Fall 2024 applications are now open. Use the application form to apply and we’ll follow up with you about next steps. Applications are due by July 12th, 2024
Coaches, Consultants, Therapists, Doulas, and Leave Specialists – Are you seeing the struggle that new working parents experience every day and feeling powerless to provide relief or REAL support in the face of systemic challenges?
What if there was an evidence-based, proven way to support expecting parents and set them on a better path?
- What could be different if expecting parents were given a 1:1 coach, paid for by their company, through the parental leave transition?
- What if we could end The Great Resignation and propel women to close the gender pay gap?
- What if your work was the critical piece in improving the experience of working parents?
Think back to the last conversation you had with a new (or expecting) working parent…
What advice did you offer them? Of course, you desperately wanted to help them. To ease their stress. To tell them that it would all work out.
But could you give that advice or coach them through their problem with confidence?
Or did you internally despair? You knew their stress was valid.
You’d seen many parents before them (yourself included) slog through, overwhelmed, with bandaids applied here and there. You offered words of encouragement, you did your best to coach them, but what exactly could you offer?
The journey into working parenthood is hard. And people can do hard things.
They navigate them better when they are surrounded by highly trained, supportive people.
Imagine that same conversation with a parent, but this time you have:
- the language
- the research
- the timeline
- the tools and exercise
You can give them exactly what they need in that moment – and the moments to come – to help them face one of life’s biggest and most challenging transitions.
- Perhaps your client is in their first trimester and hasn’t announced their pregnancy yet. You could have the perfect strategy and several scripts to announce. On your next coaching call, they are gushing with excitement and gratitude for how well it went.
- Or perhaps they are in their second month of leave and you are able to identify their struggle with perinatal mental health. You get them the right screening and professional support straight away, saving them months—or years—of silent anguish.
- Or your new parent is in their first week back at work and hating everything about it. You work with them (and their support network) to identify the pain, find a solution, and keep the parent employed while keeping or even enhancing their emotional wellbeing and overall contentment.
You may think there’s no way to make life easier for parents without a full overhaul of our social safety net systems and corporate culture.
What could ONE COACH do when daycare is still expensive, workers are expected to put their job before all else, and everyone needs two incomes to survive?
When it comes to parental leave, our country is at a historic moment of transition!
- We have never had a nationwide paid family leave policy in the United States, but finally people are demanding that change. Until it does, states are stepping up and passing paid leave laws.
- We have never had a robust field of parental leave coaching and support, but a beautiful one is developing (with your help!).
- We haven’t had a standard parental leave practice and process within our companies, but the process developed by Dr. Amy Beacom, who in 2006 invented the field of maternity leave coaching – now parental leave coaching – is finally available to the public.
Parental leave policy and practice is growing rapidly:
- Paid leave is still only available to ~20% of employees in the United States (so lots of room to grow!)
- However, 40% of employers offer paid parental leave, an increase of 15% in the past three years.
- Importantly, many employers now understand that any parental leave policy requires training and coaching to effectively move their written parental leave policy into clear and sustainable practice.
Employers and employees are realizing they can:
- Approach the parental leave transition from a place of partnership and possibility.
- Serve as each other’s advocates and allies.
- Set things up well for companies and families within an imperfect system.
Eleven states plus Washington, DC already offer or have ratified Paid Family Leave and in the absence of a federal policy, many more are considering adding this vital safety net. At the federal level paid leave continues to be a hot-button topic.
There’s a huge gap between new parent expectations of support and the actual support within their companies – and that gap represents an enormous missed opportunity.
One that companies are realizing and addressing now by hiring parental leave coaches. And they want the best.
What we’ve created is not just the first evidenced-based and field-tested parental leave coaching program to exist, it is also the first program within CPLL’s Parental Leave Coaching Institute and we hope you will join us!
The RETAIN Coaching certification program comes complete with everything you need to support your clients – from a detailed playbook, to tools and resources, to assessments and screenings to help new parents (and their managers!) as they navigate the complex transition from working person to working parent.
