Academy of Choice

Academy of choice

A Certified Coaching Program

Our coaching process is about helping people to stop creating their own misery, while taking responsibility for their own happiness and success by putting their time and energy into the things they control, rather than the things they don’t. This means leading people away from blame, anger, and resentment and into introspection, acceptance and proactivity. Our process demolishes the victim mentality and empowers clients to reach their goals, while creating the meaningful relationships in their lives that will support and encourage them along the way.

AOC certifies its coaching participants when they achieve competency. You will receive a coaching certificate from AOC and become a certified coach. If you are interested in the additional credential of Board Certified Coach (BCC), click here to learn the program you need that matches your background.

A Board Certified Program

30-Hour Program

Are you a counselor who wants to move into the field of coaching either full or part time?
Tired of paperwork and insurance panels?
Want to spend your time serving your clients instead of completing endless forms and paperwork?
Want to work with clients who are healthy, highly motivated and looking for support in accomplishing their goals and dreams?

Our 30-hour program was specifically designed for counselors in mind. We have the distance-learning program designed for people who like to study at their own pace and are comfortable with technology. We also offer an intensive in-person three-day program three times a year in Chicago. We are also able to customize a coach training program for you, on location, for groups of 10 or more.

60-Hour Program

Are you a master’s-level professional looking to add coaching to your repertoire of services?
Are you seeking to make a career change into coaching full- or part-time?
Want to spend your time serving your clients who are happy for your services?
Want to work with clients who are healthy, highly motivated and looking for support in accomplishing their goals and dreams?
Is your place of employment asking you to develop coaching skills for your current position or a promotion?

Our 60-hour program is designed for master’s-level professionals interested in developing coaching skills. We have the distance-learning program designed for people who like to study at their own pace and are comfortable with technology. We also offer a regular four-day and then an intensive three-day in-person program three times a year in Chicago.

120-Hour Program

Our 120-hour program is designed for bachelor-level professionals interested in developing skills in coaching. We offer in-person programs three times a year in Chicago. When you are finished with these programs, there is 60 hours of role-playing and case conceptualization to do online with our coaches so you have the utmost confidence when you are finished that you can handle the demands of coaching.

Olver International will never use a hard sell with you. We will not bully or guilt you into a purchase. This is our pledge. You are 100% safe to talk with us.

“Success is being able to affect the change in your life that you want, while gracefully accepting, and even appreciating, those things that come your way that you didn’t want originally.”—Kim Olver

Get Certified and Learn Innovative, Successful Techniques to Use with Your Coaching Clients

Are you aware that if you are NBCC-certified and offer coaching services to your clients, you must now be certified through one of the Center for Credentialing & Education Board of Certified Coaching approved coaching programs?
Would you like to learn the coaching skills that are so effective with Millennials and Gen-Z in the workplace?
Would you like to be a coach who stands out in the field of coaching?
Would you like to learn an established coaching method that will help you in any area—personal life coaching or business/executive coaching?

Coaching is different from therapy counseling, and mentoring or consulting. It is a discrete skill, designed to ask the client Socratic questions that will lead them to their desired outcomes. Adding coaching to your skill set can only help you improve and expand your expertise. Even if you already have been coaching, our revolutionary coaching process can help you take your skills to a new level in helping your clients increase their mental freedom while taking control of their life.

Our coaching process is about helping people to stop creating their own misery, while helping them take responsibility for their own happiness and success by putting their time and energy into the things they control, rather than the ones they don’t. This means leading people away from blame, anger, and resentment and into introspection, acceptance and proactivity. Our process demolishes the victim mentality and empowers clients to reach their goals, while creating the meaningful relationships in their lives that will support and encourage them along the way.

Our revolutionary process is not just a coaching technique. It becomes a lens through which you learn to view the world and possibly a way you choose to live your life. There is application for every area of your life, e.g. relationships, parenting, self-growth, diversity, counseling, teaching, leadership, and goal attainment. The coaches at The Academy of Choice live and breathe the concepts of our revolutionary coaching process—showing, not just telling you, how to move from an ordinary life to an extraordinary one. You will apply the concepts in your own life as you learn to use them with your clients. It has the potential to be a transformational experience for you as you learn to live your life according to the principles of Mental Freedom®. Many people casually talk about change coming from within but our process shows you step-by-step how to do that so you can live it and then show others the way.

Training Outline

Ethics & Regulatory Guidelines

The first thing you learn in our 30-hour coaching program is the difference between coaching, counseling and consulting. You will interpret the BCC Ethics, so you will be well versed in running an ethical coaching practice. You analyze common issues in coaching and customize your coaching form templates to be in compliance with BCC Ethics.

Coaching Knowledge & Applications

In this module, you assess what motivates human behavior. You discuss coach characteristics and the types of questions that are used in coaching sessions. You integrate coaching basics and the types of things coaches do in sessions with their clients. You appraise our proprietary Choice Coaching model of the ten beliefs of Choice Coaches and the ten strategies we utilize in sessions that are supported by those beliefs. You will integrate a strategic application for building rapport with clients and cultivating positive expectancy. You will discriminate three ways of providing clients three options when they have no idea what to do. You will implement the elements of an effective plan and manage your own value conflicts that can present in client sessions, identify client resources and engage a structured decision-making process with your clients. You will role play helping clients overcome self-sabotage, implement a gratitude practice and locate the GLOW in their painful experiences. You will also learn the basics of business coaching by analyzing different types of businesses, what business coaches can help their clients with, and how to help corporations develop and change their corporate culture.

You will determine how to negotiate your contract with the sponsor of your client, typically their employer. You will discover a process for creating systemic change, what leaders need to have in place when they want to be followed, and how to help leaders manage "resistant" employees. You will distinguish the three places managers can intervene with their staff to get the change they are working to develop and negotiate win/win/win solutions between management and employees.

