In collaboration with the NPE friends Fellowship the IAOTRC announces:
The Not Parent Expected Trauma Informed Certified Coaching Program
Would you like to become an NPE Trauma Recovery Coach?
With the birth of widely available DNA tests, such as Ancestry and 23andMe, came an unexpected result — thousands of individuals getting the news that their mother is not their mother, or their father isn’t their father, or even that they have siblings they didn’t know about.
Discovering these truths, once buried family secrets, has been a blow that came from nowhere, one they certainly were not prepared for. As a result this knowledge has been like a powerful earthquake, shifting and even fracturing their sense of self and their relationships with who their family. It can leave them feeling lost, betrayed, heartbroken and confused. They may feel intense grief because they have lost the family they thought they had and missed out on the chance to have a relationship with their true parent or siblings.
In order to cope with this emotional pain some individuals have reached for maladaptive coping mechanisms such as food, alcohol or drugs. Others may experience a disruption in their ability to maintain their marriage relationship or even to do their job. Finding out that your parent is not who you thought they were is a trauma and the after effects of trauma are significant and far reaching.
Thousands of people need help navigating the waters of learning they are an NPE. But there is not a body of professionals who know and understand NPE. Others cannot understand why it could be a disruptive and painful, thinking it’s just a minor annoyance rather than recognizing it can cause so much of life to unravel.
This Certified NPE trauma recovery coaching program changes everything
Announcing the new Certified NPE Trauma Recovery Coaching program, the first of it’s kind in the world.
The program is a collaboration of the NPE Friend’s Fellowship and The International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching. Students will earn a Coaching certification recognized around the world through the Association.
The certification program has two parts:
The Initial Trauma Recovery Coaching course offered through the Association
The NPE Advanced Certification Course course offered in conjunction with the NPE Friends Fellowship
In order to fully understand the effects of an NPE discovery coaches must first understand trauma and how it impacts individuals. The Initial Class will give you that foundation of understanding. These classes are offered every February and August each year. They last for six months and are composed of both classroom learning and coaching practice. The course is taught entirely online. It is a very robust class with multiple requirements to be granted your Certification. The Association places a high value on only credentialled coaches who are qualified and competent to function as Certified Trauma Recovery Coaches. If you’d like more information about this portion of the NPE Certification program you can review it HERE.
After completing your Initial Course you can enroll in the Advanced NPE course. This 15 week class, beginning in April and October, will do a deep dive into understanding how the NPE experience effects individuals and how to help them find their way through this trauma. At the end of this course you will earn your Advanced NPE Coaching Certification - signified by the credential CTRC-NPE. This credential will allow you to work around the world with clients, either virtually or in a physical office — or perhaps you will lead retreats or write books or consult. The Certification is yours to use in ways that best serve your professional development.
How would this look?
Susan wants to obtain her Certified Trauma Recovery Coaching Advanced NPE credential. To do so, she enrolls in the February 2021 Initial Certification Course. That course completes in August 2021. Then she enrolls in the October 2021 Advanced NPE Course. After completing both of those courses, and their required supplemental work, she will earn her CTRC-NPE credential.
The NPE Certification Course will cover concepts such as:
Family System’s Theory
Moral Injury and Trauma
Identity Trauma
Shame
Intergenerational Family Trauma — especially focused upon family secrets
Grief
Navigating Disclosure of NPE status
Navigating Contact with Current and New Family Members
But I already know so much about trauma, do I have to take the Initial Class?
Do you already have a coaching or therapy practice and wish to skip the Initial Coaching course? We understand that some professionals will already have a solid grounding in trauma. Please email Bobbi Parish, MA, CTRC-S at BobbiParish@iaotrc.com to explain your individual qualifications. If you have a solid verifiable background in trauma Bobbi may grant you the permission to skip the first half of the program, the Initial Certification Course, and enroll directly in the Advanced NPE Certification course.
Please note that this is an exception to our normal requirements. To obtain our normal Advanced Level Certification, rather than the Advanced NPE credential, all students must take the Initial Certification Course.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROGRAM OR THE IAOTRC? WE HAVE ANSWERS!
What is the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching?
The Association was founded in 2017 by Bobbi L. Parish, MA, CTRC-S. Bobbi created the IAOTRC using other mental health professional organizations as a model. As a result, the IAOTRC exists to:
educate Trauma Recovery Coaches
provide professional development opportunities to mental health professionals working with trauma
educate the general public about trauma
to accredit Certified Trauma Recovery Coaching education programs in order to ensure high quality education is being provided
to establish professional standards, ethics, care protocols and guiding principles for Trauma Recovery Coaching
to advocate for Trauma Recovery Coaching within the mental health community and the world-at-large.
How are they qualified to teach these courses?
The Association was founded by Bobbi L. Parish, MA, CTRC-S. Bobbi has her Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She worked as a therapist in private practice, primarily working with trauma survivors, in Portland, Oregon. In 2014 she moved away from the therapy modality and was one of the first Trauma Recovery Coaches in the world. She pioneered the field, creating the first Code of Ethics for Trauma Recovery Coaching, the Certification program and the Association. She is the only person in the world who has created Coaching Protocols as a means of standardizing coaching care and ensuring that all trauma survivors are provided with safe and competent coaching assistance. She is also a published author, accomplished speaker and excels at both teaching and curriculum development.
