The Story & Vision

Ultimate Approach to Human Development

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rior to becoming business partners in 1998, Laura Divine and Joanne Hunt both held executive leadership positions in multi-national corporations for a combined total of thirty years. They were deeply committed to building healthy organizations that enabled human beings to grow and change and contribute in ways that mattered to them.

With years of experience, teaching and participating in a multitude of corporate training programs, human development Modules, workshops, seminars, practices, and coaching programs, they realized that, even with the best intentions, the net effect of most development approaches - in terms of enabling sustained change - was limited at best. Like many who took inspiring Modules only to have the binder sit on the bookshelf within a week, they knew there were more powerful and sustainable ways to bring about lasting change.

Taking inventory of their combined experience Laura and Joanne realized that they shared a deep, heartfelt calling to create something more sustainable. They set out to build an advanced adult education program to teach others the powerful coaching method they had developed and to do so in a way that also set a new standard for human development training.

Integral Coaching Canada was born. Science and Soul came together on behalf of 1) building an approach to human development that was rigorously effective, sustainable, and alleviated suffering in both clients and coaches, and 2) designing a training program that enabled people to be of service using this powerful coaching approach.

An Embodiment Academy for Professional Coaches

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he vision Laura and Joanne shared was to build a school that did not just teach theory and technique. They wanted to give students the means to truly embody what they were learning. And they wanted to develop a scalable coaching approach to address human suffering by training embodied Integral Coaches™ to serve across the globe. As ambitious as they knew such an undertaking would be, they were able to map its contours drawing on multi-disciplinary research combined with the application of Integral Theory, their own extensive coaching work, intimate knowledge of and work in the field of adult development, as well as their personal understanding of embodiment principles from ongoing long-term practices.

The key, they knew, was addressing the great difference between theoretical understanding and the ability to carry out what is understood in both the coaching method and the coach training itself. As you know, there is a big difference between a powerful “Ah Ha Moment” and actually living what has been realized. They wanted to enable people to bring about real change being longed for in ways that would be sustainable. Otherwise, what’s the point?

They realized that the most effective approach would also draw on their decades of lineage tradition practices: Zen Practice (both Laura and Joanne), Tai Chi Practice (Laura), and Writing Practice (Joanne). An embodiment, quasi-martial arts model based on learning a form, practicing, form correction, and embodiment assessment formed the backbone of their coaching method and training design. Each lineage tradition brought new elements to a "self-as-instrument" approach.

With this realization, the pieces began coming together, and after many years of deep immersion and refinement, the school opened its doors in 2003.

One human at a time

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CC has successfully trained hundreds and hundreds of coaches from all over the world. ICC’s Integral Coaching® Certification Program Modules have been included as independent credit offerings in a Master’s Degree program in California, in the building of teams of Integral Coaches™ in Federal Government of Canada departments, in the advancement of HR, Coaching, and Management teams in the private sector, and ICC has trained many leaders in the private sector (profit and non-profit) as well as training coaches globally who have established coaching businesses in their own countries.

Integral Coaching Canada has offered its training on all five continents and has earned a reputation of providing one of the most comprehensive and effective human development coach training programs available in the world.

Our vision was to have extraordinarily embodied coaches take this method forward in their own unique ways as consultants and artists, as small business and large corporate leaders, as managers and spiritual teachers, as community organizers and yoga practitioners, and we have graduated coaches from 24 to 74 years of age. Each of these coaches committed to their own vision of helping move the planet forward in ways that matter…one human at a time. That vision continues to this day.