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Do you believe aspects of our identities play a major role in our life outcomes?
Do you believe coaching without a lens for equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism is inherently incomplete?
Are you ready to unpack harmful business practices you've learned and create a values-based coaching and leadership practice centered in equity?
Are you doing "the work" behind closed doors, but don't know how to demonstrate your values to your clients and community (without being performative)?
If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you're in the right place.
“This program felt like a masters-level training and immersion in equity-centered leadership and coaching. It's hands-on, it's reflective, it's mind-blowing and no matter how much you think you know about leading, coaching, or DEI work before you begin, you will learn so much about yourself and can't help but leave a much-improved human."
April Force Pardoe
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
At The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching®️
we use coaching as a tool to create equity.
we use coaching as a tool to create equity.
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Equity-Centered CoachingⓇ is our proprietary approach to coaching and leadership that pulls from the disciplines of coaching, cultural psychology, facilitation, trauma-informed practice, and antiracism in order to teach a framework that prioritizes self-determination, consent, cultural responsiveness, and high-quality coaching practice that can be used in a variety of coach/coachee, mentor/mentee, and manager/team member relationships.
"I got all kinds of skills as a coach and as a facilitator, but I didn’t fully understand how much the program would help me as an entrepreneur and as a business owner."
Chris Wallace Caldwell
Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
Why Certification?
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When you become certified with The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching® this achievement indicates you meet a standard of competence and demonstrates your commitment to becoming a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive coach and leader.
Our curriculum is one of the best you'll find, and is the only coaching program that takes an applied approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression work, which means that you are learning coaching and leadership skills that have an integrated equity-lens in your practice, and will learn how to apply that lens in everything that you do.
Certified students will be included in our certified practitioner directory and will be awarded with our signature certification badge to be displayed on your website and personal profiles.
All of these things will create confidence in future clients, collaborators, and team member to say...
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" yes "
... I want to partner with someone who is so obviously aligned with my values, my community, and the impact I want to create in the world.
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" yes "
... I want to work with highly trained coach, who sees the fullness of my identitity and can hold safe, and challenging space for me to grow.
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" yes "
... I want to work at a company that values me as an autonomous, self-directed individual, who wants to make meaningful contributions in the workplace.
“This program has had a positive impact on nearly every area of my business, from mission and clarity to client care to sales. The trauma-informed and culturally responsive coaching skills and equity-centered culture plan benefit my clients every single day. I lead with more confidence knowing that decisions I make are rooted in my values and an equity-centered perspective.”
Laura Simms
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Becoming a Certified Equity-Centered Coach or Leader will deepen your practice, no matter what niche, by building your competence in four key areas:
ADVANCED COACHING SKILLS
Coaching psychology, facilitation, and several tools and approaches to coaching.
TRAUMA INFORMED COACHING
All students in our programs participate in one full unit of Trauma-Informed Practice training, as well as ongoing practice throughout our coaching track.
CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS
Our curriculum focuses on developing your ability to support and develop clients and team members holding diverse & intersectional identities.
EQUITY, ANTI-OPPRESSION
& LIBERATORY LEADERSHIP
& LIBERATORY LEADERSHIP
Become a leader that protects equity and liberation of others while embodying those principles in their own lives.
Our goal is to provide excellent training, and ongoing professional development to all of our certified coaches so that our coaches become the most highly skilled coaches and facilitators in the industry. Together we will raise the standards and put pressure on others to step up their practice.
The Institute for Equity Centered Coaching is the only place I've seen that is centering this (justice and equity) work and saying it is possible to do transformational work from an equity informed place."
Tyla Fowler
Pursuing Equity-Centered Certification
Curriculum
All students begin with Foundations, a 12-week curriculum that focuses on increasing your ability to navigate conversations, and dilemmas in coaching and leadership that involve themes related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression.
These are foundational skills for anyone working with other humans. Especially in highly charged social or political climates.
These are foundational skills for anyone working with other humans. Especially in highly charged social or political climates.
Sprint 1: J.E.D.I. Basics
In this sprint you'll review the basic principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), and explore how these principles are applied in coaching and leadership relationships. We will cover:
- Identity & Power
- Othering & belonging
- Oppression & Marginalization
- The JEDI Landscapte
- Applied Values (2 sessions)
Sprint 2: Equity-Centered Practice
In this sprint you'll take the concepts and insights from JEDI basics and turn them into practices and tools that you'll use to make equity-centered decisions, and improve the emotional and psychologically safety of the communities and workplaces you build and/or participate in. We'll cover:
- Guiding Principles and community agreements
- Emotional and Psychological Safety
- Building team/community culture
- Intro to Equity-Centered Leadership
- Intro to Equity-Centered Coaching
Next, you will pursue the Coaching Track, Leadership Track, or both.
