Blog
“I've rarely experienced a 'training' program that so effectively combines rigorous methodology with generous heart. I now have a living compendium of precise, relevant practices.”
“Working with Joanne and Laura has been transformational at many levels of my life. Through their Integral Coaching® training, I have come to understand what “being human” means.”
“Integral Coaching Canada provides what we believe is the most complete and comprehensive coaching program available. ”
The Ground From Which We Stand - 2023 End of Year Reflection
As this year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on all the change I’ve been in during these past few years and what it is that I draw on and stand upon in the face of all that life brings my way. I am grateful to my mom for being the ground from which I stand. When I think of my mom, I think of someone solid, wise, and independent, and who makes the best out of every situation. She believed in me, challenged me, and taught me how to navigate life’s ever-changing experiences, adventures, joys, and hardships. At this tender time of year, I bow to my mom for such solid ground.
I also find myself reflecting on my soulful work as Integral Coaching Canada’s (ICC) Managing Director. This is such a meaningful role in my life, a role that offers me a chance to have significant impact and that harnesses the more spiritual aspects of my being. It is a role that calls for me to draw on both the ground from which I stand while simultaneously standing on the shoulders of those who have come before me and those who work alongside me as we all, collectively, continue to carry forward the legacy of this exceptional company and our Integral Coaching® lineage. And at the same time, we are all creating the ground upon which future teachers and staff and leaders and coaches stand. Our legacy. Yours and mine. We are building that right now.
ICC’s coaching method is ever evolving as we continue to refine and advance our robust and elegant coaching method and the content of our leading-edge coach training program. One of the constants in our two decades of training coaches has been adapting to all the change that comes with anything that lasts a long time – marriages, families, businesses, communities. Humans adapt all the time. So do companies. In fact, it is something we pride ourselves on as we continuously grow new muscles to be with the What Is of the world around us.
It has been a banner year for ICC’s growth and evolution as we attained our ICF Level 2 Accreditation and as we significantly advanced our materials and application of our Levels of Consciousness Lens. This is an immensely powerful lens that enables Integral Coaches™ to determine the distinct view a client has of the world (and thus their coaching topic), to calibrate their coaching work, and to focus the development path of their clients in key ways. We have continued to advance the nuanced power of this lens. It is deeply satisfying work.
In July of this year, we also celebrated ICC’s 20th Anniversary—a significant milestone for this high quality, personal, and intimate coach training school that Joanne Hunt and Laura Divine founded in 2003. Joanne and Laura are the original ground upon which ICC stands and their life experiences have been lovingly infused into this coaching method, our course material, and into all of us who take this training and are embodied practitioners as we go forward. ICC is infused with Joanne and Laura’s love, joy, wisdom, and their unique ability to be with What Is. And our faculty and ICC team have continued to advance Joanne and Laura’s work, as a good lineage school does. What was so lovingly developed back in 2003 and built upon every year since then draws upon truth that is common to all of us, bigger than each of us, and ripples out beyond us.
What’s next for ICC in 2024?
We can hardly wait for the new year! We are so excited to launch a new 2-hour workshop called The Art of Integral Practice Design which invites both seasoned coaching professionals and those beginning their coaching journeys to explore the power of practices and practice design in coaching. Stay tuned for more information coming soon!
In the second module (PCM) of our Integral Coaching® Certification program, our students are introduced to the Enneagram – another powerfully informative lens that maps out distinct ways clients relate to, approach, and experience life. The Enneagram supports coaches in understanding what the world looks like through the eyes of their clients while simultaneously allowing students to know themselves more deeply. In 2024, we will be advancing how students work with this revealing lens even further.
Lastly, we’re delighted to be offering an Integral Coaching® Fundamentals course, four Associate Certification Modules, and one Professional Certification Module this winter and spring. Please do know our late January Integral Coaching® Fundamentals course and mid-February Associate Certification Module are filling up quickly and have limited seats left. Click here for more information!
As you reflect back on this year and as you enter the holiday season, what changes have you been experiencing? We had 81 students start programs with us in the last few months, all of whom are actively engaged in change within themselves and supporting change and growth in others. What have you been working to change in your life and work? And as we all continue to experience and navigate so many changes, I wonder, what is the ground upon which you stand?
Take a moment to acknowledge this ground, solid while shifting, holding you right now. What are three things in your life that you consider ground? Can you name them in your mind right now?
Wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season, a time when we all need our ground. See you next year!
Holiday hugs,
Val (& the ICC Team)