By joining this movement and becoming RETAIN certified you will have an opportunity to establish yourself as a leader in the parental leave space (a sector that is poised to explode), grow your coaching and consulting practice with a clear roadmap for prospective parent and business clients, and take control of your own work-life balance so you can truly thrive in both. (Plus you’ll get to be part of a community of coaches committed to growing this field and supporting each other along the way!)
What is RETAIN?
Developed by Dr. Amy Beacom over the last 15 years, RETAIN is the first evidence-based, theoretical pedagogy for the growing field of parental leave coaching and is supported by over a decade of research and practical application. RETAIN gives parental leave coaches a philosophy and method to use when working with expecting parents and their managers, the first of its kind to provide step-by-step guidance for navigating this complex life transition.
Becoming a parent changes your identity, not just your day-to-day life. If there was ever a time to have a dedicated coach in your corner, this is the moment.
As a certified RETAIN Parental Leave Coach, you are that person for your clients. You gain the confidence, ability, and method to shine a spotlight on the opportunities inherent in this transition for both employee (parent) and employer to build the life they love, at work and at home.
Who is Dr. Amy Beacom?
Dr. Amy Beacom is also the founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership, the first full service consultancy in the United States to focus exclusively on parental leave, and author of The Parental Leave Playbook: Ten Touchpoints to Transition Smoothly, Strengthen Your Family, and Continue Building Your Career (Wiley, 2021). Using the RETAIN method to support working parents through their three-phase parental leave transition is her life’s work and passion.
She has trained and supervised parental leave coaches in the United States and Australia, and the manager-focused training program she created can be found in more than 80 countries around the world. She regularly appears on expert panels, conferences and podcasts, and has been quoted in such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Working Mother.
To know Amy is to become immersed in the network of changemakers paving the way for working parents. She is all about community and support and making change together. And she will be leading and intimately involved in every part of the RETAIN certification program.
Should you choose to join our next cohort of RETAIN certified coaches, you are not just joining a training program. You’re joining a center, a movement, a group of highly committed individuals connected to every area of working parent support in this country. We support each other. We learn and grow with each other. And together, we are changing how things are done.
Praise for the RETAIN Parental Leave Coach Certification
“I think the cohort was amazing!! Being able to be a part of the first cohort was groundbreaking and really changed my view on how to work with the women and families I currently serve. I also enjoyed the opportunities we got to be able to practice and always learning about the business dynamics of being a parental leave coach since its a new innovation for a lot of the families and corporations we will work with.”
— Whitney Coble, LCMHC & PMH-C
“Thank you so much for this program! It puts a structure and a language to such important work that many of us have been passionate about for years. It is clear Dr. Amy, Meghan, Eric and the CPLL team have put a lot of time and thought into the program. It was easy to follow, rich with content and tools, and ready for practical application.
I am so grateful Dr. Amy Beacom had the courage to take the leap years ago and fight for this work to be recognized as a field of study. I can’t wait to put my RETAIN(tm) certification into practice and help working parents and their work organizations find a win-win!”
— Megan Taylor
“Prior to becoming a RETAIN certified Parental Leave Coach, I was work with clients in a number of ways: birth and postpartum doula, pediatric sleep consultant, and birth and breastfeeding educator. I was slowly working on building out a perinatal coaching program to tie it all together when I heard about the RETAIN Certification. It felt like the answer I was looking for, a sentiment that has only been further confirmed every step of the way.
The RETAIN model itself is incredible, and the training program has been such a wonderful experience to be a part of. The certification program is thorough, thoughtful, collaborative, accessible, flexible, and so supportive. Dr. Amy, Meghan, and Eric make a great team!
I feel honored to be a part of this community, and I am so excited to do this work. And as a working parent of two young children (an infant and a preschooler), it feels like I have finally found a way to make this work that I love and works for my family as well!”
— Richelle Clayton
I’m so grateful to have participated in the first certification cohort of RETAIN Parental Leave coaches. Every live session, video recording, presentation and resource contributed to a wealth of knowledge and depth of understanding of the parental leave ecosystem I didn’t think possible in a short (14 week) timeframe. I felt supported every step of the way and was challenged and encouraged in equal measure.
