Who We Are
We are Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy, pioneers of transformational coaching, and the premier global school for evidence-based integral and holistic coaching education.
We are honest in our intentions, bold in our dreams, creative in our approach, and precise in our actions.
Wisdom of the Whole coach training and tools will help people see, value, and function from multiple perspectives. We are a home for discovering and exploring new ways of coaching that create wholeness and benefit the coach, the client, and the world. We are helping build a new world with more kindness, increased healing for the planet, more wholeness, and the knowledge that we are all connected.
DELIBERATE PRACTICE, MASTERFUL COACHING
DELIBERATE PRACTICE, MASTERFUL COACHING
About The Founder
Dr. Linda Bark, PhD, RN, MCC, NC-BC, NBC-HWC
Dr. Linda Bark is an award-winning master coach, author, researcher, speaker, health and coaching educator, coach mentor, nurse, therapist, internationally renowned luminary, and the pioneer of holistic and integral transformational coaching.
Linda’s professional journey started in the 1960s in medical-surgical, post-op, pediatric, and psychiatric nursing and expanded to include health education, counseling, and therapy in the 1070s and 1980s. Linda was one of the first nurses in the country to be in private practice in 1970. In the early 1990s, Linda focused on holistic and integral healing systems. 1990, she started her PhD in Philosophy and Religion and began her integral and holistic coaching practice.
During the 90s, she coached individuals and groups about career, team building, relationships, sense of purpose, spirituality, life transitions, work/life balance, and health challenges. In 1996, she started training other coaches, and in 1997, she established a coach training school that later became Wisdom of the Whole.
The Timeline
“Beginnings
Linda started her career in nursing as a charge, pediatric, post-op surgical, and psychiatric nurse. In 1974, Linda started teaching health classes on many topics—stress management, health promotion, stopping smoking, weight control, transition, assertiveness training, parenting, communication, and menopause. Linda co-founded and co-directed Training Associates, a not-for-profit educational corporation providing 60 holistic programs in the Reno, NV, area. She traveled by chartered plane to establish a Nevada Rural Clinic that offered the only mental health services available to large ranching and farming areas.
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“New Holistic Directions
Linda became a Charter Member of the American Holistic Nurses Association. Linda completed her Masters of Arts in Counseling with an emphasis on Life Transition Counseling from Fielding Insitute and became a Certified Nevada Marriage and Family Counselor. Linda continued to work as a psychiatric charge nurse. ”
“Academic Path in Integral Studies
Linda started her PhD in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis in Integral Healing Systems, Asian Health Studies, Chi Gong, and Organizational Development. Linda conducted a one-and-a-half-year study in China.California Institute of Integral Studies
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“Private Integral Holistic Coaching Practice
Linda learned about coaching, started studying it, and began her private coaching practice. The practice focused on supporting individuals and groups about career, team building, relationships, sense of purpose, spirituality, life transitions, work/life balance, and health challenges. Linda’s private coaching practice specializes in coaching senior and middle management leadership, especially in start-up organizations.
Post Graduate Studies in Spirituality by Rudolph Ballentine MD, a 3-year course including two months in India, 2010-2013”
“Coaching School
In 1996, Linda started her holistic healing centers and wanted to hire holistic and integral coaches but could not find them, so she began training them. She trained coaches in person and virtually. In 1997, she founded Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy, LLC (formerly Bark Coaching Institute, AsOne Coaching Institute, and World Health and Healing), which offers holistic/integral coaching teleclasses, workshops, and seminars worldwide.”
“Coaching Educator
Linda trained coaches and worked as a coaching consultant to organizations such as Cleveland Clinic, Sutter Healthcare System, Swedish American Healthcare System, and others to integrate coaching services into culture development and workflow, fostering patient and employee engagement and satisfaction.
Faculty in Holistic Studies Master’s Program at JFK University, Pleasant Hill, CA, teaching coaching and “Program and Business Development” and “How to Start an Integrative Center” (2003-2013)
Faculty at National Institute of Whole Health, Boston, teaching coaching practicum and mentoring (2009-2014)
Faculty at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, teaching coaching in a master’s level program (2011-2016)
Faculty at Weljii, the first health and wellness coaching school in India, taught the CIIS coaching program in New Delhi, India (2016-present)
Faculty at California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, teaching Advanced Health Coaching in a master’s level program (2019)
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“Shaping the Coaching Standards of Excellence
Co-coordinator of American Holistic Nursing Association Task Force on Holistic Nurse Coaching (2010)
Member of a 6-member task force working for the American Holistic Nurse Certification Corporation (AHNCC) creating standards, core competencies, and a 90-page document for the Nurse Coach role ‘“The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching: The Providers Guide to Scope and Competencies.” Document published by ANA (2010-present)
Member of the Leadership Team and Executive Board of the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaching (ICHWC) and 11 other members from schools such as the University of Minnesota, Harvard, Duke, and Vanderbilt. Co-chair of Coach Credentialing and Competencies, co-president of the executive board, helped negotiate a partnership with the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) for individual coach certification, helped develop standards and approve 53 health and wellness training schools (2010-2018)
Board Member Emeritus (2018-present) of the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching
Member of international ad hoc group to explore and rethink coaching core competencies (2013-14)
Member of a 4-person team to revise The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching: The Providers Guide to Scope and Competencies. American Holistic Nurse Certification Corporation (AHNCC) creates standards, core competencies, and a 90-page document for the Nurse Coach role. Published by ANA 2021.American Holistic Nurses Association
National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching
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“School Milestone
Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy celebrates training over 1,500 coaches.”
“Lifetime Achievement Award
Linda was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Holistic Nurses Association, Orlando, FL.American Holistic Nurses Association
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“Trailblazer Award
At the Health and Well-Being Coaching Conference on June 8, 2024 — a day which was intentionally chosen to align with Global Wellness Day — Dr. Linda Bark received the prestigious Trailblazer Award.”
“New Horizons
Linda is working on her new book and helping set standards for health coaching in India. The Wisdom of the Whole Coaching Academy continues to expand. We are working on new holistic and integral coaching programs for new and experienced coaches. The school operations are expanding internationally.”
Our Principles and Philosophy
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We are honest in our intentions, bold in our dreams, creative in our approach, and precise in our actions.
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The well-being of people and the healing of gender separation are inextricably interconnected.
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The well-being of those on this planet and the health of the planet are inextricably interconnected.
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All parts of the whole are important and need to be respected.
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Intention, attention and intuition are powerful tools for change because of our deep underlying connection with everything.
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Purpose and meaning inform and affect all parts of the whole.
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Situations occurring in far-off lands or with our neighbors affect us and vice versa.
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The world and all its citizens are like family. Human sovereignty would be placed above national sovereignty; however, national sovereignty would be respected and supported as well.
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Rights for all species are the primary concern of society, and the connection among them would be understood.
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We focus on transformative communication.
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We facilitate curiosity that supports clarity, courage, connection, and consciousness.
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We seek to see issues from an inclusive, humanistic, and systems perspective.