CARE-Ready Master Life Coach and Trainer Graduates First Cohort of Care-Solution Life Coaches

St. Louis, Missouri, USA - Amethyst Roberson, our first CARE-Ready Master Life Coach and Trainer, graduated her first cohort of Care-Solution Life Coaches in an online ceremony hosted by Coaching Care Connections on Thursday, March 21, 2024. 

“As we wrap up this incredible journey,” Amethyst shared on social media, “I can't help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude. This course has been more than just a series of lectures and assignments; it has been a transformative experience. As we step into the future, lets carry these lessons with us and continue to strive for excellence."

Congratulations were given to her first graduates: 

To Sheila Bratton – “Congratulations on accomplishing this milestone. I cannot wait to see the full bloom of what God is planting in you. People really have no idea of the depth of wisdom and knowledge that you possess. Don’t allow the trials of life to stop you from bringing out what has been placed in you. Now, it’s time to elevate and impact your world." 

To Adryane Calloway - "I am amazed at what is about to be released into the world. All I see are open doors and opportunities for you to simply show up authentically. It will be refreshing and welcomed by all who come in contact with you. Go elevate and impact others.” 

The graduation ceremony featured guest speaker, Pastor Al Long, Sr., an Ordained Minister, Certified Corporate Instructor, Certified Life Coach, Certified Peer Specialist and a Family Support Provider. He and his wife Kacie also minister to those reentering society after incarceration through their non-profit Jacob's Ladder Ministries. 

Amethyst Roberson is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). She has specialized in Christian Counseling, Life Coaching for women and couples, and in Professional development services to those in need for 20+ years. She is also a dynamic speaker and author. 

She added to her long list of credentials by becoming a certified CARE-Ready Master Life Coach and Trainer. This means she is credentialed and qualified (through the STEP Forward Life Institute) to train, produce and provide certifications for life coaches in her powerfully effective coaching model. 

The people that Amethyst trains in her Elevate 2 Impact life coaching certification program not only receive principles and strategies that are built upon a proven coaching model, but they benefit from her many years of professional experience as a licensed professional counselor, certified life coach, and a cutting edge innovator who walks them through a learning experience that transforms each of her students as a person and empowers each of them as a life coach.

 

Encouraging Grandparents Who Are Raising Their Grandchildren

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA - Chris and Carol Green were the guest speakers at this month’s Grandparents Information Forum, which was hosted by Dolorez Cobb-Jones, founder of a non-profit organization called Grandparents Involved From The Start (GIFTS), Inc, on Thursday evening, March 14, 2024. 

Presenting on the organization's Zoom Conference, the Board Certified Mental Health Coaches spoke from the topic: Mental Health and Your Living Legacy. 

The purpose of GIFTS is to assist grandparents with knowledge, support and resources so that they will become more informed, involved and empowered to overcome the challenges of raising their grandchild(ren). The Greens were invited as part of a self-care series and this month’s focus was on mental health. 

“Our thanks to Dolorez Cobb-Jones and GIFTS for inviting us to speak on their online forum,” the Greens shared. “The participants were so gracious and receptive.” 

The Greens opened by engaging the group in a relaxation exercise as a practical way to relieve stress and get focused and centered for the online session. Then they explained some of the basic terminology surrounding mental health, daily stress, and traumatic stress; and carried the presentation into a pivotal section called, ‘When Life Happens'. Ninety percent (90%) of U.S. citizens will be exposed to a traumatic event in their lifetime, so life happenings can include: 

·        Natural Disasters

·        Accidental Disasters

·        Intentional or Deliberate Disasters

·        Incidents of loss or unexpected changes in your life and lifestyle

·        Sustained or Repeated Events and Incidents 

“We really wanted to emphasize that even though traumatic stress is more powerful and serious than ordinary day-to-day stress,” the Greens explained, “Traumatic stress is a normal human response to an abnormal event or incident. The brain and body are trying to get back to normal.” 

Since most of their audience is dealing with the unexpected changes and the traumatic incidents that created the current situation in which they are now raising their grandchildren, the Greens shared some of their traumatic experiences like the loss of income, a car repossession, an eviction, and living in a hotel for about two months. 

From this perspective the Greens offered the following everyday mental health tips to help grandparents elevate their mood and become more resilient.

1. Practice self-care and make yourself a priority (Eat healthy, Exercise, Get enough sleep)

2. Disconnect (for a period of time daily) from electronics and social media

3. Engage in activities that provide meaning

4. Volunteer

5. Engage in meditation and/or prayer

6. Avoid heavy substance use

7. Get help from a licensed mental health professional when and if you need it 

Then they concluded by offering tips on how to build a living legacy of mental wellness for their grand children. 