Dr. Amy, Meghan, Eric and their team are THE experts in this incredibly important (and burgeoning) field. Tapping into their expertise has been invigorating and experiencing their enthusiasm has been uplifting. Amy’s vision where people have smooth parental leave transitions that strengthen families and enhance careers is attainable with the framework of RETAIN Coaching.
I was most looking forward to the practice client experience and it was by far the most valuable element of this training. I had all of the tools I needed for that first client, and the fact that I will continue to be supported by CPLL as I gain more clients means that I’ll always be on the forefront of supporting parents as they experience this important life transition.
The RETAIN Parental Leave Coaching certification program is the best combination of hands-on experience, theoretical framework, live sessions, and resources for anyone looking to support expectant and new parents in a tangible, next-level way.
The culture supporting new parents in this country is fraught with a lot of problems, and becoming a CPLL parental leave coach means I’m now a part of the solution.
— Jane Daly Danese
Tackle System Change as a Coach
The transition from working-person to working-parent is the most precarious timeframe in a person’s personal and professional life.
The RETAIN Coaching Certification shows coaches and consultants how to tackle systemic change within client companies by providing manager training around the parental leave timeframe, as well as giving parents (and their managers) clarity, tools, and support during a tremendously complex time.
Who is this certification for?
- Therapists who support families through the challenges of welcoming a new child.
- Coaches and consultants who work with companies on workforce, leadership, and retention topics and understand the challenge deeply as a working parent themselves.
- Internal HR and Leave Specialists who see this gap and want to support their workforce.
- Doulas that want to expand their skillset and add a new level of new parent support.
- Teachers and health care professionals wishing to switch careers and make a different kind of impact on families.
What will this program do for you?
- Provide a clear solution for you to offer new or prospective business clients who struggle with retention and advancement of new parent staff.
- Help you earn enough revenue to really thrive as a coach in your organizational and leadership development work.
- Ease the stress, frustration, or overwhelm with your current workload and better manage your own work-life balance.
When you join, you’ll be part of a training cohort with live certification training led by Dr. Amy Beacom, and offering 1:1 support and education from experts in the field from Postpartum Support International and CPLL RETAIN Certified Coaches.
The training will cover evidence-based and field-tested resources, guides, and materials that serve as a roadmap for working with your own client companies.
After the 12 module training, you commence a month-long coaching engagement to practice your new skills with an expecting parent. CPLL partners with one of the nation’s largest new parent networks to provide you with an expecting parent to coach through a portion of their parental leave transition while being fully supported by the training program to cement your knowledge with real-world experience. With this introduction, you have the opportunity to potentially continue your work with this client and may find yourself graduating with a paying client already lined up! Our goal is to set you up to more than make back your investment in this program with your first client!
So what is included? (Fall 2024 details)
Training Program
- 12 core modules of live certification training led by CPLL founder and CEO, Dr. Amy Beacom, and 1:1 support from experts, including CPLL RETAIN Certified Coaches. (Most sessions occur on Tuesdays from 2:00pm – 4:00pm ET unless otherwise noted and will be recorded for those who are unable to make the live session or who want to review.)
- Live Lab Sessions: active coach learning triads within your cohort to provide opportunities to role play coach/client interactions with feedback and monitoring from a neutral observer, providing a safe space to mess up, ask questions, and practice, practice, practice!
- Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMAD) training developed and delivered specifically for this program by our partners at Postpartum Support International, the recognized leader in perinatal mental health resources and referrals around the world.
- A supportive community network of other parental leave coaches in the space, as well as guided community building, sales networking/new client referrals, and engagement to learn from each other’s experiences in the world and within this program. Includes a dedicated community Slack Channel to support these goals.
- Access to our platforms, tools, and resources throughout the training + Supervision including Making Leave Manageable™, Lead Your Leave™, Parental Leave Transition Assessment™, Next Steps: Action Plan™, Workplace Perinatal Mental Health Screening™ and more.
- Five free Parental Leave Transition Assessments™ and PLTA reports to use with your current and future clients as you’re getting started incorporating this into your work (a $995 value).
- Evidence-based and field-tested resources, guides, and materials that serve as a roadmap for working with your own client parents and companies.
