My name is Bruce Stopher (rhymes with gopher). I am an internationally credentialed life coach, and a fully-trained and certified mentor coach and coach supervisor. Here’s my coaching “story.”
I was exposed to coaching in the corporate world in the early 2000s. Our CEO experienced such fantastic results with his executive coach that he mandated that every leader in the company who had direct reports (subordinates) learn to coach at least on a basic level.
After my four-hour training class on coaching in the business world, I embraced the concept and took several opportunities to grow in my coaching abilities. I was particularly interested in Motivational Interviewing. I eventually became know as “the guy who asks questions.”
It was 15 years later that I first heard about “life coaching.” What I read about it seemed similar to what I had been doing in corporate life – but different. I began to look into growing more in the world of personal coaching.
My first coach training consisted of simply watching multiple videos on my laptop and gathering the documents the instructors provided. At the end of that training, I was certified by that company as a “Master Certified Life Coach.” However, I had never observed a coaching session, nor had I done it myself during the training. There had to be something more!
A few months later, I found the ICF (International Coaching Federation), the world’s largest coaching association. I began to learn what they considered coaching, which was far different from what I had experienced in my previous training. I found an ICF-accredited coach training company, and as I increased in my training in non-directive, evocative coaching (asking questions rather than providing answers), I also took courses from other ICF-accredited companies.
The training companies that I attended include: Coach Training for Leaders (5 hours), Coaching Outside the Box (9 hours), Creative Results Management (35 hours), Fluxify (4 hours), Institute for Life Coach Training (56 hours), Professional Christian Coaching Institute (139 hours). That’s 248 hours of LIVE coach training, along with other coach certifications for programs I added to my toolbox.
In addition to my Life Coach training, I completed 150 hours of coaching supervision training through Goldvarg Consulting Group, a program that meets the accrediting requirements of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). The ICF does not currently endorse any supervision training, but it does recognize training accredited by the EMCC.
In 2025, I completed 15 hours of mentor coach training and received a certificate of completion. The ICF does not require mentor-coach certification, but I found it very useful for my personal development. I have since completed additional mentor coach training through the ICF to stay current with changes to the ICF core competencies and the PCC Markers.