Equity-Centered Leadership Track
Core Competancies
Value-Based Practice
Values serve as guiding principles that are both identified and institutionalized.
Creating Intentional Spaces
Fostering explicit inclusion and emotional/psychological safety, while establishing community agreements and expectations and clear pathways for conflict resolution.
Trauma-Informed Approach
Leaders will learn to minimize harm, recognize signs of trauma, and coach around it sensitively.
Equity-Centered Engagement
The ability to engage in discussions and analyze dilemmas related to injustice, oppression, inequity, power, and influence.
Cultural Responsiveness
The ability to hold space for identity themes, asking about or clarifying cultural/historical/generational contexts, and affirming others’ experiences.
Reflexivity
The ability to critique one's own leadership, critically examine personal biases and influences, and communicate and contextualize these insights.
Shared Power
Understanding that managing outcomes, rather than people, is a potent strategy for liberatory leadership. Transparency regarding the origins of decisions builds trust and respect within teams and communities, particularly by intentionally involving historically marginalized voices in problem-solving and decision-making processes. Equitable practices are upheld in hiring, separation, and performance evaluations.
Equity-Centered Coaching Track
Core Competancies
Creating Intentional Space
The ability to foster explicit inclusion, emotional and psychological safety, and establishing internal agreements and expectations
Operating on a Consent-Based Approach
Coaches prioritize obtaining consent to participate and integrate consent throughout active coaching sessions.
Trauma-Informed Approach
Leaders will learn to minimize harm, recognize signs of trauma, and coach around it sensitively.
Coaching Praxis
Emphasizing clear direction, utilizing coaching tools effectively, and applying coaching theory with intentionality.
Cultural Responsiveness
Being comfortable with identity themes, discussing cultural/historical/generational contexts, and affirming clients' own experiences.
A Client-Centered Approach
The ability to co-create the coaching experience, prioritize client goals and agenda, and align coaching strategies with client values.
Reflexivity
The ability to critique one's practice, examine personal biases and influences, and communicate and adapt coaching approaches accordingly.
"One of the certifications - if not the certification - that I am most proud of in my 20 years of working"
Melanie Gonzalez
Certified Equity-Centered Leader
Certified Equity-Centered Leader
Enroll Today
Coach
Certification
Certification
Certified Equity-Centered Coaches will specialize in developing advanced coaching skills that will prepare them to serve a diverse range of clients who bring a myriad of personal, cultural, and racial contexts into coaching sessions.
They will learn the importance of self-determination and consent and learn how to navigate between the roles of coach, facilitator, space holder, guide, mentor, advocate, consultant, and critical friend.
They will learn the importance of self-determination and consent and learn how to navigate between the roles of coach, facilitator, space holder, guide, mentor, advocate, consultant, and critical friend.
Leader Certification
Certified Equity-Centered Leaders will learn to dismantle practices, policies, and procedures that are rooted in racism, oppression, and toxic capitalism.
They will focus on power-sharing, decision-making, culture-building, and coaching techniques that aim to create more liberation and equity in the workplace, and among clients and other stakeholders.
They will focus on power-sharing, decision-making, culture-building, and coaching techniques that aim to create more liberation and equity in the workplace, and among clients and other stakeholders.
"I went into the dual certification to make myself better prepared to serve the WOC community as a life coach. What I didn’t realize was the internal transformations I received en route. As a WOC - being able to identify my power, and my privilege and then continue to apply the work to unpack my internalized oppression and survivor's guilt is something I will be forever grateful for."
Crystal Agyei
Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
a message from our founder
When I became certified as a coach in 2014 there was no mention of the ways race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or internalized oppression impacted the progress that clients might experience in a coaching relationship. At the time, I was six years into my career as a diversity, equity, and inclusion educator and had completed my Masters in Psychology and was a few semesters into my Ph.D program studying the factors that improved young adult outcomes in schools.
From my vantage point, two things were clear.
From my vantage point, two things were clear.
- Good coaching is an effective tool for all kinds of personal growth; and
- Any work that is done with other humans must happen with a trauma-informed, equity-centered lens in order to be most effective.
After all, if the biggest predictors of life outcomes are race and zip code (which, unfortunately, they are), then any attempt to help someone improve their life that does not take into consideration the ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal effects of structural oppression, and supremacy culture is simply incomplete.
