I didn’t have any formal training, and yet I had processed enough of my lived experiences that I was helpful to my early clients (some of whom are still with me), but it was also clear to me that I could get so much better.
When I sought out development options, I’ve been super picky about what training, courses, and education I subjected myself to, since so much is built on models that are part of old systems I want to move away from.
What I’ve gotten from the Martha Beck Wayfinder coaching model, and a variety of other resources along the way, has been amazing. I’ve become a much better coach, and while I’m still learning, I can see the results in the difference it makes for my clients real lives.
This is hopefully just the beginning no longer the beginning, but still early stages in my coaching Journey.
I have so many plans and ideas, small, big, and wildly improbable goals (a Martha Beck term that I love), and they will undoubtedly evolve over time. I’m looking forward to what develops!
