We often work with clients who have tried it all, including working with career coaches, life coaches, and therapists.
Welcome to the end of your career quest.
We use a mentorship model simply because it's what works when it comes to choosing a meaningful career. With mentorship, you get the benefit of guidance from a person who's been in a similar situation and has years of expertise in helping people solve this specific problem.
You're a complex person with wants and needs that sometimes compete with each other.
We don't rely on assessments, types, or other career parlor tricks that reveal interesting information about yourself but don’t actually help you choose the right career. Using the proven YCH curriculum as our starting point, we work together to make sure you have the individualized support you need and don't fall into any career change traps.
Why mentorship matters
What we accomplish
Working closely with each client, we help them identify the best career options, choose between them, and create a practical plan to get there.
A Homecoming Career has to use your strengths, meet your income needs, support the life you want to build, and let you contribute in a meaningful way. There is a Homecoming Career for everyone.
Many of our clients start out hopeful but skeptical because they’ve already tried so many things that haven’t worked.
Your Career Homecoming because Laura had the same experience. Questions like “What did you want to do when you were a kid?” or “What would you do if the money didn’t matter?” didn’t get the answers she needed. She created a thorough and effective process so that people who value meaningful work could get clarity quickly.
Why it works
Here's why it works:
It's holistic.
Most career change methodologies take a very academic approach to your career, as if you can be summed up by a list of transferable skills. We consider your whole person and how your career will contribute to the life you want to live.
IT’S PRACTICAL.
This is a unicorn-free zone. While big dreams are encouraged, fantasy is not. We don’t assume that if you love something enough or work hard enough that things will work out, because life doesn’t always work like that.
IT’S SAFE.
While it's impossible to eliminate risk when you make a change, you don't need to be reckless. We use a checks-and-balances system to ensure that you won’t make the same mistakes you’ve made in the past or get invested in something that sounds enticing but is not actually a good fit.
IT’S PERSONALIZEd.
You get lots of specific-to-you guidance and mentoring so you’re not left to figure everything out on your own. (What color IS your parachute?!)
IT’S HUMAN.
The best strategy doesn’t work if you’re too afraid to implement it, so we also deal with your fears. Learning emotional resilience, how to manage uncertainty, and building confidence are integral parts of the program so you can get out of your own way.
IT’S DELIBERATE.
No more basing big life decisions on a sign or what Aunt Susan thinks you’d be good at. Your Career Homecoming is so thorough and specific to you that you can’t argue with the outcomes.
IT’S INTEGRATIVE.
Even people who have done loads of personal development work struggle when it comes to applying what they know about themselves to their career. Your Career Homecoming bridges the gap between your self-knowledge and a meaningful career.
IT’S ACTIONABLE.
It’s amazing to finally be able to answer the question, “What am I doing with my life?” but Your Career Homecoming makes sure you have a plan on how to transition into your Homecoming Career, too.
The short-term goal of YCH is to help you discover the meaningful work that's right for you--and it does that. But should your needs or circumstances change, you'll have a process to navigate change. In short, you’re set for life.
IT’S forever.
Who it's for
Your Career Homecoming has 325+ graduates from 12 countries.
They have been executives, stay at home moms returning to work, department heads, and admin assistants. They've worked for major news outlets, ivy league universities, the military, nationally recognized non-profits, huge corporations, small businesses, and themselves.
What they all have in common is the drive to do something that matters without sacrificing the life they want to build for themselves.
That's what Your Career Homecoming has helped them do.
what clients say
Meet the team
As Founder and Chief Everything Officer, Laura Simms does some of everything within the business.
But Your Career Homecoming is made stronger and better with our purpose-driven team. They all have personal experience with career change, and bring a diverse array of professional skills to help serve our career changers.
Here’s who you might meet as you get to know us…
If you book a complimentary Threshold Session with us, our Client Assessment Coaches are the first people you’ll talk with. They come to YCH as accomplished coaches who are then trained by Laura in order to serve career changers. They’ll help you clarify what’s not working in your current work, diagnose what’s keeping you from choosing a meaningful career (it’s not always what you think), and see if we can help.
If they’re confident that we can help, they’ll invite you to a complimentary Follow Up Threshold Session so we can continue getting to know each other and explore working together.