- One Year Access to Our RETAIN Coaching Portal including all of the above materials, session recordings, Slack channel hosted by Dr. Amy Beacom, monthly live office hours, and a continuously updated resource library.
- Weekly quizzes to assess knowledge retention.
- A Welcome Care Package including a copy of Dr. Amy Beacom’s book to add to your library or gift if you already have a copy!
Month-Long Client Practice & Supervision
- An opportunity to take your newly learned skills into the real world with a fully coordinated and supported initial coaching engagement.
- Intentional matching with an expecting parent based on your skill level, talents, and background.
- Two active coaching sessions with your match using the PLTA, Values exercise, and Next Steps Action Plan resources.
- Four sessions with your cohort to prepare, debrief, and solidify your knowledge through feedback, questions and the collective wisdom of the cohort and teachers.
- Practice your coaching package delivery from first contact to wrap-up, including email communication, introduction and analysis of assessments/resources, and live coaching, with the full support, supervision, and guidance of this program.
- Introduction to one of the nation’s largest new parent networks to potentially line up your first paying client upon program graduation.
Level One RETAIN Coaching Certification Exam
- Upon successful completion of the training program + Month-Long Client Practice & Supervision, you’ll sit for the Level 1 RETAIN Coaching Certification Exam and, with a passing score, have the ability to integrate RETAIN and its tools in your coaching practice.
Ready to get started?
12 MODULE TRAINING PROGRAM
(Fall 2024 details)
Most sessions occur on Tuesdays from 11:00am – 1:00pm PT / 2:00pm – 4:00pm ET unless otherwise noted and will be recorded for those who are unable to make the live session or who want to review.
MODULE 1 – PARENTAL LEAVE – PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE
| LIVE SESSIONS: |
| Part 1 – Values & Introductions. We’ll start with a Values exercise that is part of every coaching engagement. A lived experience is the most powerful way to know something, in experiencing this exercise on ourselves and within the cohort, we will show you how quickly and effectively you can gain the intimacy and trust you need to work with your clients. We’ll use this exercise to identify what is important to you so you can ground your day-to-day actions in your values as you build your life moving forward (and understand how your clients will do the same). |
| Part 2 – Gain a full understanding of the landscape. As Dr. Beacom says, ”When we know where we are, it’s easier to know where we are going.” You will come away from this 2-hour meeting as an expert in the current state of the parental leave landscape, its ecosystem of players, and how your work fits in. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Systemic Impacts of a Broken System Mini (“Mini’s” are short instructional videos) • Emerging Working Parent Ecosystem Mini • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 2 – RETAIN MODEL – PART 1
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Introduce the RETAIN method, supporting theories, and how the aspects of RETAIN are used in practice. This week focuses on the WHAT of RETAIN and gives you an academic understanding of the method which serves as a powerful foundation to using it well. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Transition Theory Mini • Executive Coaching Theory Mini • Adult Learning Theory Mini • Role and Identity Theory Mini • Career Development Theory Mini • Life Stage Theory Mini • Work Life Theory Mini • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 3 – RETAIN MODEL – PART 2
| LIVE SESSION: |
| This week we will review HOW to use the RETAIN method. We’ll start with an interactive discussion on two important coaching skills that are used throughout your coaching engagements. We will share, listen, and learn from the entire cohort to gain a comprehensive understanding and embodiment of these traits. We’ll review a necessary difference in definition between this program and many other coaching programs, understanding WHY and HOW you will show up at various times as a coach, consultant, counselor, and more during your engagements. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • A Way of Working Mini • Excerpts from Dr. Amy Beacom’s Columbia University Dissertation – The RETAIN Maternity Leave Transitional Coaching Model: Applying Scholossberg’s Transition Theory to Create a New Model of Executive Coaching • What People Need to Navigate Leave Well Mini • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 4 – Parental Leave Transition Assessment (PLTA)
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Developed by leading workplace psychologists and parental leave experts over many years, our Parental Leave Transition Assessment (PLTA) is the only evidence-based parental leave measurement tool in existence. Prior to our live session, you will take the 30-minute assessment and receive your customized PLTA Report. During the session, you are coached through your results and learn how to apply this powerful tool to your practice. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • PLTA Survey • PLTA Report • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 5 – Next Steps Action Plan (Leave Planning Template)
