A Brief History of the PCI

Information from Gloria DeGaetano, founder and CEO

If I were you, I would be researching a prospective parent coach training program thoughtfully and thoroughly. I hope this information helps you know the PCI better and understand its beginnings and its journey to date.

Below are listed selected highlights that we consider milestones at the PCI.

I founded the PCI in 2000 with a dream of a new way to support parents based on leading edge change process theories and a unique coaching model. I wanted to create, not only a training program, but also an institute that would be a "container" for like-minded professionals to support one another in their highest potential and most creative expression. I knew of no other organization that gathers together professionals working with families from all around the globe and provides ways for them to interact, meet, work together, and learn from one another. This vision inspired me and energized me!

The training curriculum came first.

Over a three-year period (1999–2002) I constructed a graduate-level, year-long, distance learning program under the auspices of the Department of Education at Seattle Pacific University. Based on a synthesis of what we know works for families, the reception of this curriculum by professionals such as parent educators, therapists, counselors, teachers, and community health workers, was and continues to be extremely positive. I think I hit a nerve. (See Student and Grad Comments.)

My past 30 years experience and growing awareness of the dire need for effective ways to meet parent’s needs, served me well to create a compelling, comprehensive, and exciting curriculum. I am ever grateful for those experiences and for my drive and passion to provide new tools for families and a coherent framework for professionals who support families.

The Parent Coaching Institute’s training curriculum carefully defines the world today’s parents operate in. It intentionally implements an ecological theoretical model and coaching process that draws forth the authentic, phenomenal self of the parent, positively impacting the children, the family, and eventually, society itself. It is an amazingly energetic and creative process!

In creating the curriculum I asked myself key questions:

When we parent well, we do change the world. I founded the PCI on the basis of this inspiring idea. Each of us as a parent has a sacred trust to give back to society by making sure our children are not only fit for society but fit to improve society, as well. Each parent is one small part of a much greater whole. Yet, without our small contribution, there is a hole in the whole. With too many such holes, the fabric of our very society tears to shreds as we see in our current state of crisis.

The PCI’s curriculum and training methodologies prepares professionals to coach parents well, catalyzing the process of more energized, creative parenting…and then from there…the positive possibilities are endless…for our children and for our future.

The PCI is now the dynamic institute I dreamed about in the year 2000. And we are now growing outside the US and Canada.

Now the two PCIs, Parent Coaching Institute and Parent Coach International, support the highest creative expression of our students and graduates, becoming a well of wisdom and insight, as we work together to support PCI’s Vision and Mission.

Won’t you join us in this exciting adventure and help us write the next chapter of the PCI’s history?

gloria-first-name-sig
Gloria DeGaetano
Phone: (425) 449-8877
gloria@thepci.org

Highlights from PCI History

September 2000
The Parent Coaching Institute established by Gloria DeGaetano.
May 1999–November 2002
Curriculum Development for the PCI Parent Coach Training and Parent Coach Certification® Training Program.
June–November 2002
PCI Parent Coaching Project with Island County Health to support new moms.
2002
First group of 8 PCI coaches graduate and receive Parent Coach Certification®.

PCI established as innovative leader with the highest standards in the parent coaching field and recognized as the creator of parent coaching.
May 2003
PCI featured on cover of The Wall Street Journal.
March 2005
PCI featured on front page of Sunday’s New York Times.
October 2005
First West Coast PCI Retreat weekend with guest speaker, Dr. Jane Healy, Sleeping Lady Conference Center, Wenatchee, Washington.
February 2006
PCI completes PCI Parent Coaching Project with Snohomish Health and Human Resources.
March 2006
Gloria DeGaetano appears on The Today Show.
August 2006–February 2007>
PCI completes PCI Parent Coaching Project with Little Red Schoolhouse to support parents of special needs children,
April 2007
PCI Certified Parent Coaches® of New England initiate the first East Coast PCI Retreat for students and graduates of the institute, University of Rhode Island Conference Center.
June 2008
PCI hosts student and graduate conference held, for the first time, in Chicago.
March 2009
PCI publishes Parent Success Stories, a compilation of stories from PCI Certified Parent Coaches®.
June 2009
PCI hosts student and graduate conference held, for the first time, in Morristown, NJ.
February 2010
PCI begins on-site parent coach trainings in Xi’an, Beijing, and Shanghai.
June 2010
PCI hosts student and graduate conference held in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
September 2011
PCI begins growing in Turkey and the Middle East.
January 2014
PCI launches Parent Coach International.
June 2014
PCI hosts student and graduate conference held in Chicago.
September 2015
PCI launches PCI Middle East.
March 2016
PCI launches PCI Southeast Asia.
May 2016
PCI completes parent coaching project with The Hurley School in Boston.