Does anyone know anything about the Coaching Academy free courses?

[clairedunphy]

I'm on maternity leave and thinking about career plans in the long term. I'm already in my forties and don't have the time or finances to go back to uni or retrain for 3+ years.

I've been thinking about life coaching, as I've got a background in training and have completed an intro level counseling course, both of which I enjoyed.

There's a company advertising online for a free 2 day coaching course, held in hotels / conference centres around the country on a regular basis. They're called the Coaching Academy.

As its free, my instinct is that it can't be that great, and that if you attend they'll do a hard sell on other courses, or basically get you there and then tell you that if you want a proper qualification then you'll need to follow the free course with another one at X cost.

So has anyone heard of them, or even better, attended one of the courses?

Hi again Just to keep you updated - I attended the free course a couple of weeks ago - yes it is a little sales-backed but not to the point where's it's annoying. It's worth noting that other coaching providers don't offer this and you would be expected to do your research before signing up for anything. For example, I have an MSc in Occupational Psychology which covered goal-setting in theory - so much of what is covered in the free day. I will be doing the Personal & Executive Coaching together. It's hard to find a provider who is accredited as there isn't a single industry body for this...

Hi,

I have been researching the coaching academy and saw your post. I wondered if you still have the material and if so would be prepared to send it to me?

I took the 2-day course but feel that the amount of money required is probably not a sound investment?

Thanks.

I've been looking into life coaching too and if I go ahead it'll definitely be with an ICF accredited training company. I've found a few and have one in particular I'm interested in training with but I'm struggling to afford it right now. I'll keep working and saving towards it.

Hi there I have two massive binders of pre-work so it's not in a format where I could sent it as such. If you have any specific questions about what's covered then happy to try and answer them?

In the money side, they do have lots of different payment options which are covered during the telephone interview. If you've been on the free course then you can always do the telephone interview and then delay when you start. I thought it was a reasonable amount compared to other providers I researched - I've seen anything from £5-£11K quoted....

What did you decide to do regarding the Coaching Academy? I am also looking into them. Any information would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

Hi 007bondlady,
It is very generous of you to offer course materials to share.
If the offer still stands, my email is [email protected]

I have just come back from the free course, it has been great. But looking at other possibilities that will allow me to study in a smaller steps in my own time.

Thank you

007Bondlady...... Hi I have just spent the weekend at the free CA training and found it very positive, would love to do it but now Ive done checks, having second thoughts. I was advised yesterday in my telephone interview that I could get a bursary to pay for the course, he sent me the link and it turns out its a link to a loan which right now I really cant afford. I wonder if you could send me the course material to peruse, would be extremely grateful ..... [email protected]

Hey,

I'm about to go on the two day course in a couple of weeks time and if the offer still stands about the course material being sent via email, to see whether I need to go to the non compulsary talk on their course, it would be much appreciated. Thanks. jemulholland*@outlook*.com

Sorry that email address doesnt have the '' in I dont know where they came from....jemulholland*@outlook.com

Hi Joanna001 I don't know if 007BondLady is still offering copies of her material for free. I trained (and qualified) with The Coaching Academy. The course and materials changed in August 2015 to meet ICF requirements. I trained with TCA in 2012. It took me 12-18 months to qualify (though I did have an accident breaking my shoulder half way through which slowed things down). I like that it's not a rush to get through - part of training/practising as a coach is about the journey. I am currently in the process of training to be a volunteer mentor for TCA. Personally I love their approach to training - experiential and practical, not academic; I have made great friends and I keep meeting people who also trained with TCA. Though if you do, for example, the Corporate Diploma, the final paper is 8000 words. If you have look at some of the posts on this thread, it says the training materials are a poor quality video/DVD but that's additional material. The main bulk of the training are the Accelerator days when you practice with other students. There's lots of material on the website - webinars, interviews, articles plus regular group mentoring sessions. I'm happy to answer questions here about TCA (or pop over to my website to get in touch by email theconfidentmother.co.uk). I'm not paid by them. I don't work for them.

Hi 007 bond lady.pls could you send the NLP material and DVD material you have to [email protected]. thanks in advance.

Hi all, I was due to attend the Coaching Academy course the last two days but based on the feedback on this forum I didn't attend. If the course material is still available, could you email this to [email protected]? I also have some course material from other course I have completed which I would be willing to share. Please feel free to email me and I will send this over to you! Thanks :)

I did the two day free seminar with The coaching academy and genuinely loved the coaches. The phone staff on the other hand were awful and put a dampner on things for me. When I messaged the owner to give her feedback I got a very condescending response saying something like I'm sure you'll know they had the best of intentions. Their manner was so out of alignment with the wonderful coaches and my feedback handled so poorly I wondered how a company getting the after care so wrong could be a competent teacher to me. I did however enjoy the free days greatly. I then checked out Animas who's free day was nowhere near as practical and fun but I preferred how I was treated before, during and after the free day so will be going to visit them again plus they do have a longer payment plan to make it easier but I felt their presentation was not as good but more intimate. I also rang a few life coaches to find out what happens to all these life coaches once they've qualified. The most important advice I received was this is most definitely not a get rich quick thing and some said can take up to three years to get yourself established and another told me I had enough badges to start already. Check out www.coachmefree.com to get an idea of what coaches offer, where they trained etc.

I know I'm 5 years late but I've just attended the coaching Academy event and hoped you'd still be able to send me the course information if you still have it. Thanks in advance. My email address is [email protected].

I've completed two diplomas though them - and would recommend them (along with others eg The Executive Coaching Academy, Ashridge, Roffey Park etc.). As with most providers, they own the IP and have taster days so you can see if you're suited to coaching - most people who the programme are already doing it as part of their job. I'm not sure what anyone could send you though? I have my coaching notes but wouldn't make any sense as you'd be seeing them out of context / the practical exercises.