Narrative Coaching Certification
Narrative Coach Practitioner · ICF Level 2–Accredited Program
Help clients recognize the story shaping their next choice.
A client knows what they want. They have a plan.
And still, the familiar response keeps getting the last word.
What makes that response convincing?
Develop the ability to explore how identity, beliefs, values, and meaning shape what clients see as possible—and support them in discovering choices they can make their own.
181 hours of coaching education, supported practice, and mentor coaching.
When Knowing What to Do Isn’t Enough
“I know what I need to do. I just keep doing something else.”
It might be setting a boundary, pursuing an opportunity, or asking for help. A person can want something different while finding the familiar response more convincing. Inside a story that being a good person means never disappointing anyone, saying no can feel like becoming someone they don’t want to be.
Sometimes the response someone wants to change is protecting something they want to keep.
Narrative coaching creates room to explore that connection:
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Who am I in this story?
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What do I believe to be true?
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What matters enough to protect?
In this program, you learn to help clients observe the stories they are living, question what they have taken for granted, and discover choices they can make their own.
Is this the coaching education you’ve been looking for?
You may be preparing to become a professional coach, bringing coaching into your current role,
or looking for greater depth in an existing practice.
This program may fit if you want to:
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Develop a foundation in professional coaching with a narrative approach.
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Recognize what makes a familiar response persist, even when someone wants change.
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Support exploration without supplying the client’s interpretation or answer.
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Learn through practice, mentor coaching, and examining your own stories along the way.
People arrive from leadership, healthcare, education, business, and community work.
You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out. A willingness to learn—and
occasionally surprise yourself—is a good beginning.
What You’ll Learn to Notice—and Work With
You will develop your ability to:
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Listen for meaning: Recognize how clients interpret an experience and what that interpretation makes possible or difficult.
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Explore identity, beliefs, and values: Help clients examine what a response protects, proves, or preserves.
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Ask questions that open exploration: Invite discovery while leaving clients responsible for their own understanding.
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Stay present when change gets uncomfortable: Support clients as they consider whether to persist, adjust, or choose another approach.
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Connect discovery with action: Help clients identify what to try, recognize evidence, and learn from the results.
These capacities develop through coaching practice, feedback, mentor coaching, and application of the ICF Core Competencies.
Your Path Through the Program:
Begin with the Power of Possibility:
Experience the narrative approach firsthand and begin recognizing how your own stories shape what you notice and choose.
Develop your coaching through four core courses:
Honor Your Interior Self, Design a Creative Environment, Integrate Creative Expression, and Source Gifts & Talents each develop a different capacity for working with story, identity, and change.
Practice and deepen your understanding in seven learning labs:
Explore the Discovery Lab, Powerful Questions Lab, Ethics, Models & Tools, and the ICF Core Competency Lab I, II, III through focused application.
Bring your coaching into practice:
Mentor coaching, peer practice, and feedback help you recognize strengths, examine choices, and refine your work.
Complete the certification requirements:
Written and oral assessments bring your learning together and provide evidence of your coaching development.
Program Details:
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Education: 181 hours; ICF Level 2 accreditation
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Format & Location: Live online via Zoom (some in-person options in Minnesota)
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Starting Point: Power of Possibility prerequisite and upcoming dates
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Completion Timeframe: 6 - 8 months
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Investment: $9,450 (includes 181 ed hrs, 16 hrs mentor coaching, course materials, coaching tools, written & oral exam)
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Payment Options: Pay as you go or in full (Ask for other available payment arrangements)
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WIOA/Dislocated Worker Funding: Discover eligibility information
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Your Certification and ICF Pathway: Complete the program to earn your Learning Journeys Narrative Coach Practitioner certification. Our ICF Level 2–accredited education supports your path toward an ICF credential, which requires a separate application and fulfillment of ICF’s additional requirements.
Narrative Coach Certification Core Courses & Lab Descriptions
Each course develops a distinct capacity—together, they transform how you see, listen, and coach.
Power of Possibility
Equips you to help others identify and rewrite limiting stories—while uncovering how your own narratives shape your choices. This parallel process shifts learning from transactional to transformational, creating deeper, more lasting change.
Power of Possibility
Narrative Practitioner (Core I)
Honor Your Interior Self
Explores how expectations and roles can keep individuals trapped in externally shaped patterns. You’ll learn to help clients recognize these influences and begin living more authentically from the inside out.
Honor Your Interior Self
Narrative Practitioner (Core II)
Design a Creative Environment
Examines the natural fluctuations of confidence during change and the importance of a steady coaching presence. You’ll learn to create a space where clients can move forward, sideways, or backward—while continuing to progress.
Design a Creative Environment
Narrative Practitioner (Core III)
Integrate Creative Expression
Focuses on how we default to familiar solutions when facing uncertainty. You’ll learn to help clients access creativity, explore new perspectives, and move beyond patterns that keep them stuck.
Integrate Creative Expression
Narrative Practitioner (Core IV)
Source Gifts and Talents
Develops your ability to help clients identify where they are in the change process, uncover what’s holding them back, and recognize the strengths that support forward movement.
Source Gifts & Talents
Narrative Practitioner (Core V)
Coaching Ethics Lab
Deepens understanding of ICF ethical guidelines while building confidence in navigating real-world dilemmas. You’ll develop practical strategies to uphold integrity in your coaching practice.
Coaching Ethics Lab
Narrative Practitioner (Lab I)
Models & Tools Lab
Strengthens your ability to effectively use coaching models, tools, and competencies to guide meaningful exploration. You’ll learn how to support clients in uncovering what matters and creating aligned outcomes.
Models & Tools Lab
Narrative Practitioner (Lab II)
Powerful Questions Lab
Explores the elements that elevate questions from functional to transformational. You’ll refine how you design and deliver questions that deepen awareness and shift the direction of a coaching conversation.
Powerful Questions Lab
Narrative Practitioner (Lab III)
Discovery Session Lab
Focuses on building a strong coaching foundation through clarity, alignment, and trust. You’ll learn how to establish expectations and create a starting point that supports long-term success.
Discovery Session Lab
Narrative Practitioner (Lab IV)
Each ICF Competency Lab deepens students’ understanding and practical application of the ICF Competencies and their markers. These labs are designed to ensure students cultivate the skills needed to deliver coaching experiences that are consistently effective, impactful, and aligned with professional standards.
ICF Competencies Lab I-III
Narrative Practitioner (Lab V-VII)
People do not respond to life as it is. They respond to life as the stories they hold allow them to experience it. Everything in the LJ curriculum flows from this premise.
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Power asks, "What story determines what feels possible?"
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Honor asks, "What story keeps someone loyal to who they've been?"
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Design asks, "What story is shaping the client's present experience, and how do we meet them there?"
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Integrate asks, "What new story becomes available when we access ways of knowing beyond analysis?"
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Source asks, "What story allows someone's gifts to become a meaningful contribution?"
Summary of Core Courses
Narrative Practitioner
You don’t have to choose your whole future from a webpage.
Tell us what draws you to coaching, what you hope to do with it, and what you’re still sorting out.
The conversation can help you understand the program, the commitment, and whether this approach fits the coach you want to become.
Already know your next step?