Each of the 9 sessions that comprise this certificate program will focus on a different aspect of the coaching approach as it relates to the healthcare context.

We will meet online from January – May 2026, where short presentations and assigned readings will introduce foundational coaching theories and frameworks.

In between sessions, you will practice core skills through training activities and coaching conversations and track your development in a reflection journal.

Sessions will be held on Tuesdays and will run for 2 hours from 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET.

Session Dates

• Session 1: Tuesday, January 13, 2026
• Session 2: Tuesday, January 27, 2026
• Session 3: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
• Session 4: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
• Session 5: Tuesday, March 10, 2026
• Session 6: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
• Session 7: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
• Session 8: Tuesday, April 21, 2026
• Session 9: Tuesday, May 5, 2026

“A transformative experience. This program has challenged me to rethink my role as a leader, to embrace a new way of supporting others, and to grow alongside those I lead. I leave with a renewed sense of purpose and a belief that, while I may not have all the answers, I can help others find theirs.”

– Program Participant and Physician Leader

Topics Include

• Session 1:
  Introduction to Coaching in Healthcare

  This introductory session will discuss what coaching is and is not by differentiating it from mentoring and therapy. Participants will explore why coaching skills are important to them within their careers as well as practice a simple model that can be used in a variety of situations. Assumptions that lie behind coaching will be discussed as well as the qualities that are required to be an effective coach.

• Session 2:
  Why is it so Challenging for Healthcare Practitioners to Coach / Think like Coaches? Developing a Coaching Mindset

  Being in caring professions, healthcare practitioners take pride in their expertise and like to offer advice. Coaching instead considers the coaches capable of coming up with their own solutions. To think like a coach one needs a coaching mindset. Participants will learn what is required to “partner” with a client, when to just listen, when to give advice and when to walk through a coaching conversation. The difference between coaching and motivational interviewing will be discussed. Challenges such as resisting the temptation to give advice will be discussed and practical strategies developed to address what is needed for the coach trainee to be grounded and confident as they begin to practice.

• Session 3:
  Conducting Coaching Conversations – Getting off on the Right Foot by Establishing an Agreement

  All coaching conversations require some structure. The agreement is the scaffold for that structure and helps to define success at the end of the coaching session. Using the T-Grow method, participants will learn how to partner with a coachee in beginning, maintaining, and closing a structured coaching conversation.

• Session 4:
  Beyond Structure – Building Client Rapport

  Just as patient care is both a science and an art, so too does the skill of coaching reach beyond the technical aspects. Building rapport with the coachee requires creating a relationship based on trust, honesty, and vulnerability. Establishing trust and rapport are essential skills and qualities of a coach. This session will provide information and skill training on specific aspects of building and maintaining rapport.

• Session 5:
  Eliciting That ‘aha’ moment: The Art of the Powerful Question

  Questions serve many roles in the coaching partnership. They are key to establishing the coaching agreement. They help the coach understand the coachee’s values, needs and beliefs. Critically, they are an essential tool to guide the coachee’s insight and learning, facilitating the coachee’s ability to self-reflect and come up with solutions to their personal and/ or professional quandaries.

• Session 6:
  Moving Towards Transformational Coaching

  Some coaching requests are based on concrete goals and require an approach that is transactional and oriented towards solutions. Other coaching requests are clearly asking for more exploration into how a coachee perceives themselves and the goals they are aspiring to achieve. We all have blind spots in our thinking and self-awareness that prevent us from seeing all available options. Building upon the previous session, we will focus on asking powerful questions to create greater coachee self-awareness, choice, ideas for action and accountability.

• Session 7:
  Intuition, Curiosity and Boldness in Coaching

  Coach and coachee are partners. As such the insights a coach experiences, observed incongruencies and just plain intuition are all important aspects of coaching. How do we bring these valuable aspects into coaching while maintaining a partnering versus leading approach? And when is it appropriate for / how might the coach their own experience as an offer to nudge the insight of the coachee?

• Session 8:
  Overcoming Common Coaching Challenges

  What if the coachee talks so much you can’t get a word in edgewise or you get lost in their story? What if they don’t talk enough or you sense very low motivation to move forward? Perhaps they continually arrive late or tell you they don’t really want to be coached. Perhaps they criticize your approach. What do you do? In this session, we will learn how to overcome common coaching challenges so that coach and coachee succeed.

• Session 9:
  Coaching Essentials: Context is Everything

  The role of coaching is to deepen coachee learning in order to forward coachee action. In considering the coachee capable of coming up with solution(s) to their challenges, the coach offers an opportunity for the coachee to create new neural pathways for sustained long-term growth. In this session we will review the role of coaching in healthcare: with patients, learners, and peers, with the ultimate goal of imbuing the context, or culture of healthcare into one that encourages more generative conversations and interpersonal interactions, and creates adaptive leaders and learners committed to life-long learning.

Certificate Eligibility

To be eligible for the Certificate of Completion, learners must attain a minimum of 85% class attendance (all webinars, practice, and mentoring sessions) and complete all required assignments.

Final Assignment

Learners are required to submit a written summary of their learnings and how they have impacted their growth and development as a coach. The final assignment is due two weeks after the last session (a specific deadline will be provided). Additional details will be provided upon introduction to the program.

“This program was an exceptional experience and has really changed my way of thinking and in my interactions with people both personally and professionally.”

– Program Participant and Physician Leader