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Debrief the recorded Action Planning workshop including an understanding of exactly how to use this recursive resource throughout your coaching engagements, highlight common pitfalls, and how to coach through the leave planning process. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Next Steps Action Plan Recorded Workshop • Next Steps Action Plan • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 6 – DIGGING IN – FOCUS ON PHASE 1 – PREPARING FOR LEAVE
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Deep-dive into all the specific details of coaching through the first phase: Preparing for Leave. We’ll cover the sequential touchpoints, meetings, agendas, pre and post work, goals, and outcomes so you are fully prepared to coach expecting parents to do the inner and outer work to orient to the type of parent (and then working parent) they want to become as they prepare for this transition. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Phase 1 – Coaching Interactions PDF • Touchpoint 1 – Announce Mini • Touchpoint 2 – Assess Mini • Touchpoint 3 – Action Plan Mini • Touchpoint 4 – Acknowledge the Transition to Parenthood Mini • Phase 1 RETAIN Letters Mini • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 7 – DIGGING IN – FOCUS ON PHASE 2 – DURING LEAVE
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Deep-dive into all the specific details of coaching through the second phase: During Leave. We’ll cover the sequential touchpoints, meetings, agendas, pre and post work, goals, and outcomes so you are fully prepared to coach and support new parents in boundary work, bonding with their new family, monitoring for perinatal mental health concerns, feeding and sleeping issues, and leaning into the support they need and deserve. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Phase 2 – Coaching Interactions PDF • Touchpoint 5 – Appropriately Keep In Touch Mini • Touchpoint 6 – Advocate Mini • Touchpoint 7 – Arrangements for Return Mini • Phase 2 RETAIN Letters Mini • General Considerations for Keep-In-Touch Strategy Handout • General Considerations for Return to Work Handout • Workplace Perinatal Mental Health Screening • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 8 – CUSTOM PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING (By PSI)
| LIVE SESSION: |
| This customized “just for us” training will be led by Postpartum Support International (PSI) – the recognized experts around the world in Perinatal Mental Health Training. This training will count towards your full PSI Certification, should you choose to pursue one. |
MODULE 9 – DIGGING IN – FOCUS ON PHASE 3 – RETURNING FROM LEAVE
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Deep-dive into all the specific details of coaching through the third phase: Returning From Leave. We’ll cover the sequential touchpoints, meetings, agendas, pre and post work, goals, and outcomes so you are fully prepared to coach and support working parents in owning their return to work, navigating challenges, and creatively/collaboratively making the experience work well so they may use their transition as a launchpad for growth and leadership in all areas of their work and life. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Phase 3 – Coaching Interactions PDF • Touchpoint 8 – Acknowledge the Transition to Working Parent Mini • Touchpoint 9 – Adjustment Mini • Touchpoint 10 – Access to Career Development Mini • Phase 3 RETAIN Letters Mini • Transition to Working Parent Reflection Questions Handout • Access to Career Development Reflection Questions Handout • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 10 – TOOLS & RESOURCES
| LIVE SESSION: |
| The RETAIN Coaching method is supported by a host of evidence-based proprietary tools and resources created over the last decade – field-tested and proven to get better results faster. This week we will introduce and train you in the use of this extensive list from the PLTA and Next Steps Action Plan to letters, assessments, screenings, forms, and an ever-growing resource library. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Leave Planning Template: Sample Next Steps: Action Plan™ (including 6-S Worksheet) • Building Your North Star Values™ exercise • Workplace Perinatal Mental Health Screening™ – Self-Assessment • Parental Leave Transition Assessment™ • Parental Leave Transition Assessment™ – Sample Report • New Parent Reflection Workbook • Checklist for New Moms • Checklist for New Dads • Checklist for Managers • AND MORE! • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
PRACTICE COACHING GROUP LABS
| LIVE SESSION: |
| You are paired with other cohort members to coach each other through your actual real-life experiences as a parent (this is beyond role-play, this is live coaching in front of your peers), using what you’ve learned throughout the program. Your fellow cohort participants will act as neutral observers and will offer feedback and perspective in a post-coaching debrief. |
