Writing Through Transitions

4 Key Tools for Growing with Change

Leia Francisco’s trademarked model Writing Through Transitions® is based on her 25 years as a transition coach, teacher and author, working with people from many backgrounds and cultures. Her work demonstrates how writing maximizes personal power and growth during significant, and often challenging, transitions. You will complete this course with an understanding of the transition process and four key tools to use in all future transitions. Each lesson deepens your transition knowledge and the use of your tools.

The nine lessons in the online course contain bite-sized topics about letting go, moving in between, and accepting the new way, along with practice using the tools of self-assessment, structure, support and a plan. The lessons are easy to understand, and writing strategies are aligned with the transition you are exploring. Supplemental material includes downloadable material, quotes, and suggestions.

As a self-study course, it has no set start date. You can begin the course as soon as you purchase it, and you will move at your own pace—this is especially important in exploring transitions.

Writing Through Transitions: 4 Keys for Growing with Change is offered exclusively through the IAJW.org.

Buy now & get started with Writing Through Transitions, you will learn so much in this informative and inspiring course!

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$127.00

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Are you feeling “transition overload?” If so, you are not alone. Changes are coming faster and harder than ever before. In the 1970s, the futurist Alvin Toffler predicted that in the coming century changes would come so fast and hard that our focusing mechanisms would not be able to keep up. He called this “future shock.” In change overload, we need to feel grounded and equipped to grow with our changes.

This course reflects years of feedback from many users, students, and clients. It is anchored in the belief that you shape each transition with deeper insight and growth in the written history of that transition.

“I found Leia Francisco’s “Writing Through Transitions: 4 Tools for Growing with Change,” course a deeply personal and richly rewarding experience. The course combines Leia’s extensive knowledge, wisdom, and experience with transitions in a self-exploration journey through the three primary stages of a transition process. Each stage of this exceptionally well-designed course provided information, examples, and writing prompts for insights on who I was, who I wanted to be, and what truly mattered at this stage of my life.”
—David C. Borchard, EdD, BCC

Course Overview

Lesson 1

Overview of Transitions: Letting Go, Moving In Between, Accepting the New Way

Lesson 2

Four Tools: Self-Assessment, Structure, Support, Plan

Lesson 3

Overview of Letting Go
Self-acceptance
The Transition Echo
The Lost Dream
Rituals for Endings

Lesson 4

Four Tools for Letting Go

Lesson 5

Moving through the In Between
The Messy Middle
Looking Fear in the Eye
Managing Pinging Transitions
Welcoming Creative Possibilities

Lesson 6

Four Tools for the In Between

Lesson 7

Accepting The New Way
The Wisdom of the New Way
Preparing for a Future Transitions

Lesson 8

Four Tools for the New Way
Writing the Wisdom of Your Transition
Final thoughts

Lesson 9

Summoning the Wisdom of Your Transition Writing

Supplemental learning materials are provided in this course as well as a suggested resource list.

No experience with journal writing? That’s okay. You’ll get guidance and clear directions for your writing prompts. All you need is willingness and some time to devote to the writing processes.

Time estimate:

Topics average about half an hour, depending on your choice of writing
Exploration of supplemental material takes about half an hour on average

Pacing Yourself

Thinking and writing about transitions can sometimes be challenging, so you will set the pace and determine when and how you will write about your transitions.

This course is designed for anyone who…

wants to understand predictable responses to major change
desires to see how writing strategies can foster personal growth and wisdom
likes having specific tools and practices to apply to transitions
would benefit from transition writing as a future guide

As a result of completing Writing Through Transitions: Four Tools for Growing with Change, you will

Have solid knowledge about the transition process and skill in seeing that process in your own transitions
Experience a broad range of writing that makes a qualitative difference in the transition process
Feel confident in using the four tools in your transitions, in your own transition style

“Leia Francisco, CJF is among the pantheon of great thinkers in the transition field. She has pioneered the use of life-based writing as a dynamic yet nuanced tool for all stages and forms of transition, and she teaches it with elegance and depth. She’s the real deal.”
—Katheen Adams LPC, Founder, Center for Journal Therapy (1988), author, Journal to the Self

Register now and begin your own meaningful and guided Writing Through Transitions journey!

15 CEUs Are Available for this Writing Through Transitions Course

ONLY For CCE Board Certified Coach Credential

The credential of Board Certified Coach (BCC) is issued by the Center for Credentialing and Education. To maintain the BCC credential, a coach must accumulate 70 hours in Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in a five-year period. A list of CEU courses can be found at https://www.cce-global.org/credentialing/bcc/continuingeducationopportunities. “The Writing Through Transitions: 4 Key Tools” offers 15 CEUs to coaches certified as BCC coaches. You will find the course as “Writing the Wisdom of Transitions: Four Tools.” Simply go to the website noted above and click on the course title for contact information and further details about how to claim the eligible CEU’s.