And we have. We have trained thousands of coaches & leaders across many sectors of business and have influenced some of the biggest brands in the coaching industry including Brooke Castillo & the Life Coach School, team overall, Hay House Publishers, Sunny Lenarduzzi, Mike Michalowicz (author of Profit First), and more.
And now, I am inviting you to join us in the effort.
In community,
~ trudi lebrón
It was then, that I realized, that if I could take what I was learning about coaching psychology, personal development, business, leadership, and diversity, equity and inclusion, and bring this education to the coaching industry, we'd be able to impact millions.
And we have. We have trained thousands of coaches & leaders across many sectors of business and have influenced some of the biggest brands in the coaching industry including Brooke Castillo & the Life Coach School, team overall, Hay House Publishers, Sunny Lenarduzzi, Mike Michalowicz (author of Profit First), and more.
And now, I am inviting you to join us in the effort.
In community,
~ trudi lebrón
"These are really thoughtful, caring and kind people doing great work in the world... I'm really glad that I took the time, invested the time, and I would do it again if I hadn't done it already."
Caryn Gillen
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Meet the Faculty
Trudi Lebron, PhD(c)
- Founder, Institute for Equity Centered Coaching
- CEO, ScriptFlip LLC
Charmagne Glass-Tripp
- Director of Programming
- Leadership Track Faculty
Latoya "Dr. Boz" Bosworth, PhD
- Coaching Faculty
- Founder, Got H.E.R.S. Life Coaching
Crystal Agyei, M.D., MBA
- Coaching Faculty
- Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
- Founder, Missing Piece Coaching
Chris Wallace Caldwell
- Coaching Faculty
- Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
- Founder, Catalysis, llc
Neelam Kassam, CPA
- Coaching Faculty
- Certified Equity-Centered Coach & Leader
- Founder, Prestige Consulting
"Learning from the Institute of Equity-Centered Coaching has been transformational, but using that word 'transformational'. doesn't quite capture the transforming that has taken place for me."
Karen Roswell
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is this program for?
Certification is for leaders, professionals, and coaches who want to improve or create healthy communities and workplace cultures that are committed to equity and inclusion.
Our curriculum is designed to fill the gaps in coaching and leadership education by prioritizing emotional and psychological safety, the ethics of holding power and influence, and integrating principles of equity, inclusion, self-determination, and anti-oppression.
Our curriculum is designed to fill the gaps in coaching and leadership education by prioritizing emotional and psychological safety, the ethics of holding power and influence, and integrating principles of equity, inclusion, self-determination, and anti-oppression.
How much time should I plan to dedicate to this program?
Class will take place over Zoom once per week. Each call is 90-minutes and there may be up to an additional 90-minutes of audio/video materials and assignments each week.
What can I expect in class?
During weekly zoom calls, an equity-centered faculty member will guide you through the curriculum with your cohort of up to 16 other like-minded leaders and coaches.
These calls are curated to be diverse spaces with leaders from all walks of life. And they are inclusive spaces, where all participants are safe to learn, contribute, and challenge ourselves.
We will use a number of facilitation, teaching, and coaching tools including breakout rooms, affinity groups, self-reflection, and written prompts.
There is never an obligation to disclose or share in the group.
These calls are curated to be diverse spaces with leaders from all walks of life. And they are inclusive spaces, where all participants are safe to learn, contribute, and challenge ourselves.
We will use a number of facilitation, teaching, and coaching tools including breakout rooms, affinity groups, self-reflection, and written prompts.
There is never an obligation to disclose or share in the group.
What if I don't want to be certified?
We have made the Foundations curriculum available separately from the certification program because we believe that these concepts should be available to anyone who wants to take steps toward more equitable leadership practices. Learn more about Foundations.
If you change your mind later, and want to attain certification, that will be available to you.
If you change your mind later, and want to attain certification, that will be available to you.
What is your payment & refund policy?
There are no refunds for this program.
If, for some reason, you are unable to participate fully please contact us to discuss options for pro-rated program credit.
If, for some reason, you are unable to participate fully please contact us to discuss options for pro-rated program credit.
What if I have other questions?
You can reach out to hello@EquityCenteredCoaching.com with any questions you have. Our email inbox is monitored Monday-Friday and we'll respond within one business day.
"I definitely got way more than I expected. I didn't know that there would be so many practical tools..."
Joan Chan, M.D.
Certified Equity-Centered Coach
Certified Equity-Centered Coach