My Most Valued Educational Experience

As of April 12th 2021, I am a LIFE COACH!

... a year ago, I didn't think I would get to say that. And certainly not two years ago.

I have graduated universisty twice, earning two Bachelor of Arts degrees. November 2019, I was 3/4 of the way through my third degree (Bachelor of Education) when my Grandpa passed away. January 2020 was when I finally broke down from grief, and although I had just started my final teaching practicum, my professor advised me to take the year off -- grieve, and come back stronger. I didn't think I needed a year, but it turns out I did.

The problem, however (at least for my Dad, who was pretty disappointed), was that I took longer than the year ... I didn't end up finishing my teaching degree.

Instead, after learning about the profession of coaching, I spent months researching, falling in love with the coaching/personal development community, and then telling myself "I'll finish my B.Ed., and then become a Life Coach" ... but by June 2020, I realized I was tired of putting my life on hold (the realization particularly inspired by the events of 2020), and I signed up for a coaching school I heard so many positive things about: Beautiful You Coaching Academy. (Also known as Beautiful You or BYCA, from here onwards.)

October 12th 2020 was our first training call, and now here I am, six months later, GRADUATED! What an incredible six months they've been, too ... there has been so much learning and growth. In fact, coming from a strict/rigid upbrining of what education "should" look like (university viewed as the be-all-end-all), I had to do some major UNlearning when I began my training. (Didn't know "unlearning" was a word until this experience; I'm amazed I was capable of doing it!)

I don't know if I can do the experience justice in just one blog post -- I may need to write a whole novel -- but let me give you the highlight reel.

The Manual

I have to start with the manual -- the ginormous, beautifully pink manual. Our 6-month training involved 14 modules, from introductory life coaching to how to run a coaching business. There was so much love and care put into this manual, and the fact that they sent us this information in hard copy is incredible, and shows the level of how serious this school is ... serious in a loving way though, not strict. What I mean is, BYCA is an ICF-accredited training; the International Coaching Federation said "Yep, you are qualified to train people to become incredible coaches!" The head trainer (and founder of Beautiful You), Julie Parker, even said last night that before she formed this school (7 years ago), she told her own coach "I'm not going to do this if I can't attract the best people" -- she believes in the integrity of the life coaching profession, and it shows in everything BYCA puts out ... including this manual.

The Buddy System

This was an optional piece to our training, but if we wanted to (which I did!), we could sign up for a buddy -- someone who will coach us for three months AND be coached by us for three months (simultaneously); a practice buddy. When I talked to the dozen coaches I connected with in June, before signing up for my training, almost all of them said "Sign up for a buddy, you won't regret it!" and "I still talk to my buddy every week; we chat about our businesses!" -- I saw the value this opportunity held. Julie herself is the one who pairs the buddies (after we fill out a form, giving her information to work with). There were 100 people in my cohort, and while not everyone signed up for this part of the program, a TON of people last night thanked their buddy publicly AND raved about how perfect Julie did at matching them up. And I agree -- my buddy and I hit it off immediately! (... we connected over Disney, lol, but also just really enjoyed talking to each other, and we have a huge amount of respect for each other).

The Community

My trainers were fantastic. My peers were amazing. Every single coach I've met -- past, present (and probably future!) -- that has come through BYCA has been loving and supportive. This is THE BEST community I've ever been a part of ... and I was in a pretty great sorority in university, so that's saying something. Seriously, I feel so SEEN and HEARD, more than I ever have in my life. That is HUGE, and I will cherish these amazing humans for the rest of my life.

By the end of our final training call, I actually FELT like a Life Coach. I spent so long calling myself a Life Coach-in-Training, and even though I technically finished my final assignments a week prior, I was still in that mode of "I'm just training, I'm not a REAL coach" ... but I am. I felt it in my body yesterday as we got deeper and deeper into the call. Not only that, for the first time in my life, I finished an educational experience with no confusion as to what my next steps are -- my purpose is clear, and my education aligns with it! Thank you, Beautiful You.

(If you have any questions -- questions about becoming a coach and/or questions about Beautiful You -- send me a DM on Instagram ... I'd love to chat more about this experience!)