History and Evolution of Life Skills Coaching

Life Skills Colleges of Canada trained highly skilled Life Skills Coaches - not to be confused with Life coaches. ONLY certified Life Skills Coaches were allowed to run Life Skills programs because of the at-risk nature of the participant's group dynamics.

Life Skills Coaches were employed by organizations such as, Canadian Mental Health, Department of Justice, Canadian Manpower (now Manpower Group) and Indigenous and Northern Affairs referred students and client groups to the Life Skills Training Centres for basic life skills training or job-readiness training developed to psychiatric hospitals, inner-city schools, corrections, at-risk youth group homes, suicide prevention centres, drug & alcohol treatment centres, women shelters, indigenous communities, schools, as well as pre-employment agencies, to develop replacement behaviours, healthy attitudes and coping behaviours - which could only be facilitated by certified Life Skills Coaches. 

At the time in 1972 Life Skills Colleges was the only institution teaching “Non-Athletic” coaching. With global attendance and utilization from all levels of government in Canada mostly because of life skills programming’ ability to create effective solutions to address social and economic development. 

Claim to fame: Life Skills Colleges created a social invention “Non-Athletic” coaching. Social Invention book by D. Stuart Conger

The Life Skills colleges’ mission was to affect the human and social changes required to ensure a measure of success for improving the human condition and create economically viable societies. 

Before closing their doors in 2011 the Life Skills Training Colleges of Canada had trained well over 100,000 students & just over 3000 Life Skills coaches and a small team of Life Skills Coach Trainers. 

Life Skills Training Colleges of Canada operated for 40 years from 1972 - 2011.

The following PDFs are an in-depth description of the History and Evolution of a Life Skills Coach and the approach to human development.