Soleil Lifestory Network

Leader Certification
for Lifewriting Professionals

I. CERTIFICATION HISTORY & OVERVIEW

The Soleil Lifestory Network Leader Training & Certification Program provides in-depth professional development and training.

The program is based on the Turning Memories Into Memoirs^® lifestory writing method first developed in 1988 and now in use in nine English-speaking countries around the world.

Turning Memories^® has helped tens of thousands of people to successfully write their stories.

The leader Certification program offers independent practitioners solid support in the major areas necessary for success: a proven curriculum, training in effective presentation, small office business systems, and personal exploration of memoir writing (the only way to guide others with authority).

Designed especially for teachers and writers working independently in their own communities, this program can transform existing skills, talents and experience into effective and meaningful full- or part-time work (and income) in any region where people are interested in preserving personal and family history.

There is no other professional development program tailored to prepare personal historians to establish their local practices based on presenting lifewriting programs and services.

Soleil Lifestory Network Certification has been offered since 2000.

For a detailed history of Soleil Lifestory Network, please click here.

II. THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF CERTIFICATION

1. Purchase the Affiliate Teacher Support Package.

The package is a stellar offering in itself. Combined with the other three Certification components, it is the closest you can come to assured success as a personal history practitioner. Whether you measure your success in personal satisfaction as a teacher or in income generation, the tools you need are in this package.

Note that we also sell a Partial Teacher Package of presenter materials. However, Certification is awarded only to those who purchase and use the full Affiliate Support Package because only it includes all the supports necessary to launch and sustain a successful business as a personal hisotrian.

After Affiliation, the three Certification training seminars may be undertaken in any order. Each seminar is offered twice during the calendar year.

2. Attend a Turning Memories^® Workshop led by Soleil founder/director Denis Ledoux.

Certification trainees experience first hand the same workshop they will present as Certified lifewriting instructors.This workshop offers a solid teaching model and is developmental both for your writing and your identity as a writer. Clients will ask that you actively practice what you teach them. Participation in this and subsequent (Advanced TMIM Workshops) will give you the authority to lead your students and clients with confidence.

This is a residential 5-day workshop.

3. Complete the 15-week Business Development Seminar Tele-Class.

This component, offered as a 15-week telephone conference class, covers the nuts and bolts of growing and/or revitalizing a writing-based small business.

Independent, small business planning, office forms and procedures, publicity and outreach, marketing and record keeping--all are specifically tailored to the personal history professional.

What you will learn in this course is based on our experience since 1988 in developing an effective memoir curriculum and a mix of writing-related services, growing our business, and presenting diverse lifewriting programs to many different audiences.

The Business Supports Seminar Tele-Class and its Manual provide multi-level guidance and support as leaders launch and sustain their community-based personal history practices.

If you are like most of the people we meet who are interested in teaching memoir workshops, you are perhaps diffident about your ability to create a viable small-business. This is the workshop that will provide you with a personally tailored approach plus hands-on systems to minimize fear and risk while maximizing potential.

This seminar is offered as a telephone conference call class from the convenience of home or home office (no parking, no commuting, no dress code!).

4. Participate in the Curriculum Methods Tele-Class. Led by Denis Ledoux, this five-session tele-class focuses on implementation of the teaching plans detailed in the Turning Memories Into Memoirs^® Curriculum Manual. Understanding the special needs and expectations which your target audience will bring to class, and dealing effectively with common issues and concerns will fine tune and optimize your growth.

This seminar is offered as a telephone conference call class from the convenience of home or home office (no parking, comuting or dress code!).

III. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME CERTIFIED?

Completing the four components takes a minimum of five months and a maximum--well, that's up to you! Each workshop and tele-class is offered twice a year.

Many leader trainees offer workshops while they are taking the Business Supports Seminar Tele-Class. One of the assignments is, after all, to contact venue directors to propose they sponsor a program. This often leads to immediate offers.

(A wonderful thing about the 15-week tele-class format for this component is that you will take your first public steps with the support and encouragement of a group of peers, meeting weekly to discuss your challenges and successes.)

IV. WHEN ARE PROGRAMS OFFERED?

Each of the three particpatory components of Certification--the Introductory Turning Memories® Writing Workshop, the Business Supports Seminar and the Curriculum Methods Tele-Class--is offered twice during the calendar year. You may start the training with any of the three, and can thus tailor the program to meet your individual schedule and commitments.

Please check the FULL SCHEDULE for details, or call for an update (207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET).

V. THE ONLY TRAINING OF ITS KIND