Resilience Coach and Consultant Certification
My Story
(Dr. Joel Bennett, Founder/CEO, OWLS)
NOTE. Click here to sign up for our next coach training (April, 2023)
For the past 20 years, I have taught resilience-to-thriving principles and practice in a facilitator-training program. The training (and my book Raw Coping Power) provides a rich set of tools that many people use for their own personal growth and in wellness, lifestyle, and leadership coaching.
This program has reached thousands of workers and has been recognized as evidence-based. For the past few years, various students and colleagues asked me to develop a version for individual and group coaching.
At first, as an occupational health psychologist, I resisted this idea. The original training was designed to enhance the work culture so that the workplace itself had less stress. I lean more toward the “it takes a village” than “build a hero” philosophy. But then I talked with my colleagues Michael and Deborah Arloski (of Real Balance Coaching) and happily realized I can do both.
A New Synthesis
In 2020, we started offering a resilience certification training for both basic resilience coaching and more advanced “coachsulting” (a hybrid—part-coach and part-consultant). This certification applies wellness coaching competencies to helping clients with the many different levels of stressors—triggers, hassles, challenges, adversity—and through the lens of self-actualization. The advanced consulting course is a deeper dive on how to consult with organizations on aligning individual, team, and organizational resilience and with a more human resources and organizational development lens.
Results
We have now trained five cohorts of coaches. Many who have trained with us have over 10 years of experience as coaches, healers, or therapists. Even with students with extensive coaching experience, pre and post results from the program were impressive as it was clear that our students have developed many new skills on account of our program. As with all OWLS programs, we always conduct assessments to keep learning and growing along with our students.
The table of results below show average ratings and agreement at the start of the program and then again 6 weeks later after the last training session.
This research showed us that while wellness coaches know a lot about tools for physical well-being, they can definitely benefit from tools specifically designed for stress and resilience. For example, look at the statement:
"I have the tools I need to help clients work through challenges and stressors"