As the Greens were speaking, so many comments were being posted in the group chat that Dolorez Cobb-Jones briefly interrupted the presentation to read a few of them. Samples of the responses were:

• This is very practical 
• You're answering the exact questions that I had in my mind
• Wow 
• Interesting session 
• I've been practicing this for the last 3 years ...Love this meeting, very informative 
• Wonderful 
• Thank you for this opportunity 
• Really informative session
• Thank you !!!
• Great 

“We just presented a few small but impactful ways to help grandparents improve their mental health every day,” the Greens concluded. “Just as it requires effort to build and maintain physical health, so it is with mental health. We pray that all will see an increase in their overall mental wellness as they press forward in raising their grandchildren in these challenging times." 

Chris Green Earns Board-Certified Master Mental Health Coach Credential

 

Today, Chris Green officially became a Board-Certified Master Mental Health Coach (BCMMHC) upon completion of the mental health specialization program: Crisis Response and Trauma Care, administered by the   American Association of Christian Counselors through Light University. 

“Many of our religious and civic leaders have been misinformed and still approach this issue from ignorance, stigma, fear, and very bad theology,” Chris explains.

Many still believe that all people need to do is just quote a scripture, say a prayer, and God will take care of the mental health issue by injecting peace into their minds. But God says through Biblical text, that His people perish because of the lack of knowledge. In this aspect of our human experience, we suffer from debilitating ignorance.

In response to this errant mindset and theology, we just wanted to get educated, trained and empowered to address this crisis by learning from other, more knowledgeable and experienced Christian organizations and institutions who bring a balanced and holistic approach to helping individuals and families who are struggling with mental health challenges. We wanted to immerse ourselves in proper education, so that we could better understand the mental health crisis in our own families and communities."

This specialization program in Crisis Response and Trauma Care involved 24 hours of training and exams that prepares leaders to come alongside of those who are hurting, and to help the interventionist properly and adequately respond when a traumatic event happens. The good news is that God is always with us in our trouble, and He has no greater plan than to work through His people as a conduit, to provide a "ministry of presence" that speaks to people in crisis, that God will make a way.

This specialization course was preceded by a 42-hour rigorous training program that included:

 1.) First, the completion of a 14-hour course called Foundations of Mental Health Coaching - This introductory course was designed to provide students with an orientation to the field of mental health coaching. Topics covered included the role and scope of mental health coaching within the local church, ethical guidelines and professional standards in coaching, crisis intervention techniques, and the integration of faith and biblical wisdom in coaching.

 2.) Next, the completion of a 14-hour course called Mental Health Coaching Skills -The purpose of this course was to provide students with the fundamental theories and skills of Christ-centered mental health coaching. Key elements of the coaching process, included methods of change, listening, effective communication, giving hope, operating small groups, and counseling theory.

 3.) And finally, the completion of a 14-hour course called Mental and Behavioral Health Disorders - This course introduced students to the fundamentals of mental and behavioral health disorders. Particular emphasis was placed on factors that cause mental disorders, as well as conventional treatments. Conditions discussed included addiction, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

As a Board Certified Master Mental Health Coach, credentialed by the International Board of Christian Care   (IBCC), Chris has earned a voluntary global credential that trains and charges its recipients to maintain the highest clinical, ethical and biblical standards of practice.

“I'm very pleased to have earned this credential," Chris concluded. “Now my wife (Carol) and I are better prepared to assist people through our coaching business and ministry. We're also able to become a more successful connection and liaison between those who need help, and the very capable mental health professionals in our community. We are part of an army of mental health coaches that are being trained and deployed across the United States. It's a new day for those who have been suffering in silence in our families, neighborhoods, church pews, classrooms and office cubicles."

Chris and Carol Green are the creators of the CARE-Ready Life Coaching® model: Care-Readiness/ Training/ Certification, and the founders of the STEP Forward Life Institute™, an online community service preparatory platform. Through their business and school, they empower people to become the change they want to see, and to become the kind and caring light this world so desperately needs.

CARE-Ready Life Coach Graduate Making Significant Impact in Her Community

 

Christina Johnson, CARE-Ready Life Coach Graduate

Christina Johnson, a CARE-Ready Life Coach Graduate from the class of August 2019,  is making a significant impact in her community.

See the article from the Central Penn Business Journal (below) written by Cris Collingwood, January 25, 2024.

Harrisburg-based Tri-County OIC, a nonprofit school, has promoted its interim executive director to executive director. 