If you’re interested in speaking with us, please start with our free training as an introduction to our work and you will be invited to book a call from there.
BROOKE DINSE MCCARRISON
DARA PAOLETTI
Christy Acuña
PREETHI SUNDARAM
SHANNON GUILD
DARA PAOLETTI
Brooke is a leadership professional with over a decade of management, training, and team building experience. Her experience includes teaching English and Spanish classes to factory workers, working with foster children and their families, supporting lawyers, and leadership operations at a global insurance company. For the last 5 years as a coach, she’s supported 100s of people as they bravely walk their own paths of self-discovery and find careers that bring them immense peace, confidence, and fulfillment. When she isn’t coaching, she loves laughing at her 7-year-old daughter’s jokes, trying new restaurants with her husband, and reading great books.
Client Assessment Coaches
Enrollment Coaches
If you schedule a Follow-Up Thresold Session, you’ll speak with one of our experienced Enrollment Coaches. During this hour-long call, we’ll learn more about your challenges, help you develop a long-term vision for your career, and talk through the step-by-step strategy we would use to support getting you from here to there, with clear outcomes about what success in our program looks like and the results you should expect.
You’ll learn in depth about the program logistics and how our structure would be tailored to your unique needs.
If your Enrollment Coach is confident that we can help and will partner well together, they will invite you to work with us, answering any lingering questions you have.
Career Coaches
When you join Your Career Homecoming, you will work with Laura and have the opportunity to speak directly with her twice a week, as well as communicate with her in our community hub every weekday.
You will also have an additional dedicated Career Coach who will be with you throughout the entire program to provide a depth and continuity of care, lead your one-on-one coaching sessions, and provide accountability, coaching, and care during the process.
Our team consists of veteran coaches who receive consistent mentorship from our founder, Laura, and are deeply committed to our clients’ success.
Career Change Strategist
In collaboration with Laura and the coaching team, our Career Change Strategist creates a custom, just-for-you list of potential careers based on your personal needs, wants, and strengths. They identify opportunities you might not think of so you can be confident you’ve explored ALL your options. This is why our clients say things like, “My Homecoming Career fits me like a perfect pair of sweats.”
After years of unfulfilling work post-art school, Dara embarked on a quest to find a career with more meaning and purpose, which led her to coaching - a revelation made possible by the support, strategy, and structure offered by YCH. Now, with over 5 years as a coach, she’s helped hundreds of people to bravely choose themselves and change their lives and careers. She enjoys traversing local walking trails, frolicking with her pup Keegan, and immersing herself in creative craft projects.
Christy is a breakthrough coach and has spent the last 8 years helping primarily women navigate challenging transitions to live life with heart, bravery, and courage. The best part of her day is watching people take steps of faith to bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. She enjoys working out, hiking with her dog Blue, and trying new recipes.
Preethi spent over a decade in the tech industry in various marketing roles. Deep down she knew there was more to it than this and embarked on a long journey to find something that allowed her to help others while giving her space to explore her creativity. Now Preethi is a career coach with a busy practise and training full-time to be a therapist specialising in burnout and overwork. She loves baking bread, trying to sew her own clothes (a new year’s resolution!) and mastering the French language.
Shannon has 25 years of combined experience in executive leadership and entrepreneurship, having coached and mentored hundreds of aspiring and growing business owners along the way. As a 2013 YCH alum, she understands the program, the process, and the possibilities. The most meaningful part of her work is simplifying the complex, connecting with others, and bringing great ideas to life. Some of her favorite identities include tree hugger, dog lover, comedian, obsessive organizer, and wifey.
Dara also dons the strategist hat here at YCH, leveraging her experience across multiple industries to help clients discover their Homecoming careers. With a keen ability to recognize patterns and make connections, and a penchant for research, she relishes digging into clients' unique career requirements, desires, and talents, to deliver a tailor-made list of potential careers to each Homecomer.
We're absolutely committed to helping each client get exceptional results, which is why the mentorship program is by invitation and we only work with a few clients at a time.
Also, we know you're exhausted from months or years of trying to figure this out on your own. We're here to take care of you. You show up ready to work, and we'll guide you through exactly what to do.