MODULE 11 – THE SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES OF A RETAIN COACH
| LIVE SESSION: |
| This week we expand on the coaching skills and attributes that are critical to a successful coaching experience. This roundtable discussion will bring together our collective experience for an up-leveling of the entire cohort. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Ecosystem Partner Interview Recording • Prep for Coaching Checklist • Recommended Reading List • Curated External Resource Library (e.g. TED Talks, articles, websites, noteworthy connections, etc.) • Workplace Perinatal Mental Health Screen™ • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials |
MODULE 12 – BUSINESS OPERATIONS OF COACHING
| LIVE SESSION: |
| This week will focus on the business side of coaching. We’ll share our expertise, templates, scripts, and standard procedures for finding clients, making the sale, managing your accounts, and staying organized so you have a successful, thriving business and the work-life integration you desire. We’ll also cover the standards and requirements for using this method in your coaching practice that will further its success and product development for all coaches and the parents/organizations they support. |
| PREPARED RESOURCES: |
| • Ask Me Anything: Q&A With Parent Recording • Birth Story Prompts • Printables, Studies, Articles, and additional reading materials • Contracts • Templates • Scripts • Process and Workflows |
CLIENT SUPERVISION INTENSIVE
During a 4-week period, you are matched with an expecting parent for a practice mini coaching package. Throughout this time you will work with your matched parent and meet with the cohort before and after for preparation and debrief. This experience gives you a real-world opportunity to implement what you’ve learned, gain additional training, and introduce yourself to a network of expecting parents to potentially grow your coaching practice. Our community discussion area will also serve as a robust form of connection and learning during this practice and supervision month.
CLIENT SUPERVISION: PLTA & PMAD WORKPLACE SCREENING COHORT PREP
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Review the PLTA, role play, and prepare to coach your match through their PLTA results and session. Review the PMAD Workplace Screening and prepare to use in your coaching session.
This week, and the week prior, the following steps will be taken: |
CLIENT SUPERVISION: PLTA & PMAD WORKPLACE SCREENING COHORT DEBRIEF
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Debriefing everyone’s initial practice coaching session, discussing experiences, and surfacing takeaways and lessons learned. |
CLIENT SUPERVISION: NEXT STEPS ACTION PLAN COHORT PREP
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Review the Next Steps Action Plan, role play, and prepare to coach your match through this session.
This week the following steps will be taken: |
CLIENT SUPERVISION: NEXT STEPS ACTION PLAN COHORT DEBRIEF
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Debriefing everyone’s second practice coaching session, discussing experiences, and surfacing takeaways and lessons learned. |
FINAL RETAIN COHORT SESSION & CELEBRATION (AFTER CLIENT SUPERVISION)
| LIVE SESSION: |
| Celebrate the end of the formal Certification training program! |
LEVEL 1 RETAIN COACHING CERTIFICATION EXAM
| WITHIN 2 WEEKS OF THE END OF THE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM |
| Sit for the Level 1 RETAIN Coaching Certification Exam. Upon successful completion, receive your certificate and the ability to integrate RETAIN in your coaching practice. |
Be a Confident Coach
The best part about the RETAIN Certification is that you won’t have to guess and hope that your work will make a difference.
You are confident, because when you implement your training you’ll know it’s backed with over a decade of research proving its results.
When you use coaching tools, like the Parental Leave Transition Assessment™ (PLTA) and PLTA Report, you’ll get close with your clients and access the heart of their pain in half the time it would normally take (one of our coaches said the PLTA+Report saved her over six hours of “get to know and trust each other” coaching time!), giving you back that time to work toward self-awareness and resolutions.
You’ll be able to follow a known process and get to watch client after client confidently, successfully, and courageously transition into parenthood with a clear understanding of who they are, how they’ve changed, and how they’ll move forward in their career and personal life.
You will be excited and empowered by this training to go after more clients. You’ll have real feedback from real coaching sessions and you’ll be introduced to one of the largest parent groups in the country for a potential network of new business.
And if for whatever reason you don’t align with the training and won’t be using it in your business, simply send us an email within the first 14 days of the training and we’ll send you back your full investment.
