The goal of the Strategies to Empower People (STEP) Program is to provide opportunities for work-eligible families of FITAP to receive job training, employment and supportive services to enable them to become self-sufficient. As a STEP Life Coach, I use a science-informed approach to achieving economic independence by activating motivation and commitment to change. This approach blends techniques familiar to practitioners of human services and workforce programs—such as coaching, motivational interviewing, and career counseling—with a more intentional focus on building skills through every coach-client interaction. Over time, the repetition of these interactions has the potential to be transformational rather than simply transactional. This technique is invaluable as it changes the relationship between myself and my clients to focus on more intentionally pursuing goals.Using an intentional process for pursuing goals is linked to a broader set of evidence-based principles for improving child and family outcomes such as reducing external sources of stress, creating responsive and supportive relationships, and building core self-regulation skills.
Listed skills include Critical Thinking, Time Management, Organization Skills, Creative Problem Solving, and 16 others.