Why I Recommend Transformation Academy As A Life Coaching Certification For Therapists

When I embarked on my journey as a pediatric occupational therapy mentor and coach, I faced uncertainty about the necessity of acquiring a life coaching certification. I also considered coaching parents (which was already part of my job as an early intervention OT) as a side hustle but wasn't confident in offering life coaching as a stand-alone offer.

Through my journey, I encountered a steep learning curve and stumbled upon costly mistakes. My aim now is to guide you through this process, ensuring you avoid the financial pitfalls I encountered.

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Here’s what I've learned:

Certifications Aren't Everything: As therapists, we really don't need more certifications to be a life coach. We sometimes get caught up in learning and accumulating continuing education and certifications. However, the truth is, ANYONE can call themselves a life coach, why do you need more? So, the question arises, is acquiring another certification genuinely necessary?
Essential Learning for Aspiring Coaches: If you’re venturing into life coaching, here's what you should focus on learning:
- The dynamics of conducting a coaching session.
- Establishing a life coaching business framework.
- Strategies for client acquisition.

Given these considerations, I advocate starting with the life coaching courses at Transformation Academy. Here’s why:

They are cost-effective.
The courses are concise, making efficient use of your time.
They provide a comprehensive overview of the field.

Continue reading to discover more about what Transformation Academy has to offer.

About Transformation Academy

Transformation Academy was developed by Joeel and Natalie Rivera. Joel is a former psychology professor and has degrees in Counseling and Psychology. Which means, he is also an educated therapist like us.

They describe their Life Coach Certification Programs as being for heart-centered difference makers. Where they have a mission to make life coaching tools and education accessible to all.

I believe this fits with our needs as therapists who have ALREADY completed our educations in the therapy world.

Programs at Transformation Academy

Transformation Academy offers a lot of different programs such as:

Life Purpose Coach Certification
Self-Care Life Coach Certification
Mindfulness Life Coach Certification
Confidence Coach Certification and a Growth Mindset

I recommend you start with the Master Life Coach Certification which includes:

Professional Life Coach Certification
Life Purpose Coach Certification
Happiness Coach Certification
Goal Success Coach Certification

I personally have completed several of their courses: Professional Life Coach Certification, Entrepreneurship/Business Life Coach Certification, and Self-Care Life Coach Certification. And have started several others.

How the courses are delivered

The certification courses are delivered via self-paced videos with transcripts. There are also included handouts to be used with your clients, and sometimes even videos you can use.

More recently they have started offering live certification courses s well.

Pros and Cons of this Life Coaching Certification

There are pros of Transformation Academy courses. Especially for those who are already certified therapists.

Low cost
Self-paced
Anytime learning
Includes coaching worksheets and forms
Diverse Courses

While the cons are:

Must also buy courses to understand the business aspect of starting a life coaching practice
How to run coaching sessions is not discussed in detail in the courses.
Some courses are really long for those already therapists

If you really want to be certified then the gold standard is the International Coaching Federation. However, this certification program required many hours of practice, something that I do not believe is necessary for therapists when moving into life coaching.

What I learned from the courses I have taken

I've learned that I lean toward a mentoring and consulting model in my parent coaching in EI. Which makes sense. We are trying to give ideas, not truly coach. Coaching is different, especially with adults. We want them to come to their own conclusions. We use a lot of coaching practices in our OT practices, such as active listening.

Completing the Transformation Academy Life Coaching Certifications brought me back to a lot of the psychology I learned as an undergraduate and the psychosocial foundations of OT school.

While I am not working directly as a life coach right now, I am coaching and mentoring other pediatric occupational therapists. There is a big demand for life coaches. If you want to start a life coaching business I encourage you to do so, just know it takes time just like starting ANY business.

I encourage you to explore Transformation Academy’s programs to see if they are the right fit for you.