Looking for Coaching Training? 

I recommend Internal Family Systems

1. The coaching field is following the cultural trend towards a parts-based model of personality. 

Movies like "Inside Out" highlight the growing understanding that personality is made up of many different 'parts.'  Top coaching schools like the Coaches Training Institute have added parts-based approaches to their coaching models as a result. While there are other, older parts-based personality models like Psychosynthesis or Voice Dialogue, neither of those are as approachable, coachable, or elegant as IFS.

I believe the parts approach to personality is ABSOLUTELY the direction the coaching field is heading. I could feel it when I presented an IFS and Coaching workshop at the 2012 International Coaching Federation Midwest Conference. People WANT approaches that are more intuitive and accurate to their own lived, internal experience. Who doesn't have the experience of having one part who wants one thing, but another part who wants something else? Why not leverage the way the mind ALREADY works, to make it work better? 

IFS is the leader in this field, with over 30 years of theory and practice. Why learn the parts approach in a second-hand afternoon module, as an add-on to your training, instead of as the basis of your coaching approach? This is the direction the field is heading anyway! Learn from the leader in the field by dedicating your foundational coaching training to IFS. 

2. Many coaching schools do not offer a unified theory of personality, or a powerful, simple model of personal transformation. IFS offers both.

Many coaching schools teach a variety of coaching exercises and different, not entirely cohesive, theories of personality and personal growth. Many of those schools merely teach a module or section on "parts." On the other hand, IFS teaches you a comprehensive parts-based approach with a decades-long track record and clinically proven results. 

Although I definitely benefitted from coaching training with two different, highly-rated coaching schools — The Coaches Training Institute and the Center for Right Relationship — I have to admit that I got more out of my IFS training, and I use the tools I learned EVERY DAY, whereas many of the patchwork coaching exercises I learned in my other trainings— despite repeating many of the weekend trainings once, twice or even three times—have simply fallen away.

If I had only one training to invest in, I would certainly choose IFS, and I urge you to make that choice because IFS will make you a better coach with access to stronger tools for personal growth than those offered in other coaching schools. 

3. IFS training is more affordable than most coaching training, and is offered at many sites throughout the US (and internationally).

You can choose between three-day weekends or retreat-style trainings. Getting up and running with IFS takes between six months to a year with an investment in the Level 1 training.

I've invested over $100,000 in my IFS training — I put my money where my mouth is!

The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) costs $5,900 for their 104 hour, core training. Most IFS Level 1 programs cost around $3,500 for their 1o8 hour training. Financial aid is available. 

4. People want to be more mindful, but lack tools to achieve deeper inner peace and a felt sense of being "in the now." IFS is the most effective mindfulness training I know. 

Mindfulness is recognized as enormously beneficial for surviving and thriving in modern culture, but meditating is often difficult for people to start, get the hang of, and persist with. As a certified energy healer who studied intensively with a rigorous Korean school of meditation, I KNOW meditation. I know sitting meditation, walking meditation, chakra meditation, sound meditation, silence meditation (I once practiced silence for six months)...you get the idea.

I definitely benefitted from my meditation training...but I benefit more from my IFS training. I now use IFS as my main method of meditation and mindfulness. I truly believe (as Richard Schwartz, the founder of IFS says) that you can achieve with IFS what it takes years or decades for people to achieve with meditation. 

5. IFS training is open to non-therapists, and offers a path to certification.

Coaching Resources in the Chicago Area

The International Coaching Federation - Chicago chapter

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