LivingWorks is excited to announce that LivingWorks ASIST, LivingWorks safeTALK and LivingWorks Start training programs are now accredited for professional coaches!
Coaches associated with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) who complete LivingWorks training, and coaches associated with the US National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) who complete LivingWorks ASIST or LivingWorks safeTALK can claim continuing education credits that count towards their registrations.
In an effort to create a Network of Safety throughout the professional coaching community, a team from British Columbia, Canada, have been promoting LivingWorks training programs and hope to make suicide prevention skills training a core requirement for all coaches.
The Kindling Project
Some excerpts from this section are originally featured in an article from the Crisis Centre BC.
Lynn Thorsell, Leadership Coach and Consultant, Maddy Brown, Mental Fitness and Empowerment Coach and Lu Ripley, Senior Crisis Educator and Facilitator, are the creators of The Kindling Project. The project aims to raise awareness among coaches and gather support for the implementation of suicide prevention training as a core curriculum requirement for the coaching profession.
“As coaches, some of the things we’re trained to do is to notice what’s going on, to be able to name what we notice, ask powerful questions, and then support clients in connecting with their own agency to make the changes that they want in their lives,” says Thorsell. “So much of that aligns really well with the LivingWorks safeTALK and LivingWorks ASIST training programs.”
Current educational programs for coaching do not require training in suicide prevention, meaning that most coaches would not necessarily have skills to recognize that someone is in distress or know how to help.
The goal for The Kindling Project is to build a suicide-safer community within the coaching profession, one where coaches are able to recognize when their client is struggling, know how to have a conversation with them about it and how to connect them with the support they need.
Listen: a professional certified coach shares her story about LivingWorks suicide prevention training programs and how she used her new skills to help keep her community safer from suicide.
Brown, Thorsell and Ripley are all certified LivingWorks safeTALK and LivingWorks ASIST program Trainers. The team has partnered with the Crisis Centre BC for the Kindling Project, as they have been involved with the Centre through the years in various capacities.
The Kindling Project is already seeing progress from their advocacy work; in March 2023, the ICF accredited LivingWorks Start, LivingWorks safeTALK and LivingWorks ASIST suicide response courses, allowing coaches to claim these trainings as part of their required Continuing Coach Education (CCE) Courses.
Just recently, both LivingWorks safeTALK and LivingWorks ASIST were accredited in a similar fashion with the US NBHWC.
LivingWorks would like to thank the members of the Kindling Project for their work towards keeping all communities around the world safer from suicide, and for creating a Network of Safety throughout the professional coaching community.
To learn more about the Kindling Project, you can head to their website.
