‘Watching people grow into their best selves’: Advancing family coaching & education
Lisa Krause, M.A., CFLE
By Lisa Krause, M.A., CFLE
Family Coach
Contracted Faculty of Practice, Concordia University
Coaching helps people grow and become empowered. Through multiple professional roles, I get to advance family coaching and education and watch people grow into their best selves.
I am a contracted faculty at Concordia University, St. Paul, where I coordinate the Family and Parent Coaching program, and I run Parent Coach Connection, which connects and supports family coaches wanting to grow their businesses and coaching skills.
I also do direct coaching work with parents. One of my first coaching contracts was under a grant to provide parent coaching in a juvenile diabetes clinic at a large children’s hospital. My role was to provide support and education to the parents and to support the family. Topics I covered with families through coaching and education included co-parenting, sensitive and responsive caregiving, sibling relationships, building on family strengths, work–life balance, healthy communication, and more.
My current contract is under a grant to provide parent education/coaching to parents whose teens are involved in truancy court. Skills I’m able to pull in from my training as a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) include needs assessments, program development and evaluation, facilitation, coaching, and marketing. In shaping this program, I’m learning the value of being flexible and skilled in many approaches to adult education, including coaching, facilitation, and direct teaching. Some parents benefit more from classroom and group education, while others find value in one-on-one coaching.
I believe that as Family Life Educators and Coaches, we make a difference, especially by empowering others. One of the greatest compliments I can get is when a parent’s face lights up and they say, “I know what to do. I figured it out.” It is truly exciting.