Leia Francisco, M.A., is a CCE Board Certified Coach, author of Writing Through Transitions: A Guide for Transforming Life Changes, and the creator of her trademarked model, Writing Through Transitions®. As a coach for individuals and organization and as a workshop leader, Leia has helped people from a range of backgrounds and cultures as they navigate transitions. For over a decade, she taught transition writing for the Therapeutic Writing Institute, applying her knowledge as a certified journal facilitator and applied poetry facilitator. Her articles have appeared in newspaper columns, journal articles, and contributions to books on journaling, career transitions, and emotional wellbeing.

Over the past 25 years, Lei’s greatest professional satisfaction has come from helping people understand the transition process and how to grow in their time of transition.

Leia Francisco

My love for journaling and expressive writing is entwined with my passion for helping people with transitions. After many years of writing and coaching, I completed applied poetry facilitation training in 2004 and received my certification in journal facilitation through The Therapeutic Writing Institute (founded by Kathleen Adams), where I was one of its first faculty members. I have taught my signature program, Writing Through Transitions, for ten years. In 2015, I published the revised edition of Writing Through Transition: A Guide for Transforming Life Changes.

Through my individual coaching and certification program, I will train people to facilitate transitions with their own signature workshop or coaching. I know from years of working closely with individuals that writing makes a qualitative difference in how well people navigate difficult transitions.

I believe that our prior work enhances how we coach others in writing their stories. I am a reformed English instructor, a former senior manager who worked for many years on policy issues for women, and a consultant for organizational change. My good fortune has included studying with William Bridges, Dr. Frederic Hudson, and Richard Bolles—my mentors and inspiration in coaching transitions. These experiences have profoundly shaped my work.

What I want to share with the Journal Council are my ideas about developing a new generation of expressive writing leaders.

“Leia Francisco, CJF is among the pantheon of great thinkers in the transition field. She has pioneered the use of life-based writing as a dynamic yet nuanced tool for all stages and forms of transition, and she teaches it with elegance and depth. Leia has extended her work to new generations through her certification training in transitions writing. Her alumni roster contains those who are taking transitions writing to new levels and to new populations, including cancer, brain injury, end-of-life care, retirees and more. Her values of authenticity, integrity and service shine through every class or coaching session. She's the real deal.”

--Katheen Adams LPC, Founder, Center for Journal Therapy (1988), author, Journal to the Self

“I found Leia Francisco’s “Writing Through Transitions: 4 Tools for Growing with Change,” course a deeply personal and richly rewarding experience. The course combines Leia’s extensive knowledge, wisdom, and experience with transitions in a self-exploration journey through the three primary stages of a transition process. Each stage of this exceptionally well-designed course provided information, examples, and writing prompts for insights on who I was, who I wanted to be, and what truly mattered at this stage of my life. And, as a bonus, I received 15 CEU’s of credit for renewing my Coach Credentialling.”

--David C. Borchard, EdD, BCC is a life/career coach and author of the book The Joy of Retirement: Finding Freedom, And the Life You’ve Always Wanted, and “The Life Relaunch Compass,” a transition resource for finding a new direction in life and work: Available at www.Visiontrac.net.

The “Writing Through Transitions: 4 Tools for Growing with Change” course has been a valuable learning experience for me personally and professionally. It has not only equipped me with the necessary tools and resources to better understand and manage my own transitions but also enabled me to support my coaching clients to discover new clarity in their own transitions through writing and reflection. This course offers not only a rich synthesis of the key concepts on transitions but also provides insightful perspectives and impactful writing strategies on how to traverse the different phases of transitions. Leia’s ability to make complex concepts accessible and relatable is evident in the course material as she offers valuable tools and techniques to manage change effectively. I would highly recommend this course as a resource to anyone who wishes to gain deeper insights and confidence in navigating significant life changes with resilience and purpose.

Chan Lin Ho, EdD, PCC, Spiritual Director, Transition Writing Specialist and Coach

"Leia Francisco's pioneering work, "Writing Through Transitions," is my platinum standard for navigating life changes in my journal. As a student of Leia's, I was so moved by the power of her course to address my own significant life changes that I chose to train with her in order to become credentialed to teach the course. And it has become one of the most requested courses in my line-up. After completing the course, participants often report that they have gained clarity, strength, wisdom and confidence as they move forward. One participant shared that she is so glad that she didn't write in her workbook as she imagines using Leia's model for any significant change that she faces."

Deborah Ross, LPC, Certified Journal Therapist (CJT), core faculty member at the Therapeutic Writing Institute, co-author of, "Your Brain on Ink," and contributor to, "Journal Therapy for Overcoming Burnout."

Get Writing Through Transitions here

$127.00

Writing Through Transitions