By joining this cohort, you’re getting the opportunity to lead and build the field of parental leave coaching.
You’ll
- Get the tools to take action in the parental leave space
- Join a supportive community of other coaches in the space
- Earn more revenue while changing the face of parental leave support in the workplace.
Join our live RETAIN Coaching Certification program by enrolling with us today.
FAQs
Q: I love this and feel so aligned with what you’re saying, but I’m not sure I’m ready to join the cohort yet. How else can I be involved?
A: Let’s brainstorm that together! We’d love to hear about your skills and experiences, your journey, and what you’re seeing and hearing from any new parents you’re working with. Whether or not this certification makes sense for you at this time, we’re happy to provide insights, connections, and share whatever else we can! We truly believe that we need to rewrite the rules of engagement and that begins with support. We are here to be that for you too. You can email us to set up a time to talk: info@cplleadership.com
Q: What are the benefits of being involved in the RETAIN coaching community network?
A: Our standardized fee structure positions you to be hired by a client company at a rate of approximately $3000-$5000 per parent (for their full transition timeframe) – that fee range is dependent on number of sessions and sometimes on the position of the new parent employee. Manager training can bring in significantly more income. We cover the business operation basics in Module 12. Our goal is to set you up to more than make back your investment in this program with your first client!
As part of the RETAIN Community you have access to our evidence-based framework as well as our materials and resources built over a decade of research and experimentation (and massive investment!). You get the benefits right out of the box without the time or cost! Plus, we are always innovating and creating – so you will also receive continually updated materials, support, and resources to stay up to date on the landscape of changes in the parental leave space.
As our client network grows at CPLL, we hope to also pull in RETAIN Certified coaches from this community to aid with our larger client work, or refer out coaching inquiries that we get to this community.
Q: What is the investment to get certified and be involved this coaching network?
A: The tuition cost for the Fall 2024 certification will be $5,995 (learn about our unique Parent-It-Forward Scholarship in the next question). This includes 12 core training modules of live training; fit evaluation and connection with a live (and real!) expecting parent practice client; one month of live client work with group supervision and support; and the certification exam (and more!). There is an option to break this out into four monthly payments.
Over time we will grow this new Institute and inevitably hone the details. We are excited to have your feedback and support in that process. We do expect to include things like continuing education requirements for annual recertification in the future. All cohort participants will have access to the RETAIN Coaching Portal, recorded sessions, community slack channel with access to CPLL coaches for Q&A, office hours with Dr. Beacom, and support, templates, tools, resources and materials without additional fee for at least one year from program completion.
As a graduate, your input will be invaluable in helping us decide what any future fees look like. Any future recertification fees will be priced to ensure you maintain a healthy profit within your coaching practice.
Q: What is the Parent-It-Forward Scholarship?
A: The Parent-It-Forward Scholarship is our way of doing all we can to ensure everyone who wants to become a certified RETAIN Parental Leave Coach can do so. In the spirit of the Pay-It-Forward movement, Dr. Beacom has seeded a scholarship for those who have need.
Because one of our core values at CPLL is to lift-all-boats and put a hand out to help lift others as we rise, we ask our scholarship recipients to pledge some portion of their future RETAIN Coaching earnings to this scholarship fund to ensure future participants can benefit as well. CPLL is also committing a percentage of yearly profits to the Parent-It-Forward Scholarship.
We firmly believe that all parents deserve support, no matter how they become parents, their gender identification, race, geographic location, job role, income, religion, political perspective, or other – diversity is what makes our shared world rich and meaningful. We use this scholarship to actively ensure this value-based goal is achieved.
Q: Is the Parental Leave Transition Assessment™ (PLTA) included for use with my future clients in my tuition cost?
A: Five PLTA’s and PLTA Reports, along with five corresponding PLTA Manager Questionnaire and PLTA-MQ Reports are included for free when you become a RETAIN Certified coach (Current Value: $995). Beyond those five, the PLTA is a separate product wholly owned by CPLL, with a per user fee like any other assessment and report product on the market (e.g. Clifton Strengths™, MBTI™, DISC™, etc.). RETAIN Certified coaches and those trained in the PLTA by CPLL are the only people certified to use and sell the PLTA to their clients. All costs associated with the PLTA should be passed on to your client and in that way should never be an additional cost to you.