Assessment

In this module, you’ll review six different personality assessments coaches can use with their clients. You will discuss the Johari Window, the four stages of competence and how to assess your clients' motivation, by using Prochaska and Diclemente's Stages of Change model, with the corresponding techniques to help clients in each stage. You will assess what to do if your client lacks or loses motivation. You will experiment with three different tools to assess your clients' five basic needs, which provides clues as to what motivates each client most. Finally, you will discuss other motivational factors and considerations regarding assessments.

Practice Management

In this module, you will hypothesize considerations of a thriving coaching practice. Items such as integrating theories, use of research, corresponding with clients, collaborating with other coaches, mentoring, supervision and providing referrals will be covered. You will self-evaluate your strengths and areas for growth. You will role play six practice coaching sessions. You will critique the Academy of Choice's Goal Attainment System, and determine how you might use it with clients. You will experiment with a practice exam. Finally, you will break down the step-by-step process for obtaining your BCC credential.

What are people saying about the Choice Coaching program?

“I came across the 30-hour coaching training program from the Academy of Choice through Olver International while searching for approved training toward my board coaching certification. I could not have been more pleased with the training. Not only did it help prepare me to take the BCC exam, but it also made me think deeply about my coaching practices and habits. Kim Olver’s training is substantive, concise, and relevant. There is no wasted space. The program included a variety of learning mechanisms, from audio and video to workbooks and external resources. Kim is accessible and responsive, as well as extremely qualified and knowledgeable. As an online course creator, I can tell the planning, thought, and diligence put into this program. I highly recommend it to anyone in the coaching field because it covers concepts relevant to executive coaches, life coaches, career coaches, and more.” – Patrick Jinks

“Thank you for creating a terrific learning experience with your 30-hour Choice Coaching program. I have finished all of the modules, and I thought the overall program was extremely valuable. What took me four combined academic years of an MBA and a Masters in Counseling Psychology to learn, you managed to successfully deliver in your training program! And, you added some valuable new stuff as well (e.g., The 10 Principles of Choice Coaching, GLOW, AOC Decision-Making Process). I will happily recommend your program to any of my colleagues who are, like me, looking for an approved training program in support of obtaining BCC certification.”–David Ransburg

Is Coaching for You?

Coaching is a field that’s been rapidly expanding since the mid-90s. Not only is it a profession, but also an important skill for people in leadership positions.

Coaches help people set goals and determine what quality looks like, and they also support the person along the path toward realizing those goals. In the workplace, coaching helps people tap into their internal motivation. Life Coaching helps people who seek self-growth and development reach their personal goals. Unlike counseling, coaching is often done by phone or over the internet with individuals who are without mental health concerns; they are healthy people looking to make positive change in their lives. Rather than delving into the past to explain behaviors, coaching is very present-oriented. Coaches make it possible for clients to transform themselves from where they are, into the future to who and where they want to be.

Learning the skills of coaching will serve you throughout your life while you work with your clients, employees, students, and even your own children.

Ten Reasons to Become a Coach:

You want to get the best from your employees or students
You want to help people accomplish their hopes and dreams.
Your passion is helping others.
You know how to align your client’s goals with their values and passions.
You are goal-oriented and know how to help others accomplish theirs.
You want a flexible schedule.
You want to be your own boss and have your own business.
You want to work from your home and from anywhere you are in the world.
You have expertise and life experiences that will help others.
You see yourself as a lifelong learner.

Why Choice Coaching?

I started my own coaching business in 2004 (www.therelationshipcenter.biz). Prior to that, I had a full-time job and a private practice. I mostly worked with people who were sent to me, rather than those who elected to have counseling. It was a lot of work to help clients understand the benefit of counseling. In my private practice, I only took private pay clients so I didn’t have to deal with all the paperwork for insurance companies but I often heard from my colleagues how draining that can be. Coaching provided me with the ability to help voluntary clients without mental health challenges to move forward toward accomplishing their goals and dreams. I haven’t found anything more rewarding than that!

Anyway, I’ve built my business and can significantly shorten the learning curve for you and I have an awesome coaching process I’d love to share with you. I’ve already made the mistakes and can show you how to avoid them.

Learning Objectives:

Create an informed consent form.
Discuss the differences between counseling, coaching, and consulting.
Create a list of essential coaching behaviors.
Review the BCC Code of Ethics.
List the five basic human needs.
Assess need-strengths in practice clients.
List the elements of the Choice Coaching model
Practice using Choice Coaching’s Powerful Questions techniques.
Role play using the the Choice coaching process.
Distinguish between disconnecting and connecting relationship habits.
Assess when you are working harder than you client.
List the elements of an effective plan.
Explain organizational roles and culture.
Discuss the three conditions of quality.
Practice systemic, rather than individual, solutions in management.
Teach the coaching process as a mentoring model.
Practice win/win/win solutions in conflict management.
Discuss coaching business practices—creating website, newsletter, niche, product funnel, SEO, article marketing, etc.
Develop your budget for your coaching business.
Define your niche.
Develop a business plan. Complete a thorough self-assessment.
Create a plan for improvement with a partner.
Create your own personalized coaching forms.

For those of you who prefer the distance-learning option, we have a program you can complete at your own pace. There are prerecorded videos, narrated PowerPoints, worksheets, assigned reading and a closed Facebook community for interaction with other coaching students. Start today and complete the program when it’s convenient for you.

We also realize that if you signed up for the distance learning program, sometimes it’s difficult to apply the self-discipline necessary to get your assignments done within the time frame you would like, so we offer free coaching services via a weekly 15 min. phone call to help keep you on track. To take advantage of this offer, you can email me at any time during your program and request it.