Coaching Academy

The intention of the RIHEL Coaching Academy is to develop confident and capable coaches who support others with maximizing their personal and professional potential. Through a comprehensive training experience, participants are prepared to effectively practice professional coaching.

The RIHEL Coaching Academy provides an accredited and robust six-month coach training experience that prepares participants with the skills and practices essential to providing an effective and valuable coaching experience. The program is limited to 15 participants per class and is open to both graduates of one of RIHEL’s comprehensive leadership programs, OR anyone who has completed an introductory coaching workshop and has experience being coached by either a peer or professional coach.

At the Regional Institute for Health & Environmental Leadership (RIHEL), we believe that Coaching is the art of being a strategic thinking partner. It is both a communication skill and a development tool for oneself or others.

One of the basic philosophical underpinnings of coaching is that individuals are creative, resourceful and whole. They don’t need fixing. In fact, more often than not, they have the answers to the challenges they face within them. A good coach can help individuals evoke those answers and become aware of possibilities, working alongside them to set goals and craft action plans. Coaching is a collaborative effort that expands a person’s capacity to take effective action.

The context for coaching is a dialogue. It is an ongoing partnership or a sustained alliance between a coach and a person being coached to enhance learning, growth and effectiveness. It is a one-to-one relationship in which the focus is on developing the individual, challenging and supporting that person to become more effective, and to reach their own highest levels of competence and ability. Coaching is about unlocking a person’s potential in order to reach new levels of performance. It’s about helping people learn, rather than teaching them.

It is important to note that coaches don’t develop people per se; rather, they guide individuals to develop themselves. Coaches serve as a catalyst for development. A coach is a respectful yet truthful listener, and an unbiased accountability partner. A major role for a coach is to ask good questions that elicit new awareness, knowledge, wisdom or strategy from the person being coached.

• 86 hours of coach-specific training (accredited by the International Coaching Federation for 86 Approved Coach Specific Training Hours)
• 29 training modules
• A small class size (max 15 participants!) with individualized guidance and instruction
• Interterm assignments, including 5 observed coaching sessions with personal feedback
• An online learning management and learning community platform
• Coaching tools and resources
• Optional Coaching Practicum

This program is scheduled to return in 2023. It has been offered both in-person over five two-day training sessions and as a fully virtual program. Please check back later this year for the dates and format of the next class.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE – 2021 Virtual Program (this program has ended):

• Thursdays and/or Fridays in February 2021: 4th, 5th, 11th, 19th, 25th and 26th.
• Most Wednesdays, March 17, 2021 – July 14, 2021
• Sessions will range from approximately two to seven hours in length, including breaks, with most averaging around three hours total.
• In addition, each student participated in five (5) observed coaching practice sessions between February 26th and June 30th. These sessions were scheduled directly between participants and program faculty.
• Download the 2021 RIHEL Coaching Academy Schedule

Location: online videoconference via Zoom

Hours: The length of each session varies from approximately two to eight hours (including breaks)

The Coaching Academy is limited to 15 participants per class and is open to:

Graduates of one of RIHEL’s comprehensive leadership programs:
• Advanced Leadership Training Program (ALTP)
• Advanced Physicians Leadership Program (APLP)
• Leadership for Healthy Community Design (LHCD)
• Primary Care Movers and Changers (PCMAC) program

OR, anyone who has completed the following requirements:
• The RIHEL Introduction to Coaching workshop (or an equivalent training)
• Experience being coached by either a peer or professional coach (see RIHEL’s personal coaching services)

Time Commitment. Participants must commit the time required to complete assignments and participate in all of the training sessions.

• The sessions take place in person or via videoconference using Zoom.
• Assignments between sessions include readings, self-assessments, on-line discussions, and observed practice coaching labs.

Technology Resources. Participants must have access to the hardware and software to participate in distance learning. The program cannot assume any costs for the computer and communication systems used by participants.