Woman I Interviewed Seemed the Consummate Professional

¶ … woman I interviewed seemed the consummate professional who valued a good education. She in her second reply discussed the PCI (Parent Coaching Institute) in Bellevue, WA. She stated PCI was the only institute to her knowledge that offered proper certification for a parent coach. This is an important bit of information because most who want to be certified parent coaches assume any training will allow them to achieve certification. She also described the process and the availability of distance learning which makes it seem like a flexible way to learn.

Being passionate, something she appears to be, is important in pursuing anything in life, especially anything that is uncertain like a new career. It is not easy, what she does. She has to put in many hours of coaching, 500 to be exact, in order to qualify. She even did pro-bono coaching, which was coaching for free. Another great gem from her interview were the different qualities she felt made the best parent coach. Some of which could be applied to any career avenue: good listener, creative thinker, straight forward, and confident.

Like with any job, come the likes and dislike and her enjoyment from her career comes from the positive personal growth she witnesses in her clients with promoting and marketing herself being the least, which offers one to examine the difficulties of working for one's self and the stress of "getting yourself out there." Flexibility just like what was offered in her training is the best part of her job. The worst would have to be not finding work outside of self-employment when deciding to be a parent coach. This goes into finding work in the public sector, parent coaching is more for educating parents, and not really as a versatile career path that can take someone to different fields and avenues. The best advice she gave for someone wishing to pursue the same kind of job is to get proper accreditation.

Taking away from the interview was her confidence and passion. In anything that requires patience and compassion, like parent coaching, one has to truly love what they are doing to pursue such a "private" job. It's the responsibility of the parent coach to not only educate, but also mediate and observe. Her responses gave me deep insight into how hard it is to not only be a parent coach, but also becoming one.

Paraphrased answer #1

My child was born with special needs. I felt too young to be a parent. Not only was I a newlywed, but I was in an unfamiliar place, isolated, no support available from family or friends. Thankfully, I crossed paths with a woman I call my SOS, a Supportive Objective Someone, who guided me to grow and thrive as a parent, providing a positive impact on me I later wished to pay forward. So I joined a mom's group to give support and be an SOS to others, later running the group myself.

Fast-forward seven years after my third child was born a friend of mine confided that a neighbor sexually abused her daughter and I being an SOS and a strong advocate was my only option. I desired to help parents deal with the challenges of life enabling me to grow not only as a parent, but a person and professional. The events led me to establish a non-profit agency to prevent child abuse in my community. I also earned a Master's in Social Work while going through a divorce.