Get to know our Youth Coaching Institute alumni community. This column will feature the stories from our network of 500+ youth coaches spread throughout the world. YCI alumnae are diverse, but they share a common commitment: transforming the lives of adolescents and young adults. Read about their experiences with YCI here.
Series #2
Name: Joe Chan, PCC
Business: Coach Joe Chan
Get to know Joe:
Joe began his deeply impactful career as a social worker in Singapore helping marginalized and at-risk youth and families. He started to experience burnout in his work as a result of the rigid assessments and frameworks that he was trained to use with individuals. Joe began searching for alternatives and found a fit with the Solution Focused Approach, which exists both in therapy and in coaching. He became a coach, and started combining modalities in his work with great success. “It was almost like I got ‘baptized’ into this way of working with my clients still as a social worker but using a “mixed” approach of coaching, social work interventions, therapy etc,” he said.
Soon after becoming a coach, Joe realized he wanted more specific instruction with regard to adolescents and young adults. “I felt that I need to do my part in order to not shortchange the young people that I am working with and also to clearly be able to differentiate myself from all the other helping professionals out there who are working with youths using various approaches.”
A Google search led Joe to Youth Coaching Institute. He enrolled in the Certified Youth Resilience Coach training program in 2021. He considers the cross-cultural engagement, the format, and the plethora of resources to be highlights of the YCI experience. “I enjoy the time learning because many of the learners come from other parts of the world and I am often the only few who is from Asia. So I enjoy the broad expanded perspectives from the class and sharing. I like the learning system where contents and materials are available and systematically organized for learners to go through it on their own timing outside of the live classes.”
Joe now works as a youth coach in his private practice. He is also an International Coaching Federation Mentor Coach and faculty member and practicum supervisor at YCI. In addition, Joe teaches lay people the concepts and principles of the youth coaching approach so that they can apply it as educators, professionals, parents, and youth volunteers. He says his experience at YCI reinvigorated his passion for his job. “I became more positive and felt more optimistic about life and work in general. I began to be a strong advocate of believing in the strengths and resources of the client rather than spending time understanding their deficits and risks. Somehow the coaching mindset neutralized my social worker “burnt out” syndrome and even more!”
If you are a caring adult who wants to explore a new approach to working with young people, Joe says Youth Coaching Institute is the place for you. “Come join YCI if you are working with young people and especially so if you would like a different way of working with young people. One that is strengths-based, respectful, creative and fun!”
CTA: Want to be the next coach to transform the lives of young people? Check out our training programs here.