The Board of Directors hired Christina Johnson, who will lead the organization’s initiatives to further its Adult Education and workforce development divisions.  

Tri-County OIC said Johnson brings a wealth of experience to her new role of providing leadership in the planning and implementing quality-based training and education, including more than a decade of education and organizational human resource development knowledge in private and nonprofit sectors.

“What drew me to Tri-County OIC was its phenomenal leader, Jeffery Charles Woodyard, and its mission closely aligned with my economic justice goals for underserved populations through education, diversity, inclusion, and economic development,” Johnson said.  

Johnson previously served Tri-County OIC as interim executive director, community outreach director, and reentry program manager. 

 While in this role, she coordinated all significant programming for the Reentry Division, expanded the workforce division, and managed a budget of over $1 million in the adult education division.    

“It is an honor to serve in this role of executive director of Tri-County OIC,” Johnson said. “I am committed to continuing to provide the community access to self-sufficiency through our adult education and workforce development divisions while building true collaboration with community partners that lead to the enhancement of the community.”  

Mental Health and Spiritual Wellness Coaches Promote Latest Book

"Success is not only about what you will accomplish," write the mental health and community life coaches. "Ultimately it’s about who you will become. We were leading while bleeding and hardly anyone knew. Eventually, we were forced to stop, rest, retreat and reset."

In their latest book, Rest, Retreats, Revival and Other Comedies, subtitled You are Success in Process, Chris and Carol Green open up about the consequences of neglecting self care during and after life-altering critical incidents. Each time they pressed forward, accepting more and more invitations to help others; and that would push them into cycles of emotional, mental, physical and spiritual crisis. They share how God's process eventually led them out of those cycles and into healing, wholeness, and their true identity and purpose, which was rediscovered when they learned how to:

 

Rest in God and get out of the grind mindset; 

Retreat after devastating setbacks and disappointments; 

Revive and reset to come back out fighting again; and to be open, honest and humbled by the 

Comedy of Errors; the mistakes and bad decisions, upon which God extended mercy and grace.

"This book isn't for everyone," the Greens affirm, "It's for that person who is sick and tired of projecting a brave front while hiding their deep disappointment behind spirituality.  It's for the person who is no longer looking for a typical self-help manual, filled with inspirational stories and motivational meditations. THIS is the book for that soul who is ready to challenge their core beliefs about why their life keeps going off the rails, to stop blaming 'the devil' for everything that goes wrong, and truly desires to finally break FREE from the unending cycles of dead-ends, defeat and discouragement.

We put ourselves out there, made ourselves vulnerable and accessible, and exposed our true authentic hearts; and when people took advantage of our kindness and compassion, or questioned our competency, motivations, loyalty and integrity, yes, we were taken aback, hurt, and offended (which we hate to admit), and it triggered our introvert instincts to just go home and close the door.

We reached our breaking points when the pressures and challenges began to affect our marriage; when they began to affect our physical and mental health; when insinuations and accusations from outside forces and entities, advanced far beyond mere words spoken against us, to actual intentional actions against us that had real life-impacting consequences.

So, we would retreat. And it would be complete pullback moments, cutting off almost everything and everyone (the guilty, the innocent, the perpetrators, and the by-standers). We were in survival mode, burnout and compassion fatigue. But even those triggered-trauma responses were part of our process.

We learned that you can't ignore trauma by trying to be who and what others need you to be for them. We had to rediscover who God actually always intended for us to be for Him."

From the Book's Foreword:

This book is a revelation on how to understand change. It lays out the truth about "process", as productive lives are always on a journey of constant growth and change. To stop growing and changing is to die. 

The Greens are top Searcherdemcians who are not afraid to take new paths to help lift and better humanity. They are not scared to be Searchers of a new way of doing things and because of this, they are fruitful.

They have gone through growth, death, and rebirth, while leading in a new philosophy of education for which the world is crying out. 

I've had the privilege of knowing and working with the Greens for nearly a decade.  I have observed their approach and can vouch for their genuineness and productivity. They have diligently worked, scraped, and sacrificed their way to top stages of influence.     

I say, "When all else fails, follow the fruit." Chris and Carol Green are good fruit and have produced tangible evidence and results of their life skills theory, "You are Success in Process." 

In this book, you are sure to find where you are "in your process."  You are sure to find your next step.  You will be encouraged and reassured that you are not alone in your journey.  You will find that you are "God's Success in Process." 

How refreshing is that?!

This is a riveting book that has inspired and impacted my life. 

You will already be succeeding by picking it up.

---Chancellor Michal P. Pitzl,    

United Graduate College and Seminary, Int’l

Available on Amazon Books