Q: Will I be certified in Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders from Postpartum Support International’s custom training?
A: No. However, you will be considered as having met the requirements for their training level and your training can be transferable if you’d like to join PSI’s larger PMAD Certification program. In this training you will learn to:
- Recognize the different presentations of Perinatal Mental Health Disorders and what to look for
- What screening tools exist for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and how to use them
- How to recognize when you can help and when a referral to a therapist or doctor is warranted
- How to access referrals and resources through CPLL and PSI
Note: This certification program DOES qualify for Continuing Education (CE) Credits with PSI.
Q: What guarantee do I have?
A: RETAIN is based on over 35 years of research and theory to help employees navigate the complex parental leave time frame in ways that grow leadership pipelines and make lives better. RETAIN is an academically grounded model that gives you the science (and some of the art!) so that you can join a growing field and become one of the preeminent parental leave coaches in our country.
At the end of the day however, your success depends on showing up and doing the work. We can only show you how, but you’re the one who has to go out, get clients, and serve those clients to the best of your ability.
We want this to be something you love and thrive doing! In that spirit, we do offer a period of 14-days to try the program and get your money back if it’s not a fit.
Q: Who else will I be joining in this program?
A: Over the last several years, our cohorts have contained a beautifully diverse set of experienced practitioners and newcomers to the parental leave support space from many many different fields and backgrounds. This included coaches, consultants, therapists, doulas, and others working in this space. We expect every cohort to be different, so we don’t know yet AND we are excited to find out what yours will look like! Our founder, Dr. Amy Beacom, who conceived of and began developing the field of parental leave coaching and consulting in 2006, leads this program. Beyond that, we expect interesting, bright, and caring people who want to make the experience of becoming a working parent and transitioning to working parenthood way better for new parents and their companies.
Q: What is included?
A: See the rest of this page for all those details and reach out if you have any questions!
Q: How do I get a “practice client?”
A: We have a network of expectant and new parents who we will match each cohort member with for the month-long client practice and supervision component of our curriculum. We are very excited about this win-win-win feature of our program – you get practice, an expecting parent gets two free coaching sessions, and you have the potential to create an ongoing paying coaching relationship if you both find that is what you want. Our hope and dream is that every newly certified RETAIN coach leaves our program with a new paying client and is launched into a new phase of their career!
Q: How does the RETAIN Parental Leave Coaching Program work?
Dr. Amy Beacom has distilled decades of research into a robust, yet manageable, coaching curriculum to offer the first and only academically grounded parental leave coach training program to exist – all so that you can become a certified RETAIN parental leave coach and join a movement of support to help fundamentally improve parental leave in the United States.
As demand increases for parental leave support at employers, RETAIN Parental Leave Coaching certification will provide you with the training and credibility to offer your coaching services to this emerging market. We believe an army of parental leave coaches will be needed to help support the roughly 8 million people a year who become parents in this country (not to mention their employers and managers!). This is not the job for one company, this is a movement that will require a reimagining of how parental leave transition support happens (for individuals and organizations) and a strong network of people committed to lifting all boats and creating this new future.
Beyond that, our RETAIN Parental Leave Coaching Program™ has been piloted, tested, refined, and proven to work. RETAIN coaching also relies on intuition, guts, and our collective experience – a combination that can help transform a company’s parental leave culture and the employee experience.
The full RETAIN Program takes place over the 3 phases of leave, but can be tailored to begin at any phase:
- Preparing for Leave
- During Leave
- Returning from Leave
Most frequently, a RETAIN engagement includes 5-10 coaching interactions over a period of roughly 9-12 months (depending on a person’s leave length) and takes a systemic approach that requires the active participation of an organizational representative (usually HR), the person going on leave, their manager and a RETAIN certified coach. However, some clients may only want a couple of sessions, others may want significantly more. As parental leave coaching is becoming more well known and companies are still working to create budgets, we are also seeing a growing demand for parental leave coaching purchased by the expecting/new parent themselves.