Life Coaching Practicum Guidelines

The Practicum portion of your Certification will take 3–6 hours to complete. It consists of doing two sessions with a volunteer client: the client intake session and then a follow-up session.

How to select a volunteer client

In order to complete the Practicum part of your Certification, you will need to find a volunteer to be your ‘client’ from within the IWA student group. This should not be a real client but should be another IWA student or IWA graduate. You may NOT use friends or family members, co-workers or clients. In order to use another IWA student please post a request for a volunteer client inside of the private IWA Facebook student community group.

Session recording information

Some of our students have found that recording audio of their session allowed them to then go back and listen to the process and write down everything more accurately. If that would be helpful for you to do, make sure you get your clients permission first. We recommend that you follow up with your ‘client’ a few days later to check in, see how they are doing, and ask them for feedback from their experience being coached by you.

Session 1 — Full Intake
  1. Have your client identify the ‘thing’ or ‘problem’ they want help with (write this down.)
  2. Have your client fill out a client intake form. You can do this with them or you may have them complete the form before you meet with them.
  3. Sit down and go over the intake form with them and ask powerful second and third questions and then LISTEN. Write down the answers and your observations (not opinions or judgements.)
  4. Take notes from your session.
Session 2 — Coaching
  1. Have your client fill out the ‘action graph’ (see handouts from course.) Have them fill out one for each system—mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.
  2. Using the specific tools and techniques from the course make a list of additional options to move towards balance in each area that they discovered or uncovered that was out of balance on their graph sheets.
  3. Have your client identify which action steps they will begin taking as ‘phase one’ or a first step in their journey towards balance, wholeness and wellness.
  4. Take notes from your session.

 

Submit Practicum

You will be required to submit all of the completed graphs, intake forms, session notes, and your client recommendations. Once we receive your assignment, please allow us time to grade and respond back. Our instructors typically respond within 2 weeks.