With her at the helm is the Deputy Director Sarah Parish and the Management Team. The IAOTRC has educated more than 325 students since it began its coach training program in July of 2017 with the Initial Certification Course. We started offering our Advanced Level Certification courses in November of 2018 and offered our first Supervisor level credential course in November 2019. We also offer Continuing Education Courses to our coaches. We consistently receive excellent feedback from our students about the IAOTRC’s programming. All of our curriculum is written by our Management Team based upon scientific research and decades of professional experience. All of those on our Mangement Team are both Trauma Recovery Coaches and survivors of trauma themselves.
How, specifically, are the teachers of these courses qualified to teach this material?
All of our course teachers are a part of our Management Team. They are credentialed at the Advanced or Supervisor level of Trauma Recovery Coaching Certification and have completed 100’s of hours of classroom training and coaching experience. They continue to obtain training as part of their role on the Management Team, which has attended more than 36 hours of training in the 2020 calendar year with invididuals such as Bessel Van Der Kolk, Dan Siegel, Laurence Heller, Seburn Fischer, Stephen Porges and Lori Gill. Each teacher has also obtained specialized training in specialized areas of trauma coaching.
Is the IAOTRC accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)?
No, the IAOTRC is not accredited by the ICF, for two reasons. First, the IAOTRC has been designed as an accrediting body itself. The ICF is also an accrediting body. It has no oversight as it governs itself. The ICF started as a small cadre of coaches, led by Thomas Leonard, in 1995 who wished to create a professional organization to support his fellow coaches. Over time, the organization grew to providing courses itself, then moved away from that and began accrediting other coach training programs. This is the exact path the IAOTRC wishes to follow. At the moment we are the only program in the world credentially Certified Trauma Recovery Coaches. However, we see a time when there will be multiple programs, all held to the same high standards as those developed by the IAOTRC.
Second, the Association provides education which does not fit the ICF accrediting model. The ICF is very clear about not wanting to credential any courses that have anything that looks like a mental health professional certification. We were going to pursue ICF credentialling but quickly realized that in order for us to obtain it we would have to remove significant parts of our course material. Doing so would render our program useless to both our coaches and their clients. So we have dropped any plans to pursue ICF accreditation.
Is anyone overseeing the IAOTRC?
Yes, we are a member of the Association of Coaching Training Organizations (ACTO). As a member of ACTO we are bound by their Code of Ethics and Guiding Principles. Anyone with a grievance about our program can file one through ACTO.
There’s so little research on the NPE experience. How can you create an effective coaching program without research?
There is little research about the effects of an NPE discovery on an individual and families. However, we cannot delay providing assistance to those who need it solely on the basis of a lack of research into a specific issue. There is sufficient research and documentation about how trauma effects both individuals and families, how family systems influence functional or dysfunctional behavior, identity disruption and betrayal trauma to forumlate a curriculum that would competently provide assistance to NPE coaching clients. Additionally, we have a cadre of individuals dealing with NPE Trauma who can provide qualitative and anecdotal information.
How is Trauma Recovery Coaching different from therapy?
This is a great question, one of the subjects we are most often asked about. Trauma Recovery Coaching and Therapy differ on a foundational level. Coaching does not “process trauma” or spend a great deal fo time looking at a client’s past. Coaches are present moment focused — how can we help our clients in the here and now, as well as help them progress to where they wish to go in their life. Coaches do not prescribe treatment, diagnose or assess mental health issues, provide guidance on medications or direct a client’s recovery. Coaching is client led. Our client’s set their goals and their process, we come alongside as peers and resources.
Let’s look closely at what coaches do and what they don’t do.
What Coaches do:
• build a healthy relationship with their clients so that they can have a safe space to get the support they need to navigate their life, incorporating new concepts of identity, family and the after effects of trauma
• work with their clients to set goals, helping them map out a path that brings them closer to leading the life they want to live
• provide education about trauma and recovery.
• share their personal experiences to let their clients know they are not alone in what they are facing and to validate their client’s experiences
• help their clients identify the emotions and thoughts that they are having, as a result of their NPE discovery, that might be holding them back from what they want to achieve in their lives — we focus in particular on shame
• help their clients celebrate their progress
• help their clients build a healthy view of themselves, others and the world
What Coaches do NOT do
• treat, diagnose or assess their client’s mental health
• prescribe medication or give advice about any medications
• prescribe treatment
• “process” trauma with their clients. Their focus is upon helping their clients function in their present day lives
• work with clients who are at risk of harming themselves or others
• work outside of their scope of competence
REGISTRATION:
Class Dates: February 6th - May 21st, 2024
Class Time: Tuesdays from 4:30pm - 6:00pm EST
Cost: $2,450 (There is a nonrefundable deposit of $735 required to enroll)
CEU Credits: 10
For information about the course, contact Dr. Paulette Bethel, CMC CTRC at paulette@drpaulettebethel.com
For questions about registration, contact info@iaotrc.com