President, Blue Pinecone Consulting DC Metro Chapter Board Member
Session Description: Every career transition contains an element of loss — identity, environment, belonging, status, or a vision of the future. When that loss goes unacknowledged, clients can stall in confusion, frustration, or self-doubt. When it is skillfully processed, resilience and adaptability emerge. This session explores the emotional architecture of change through the lens of the stages of grief and transitions. This session explores two complementary frameworks: the Five Stages of Grief identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the Bridges Transition Model. Together, these models help coaches understand how career transitions affect clients emotionally and psychologically. We then move from information and education to application, taking practical tools and techniques to help clients identify their own stage of transition and emerge with increased resilience, a renewed understanding of values, and motivation for a new beginning. Through case examples and applied coaching tools, this session will demonstrate how coaches can: • Normalize the emotional impact of change • Avoid prematurely moving clients to strategy before emotional processing • Strengthen resilience and adaptability for clients’ futures Participants will leave with practical frameworks and language they can immediately apply to support clients navigating career transitions, leadership shifts, organizational change, and other identity-disrupting experiences.
Learning Objectives::
1. Identify the emotional stages commonly present in career and identity transitions and distinguish between external change and internal transition.
2. Apply coaching strategies aligned with the ICF Core Competencies to support clients experiencing grief-related responses to change and transitions.
3. Use a structured “Loss-to-Resilience” framework to help clients move from identity disruption to adaptive growth.
