Professional Coaching for IBPOC Library Staff
InterLINK’s professional coaching service is designed to support library workers who are Indigenous, Black, and/or People of Colour (IBPOC). By providing IBPOC staff the opportunity to engage in one-to-one coaching, InterLINK libraries aim to enhance the work and life experiences of employees, and move forward their commitment to build a culture of anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Apply nowQuick Facts
- 8 meetings with a certified professional coach
- Held virtually over a 4 to 6 month period
- One-to-one confidential sessions
Program Details
Below are details about Professional Coaching for IBPOC Library Staff, including information on costs, format, eligibility, and more.
Format
Online.
Sessions are held on Zoom.
Program
- Each coachee will receive a half-hour introductory session followed by 8 one-hour confidential sessions with a certified professional coach.
- Sessions will be held at a time and frequency that suits both the coachee and coach, and are to be completed within 4 to 6 months.
Eligibility
Available to IBPOC staff of InterLINK member libraries, including those in non-leadership and leadership positions.
Costs
$1,250 per person
Coaching is provided at no cost to the coachee. All costs are covered by InterLINK libraries.
Registration
Please complete the online application form by March 17, 2026.
Meet the Coaches
Patricia Chong, MBA, CPCC, ACC
I am a certified professional coach, mindfulness meditation facilitator, with 25 years of leadership experience in private and public organizations, including the Vancouver Public Library. As a Chinese Canadian daughter descended from an immigrant family, my lived experience has undeniably shaped the direction of my coaching. I know what it’s like to be one of few racialized leaders around the table, and I’m familiar with the challenges we face accessing opportunities, fulfilling roles, or simply fitting in. I work closely with emerging leaders, individuals and groups so they can gain a greater understanding and trust in themselves, develop new perspectives, beliefs, and skills that serve them better, turn their ideas into concrete action, and find more balance and confidence in their work and lives. Connect with Pat on Linkedin
Tanya Tang, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC
I am a certified professional coach and senior strategic change advisor with over 25 years of experience partnering with leaders and teams in public service and health care organizations. Beginning my career as a physician in China and reestablishing myself professionally in Canada was challenging, at times exhausting, yet deeply transformative. That journey across cultures, systems, and leadership contexts shaped my commitment to supporting leaders navigating complexity and transition from a place that integrates both mind and heart. In my coaching, I create a reflective and grounded space, guided by practices that invite reflection, presence, and meaning, to help clients reconnect with what matters most, clarify values and vision, and take aligned action so they can flourish as leaders and as people. Connect with Tanya on Linkedin
Meet the Coaches
Hear from Participants…
“Coaching helped me become aware of my leadership abilities and to recognize that leadership is part of who I am. In the fast pace of life, we rarely stop to consider who we truly are, what shapes us, and how that can guide our future. Coaching helped me gain that clarity and direction.“
“..I’ve noticed is a quiet confidence that’s growing inside…I’ve gained more self-confidence and feel as if I’m beginning to flourish internally. I appreciate the insights I’ve gained through working together..to form a new perspective of future.”
“Coaching helped me develop self-confidence – by identifying my strengths, principles I want to live by, and practical ways to shift well-rooted patterns that are not in my best interest.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Professional Coaching for IBPOC Staff FAQs
Explore answers to the most common questions about this program and coaching in general.
Coaching is a development process that enables you to build your capabilities so that you can achieve personal and professional goals. It is a personalized, experiential learning process that is 100% focused on your learning and growth.
Coaches partner with you in a thought-provoking and creative process to inspire and unlock your full potential. Every coaching relationship is unique and focuses on what matters most to you.
Here is a short video that illustrates what coaching looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpmeQj-LFoY
Through a series of confidential one-on-one meetings founded on mutual respect and trust, you and your coach work in partnership to achieve agreed upon goals and outcomes. A coach is 100% committed to your learning and growth. Additionally, coaching is:
- About asking questions, offering new perspectives, setting goals, finding momentum, getting unstuck, and moving forward
- About the whole person. We believe our emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical selves are deeply interconnected
- 100% confidential and bound by the ethics and rules set out by the International Coaching Federation (ICF Code of Ethics)
Coaching is a relationship of equals where the responsibility for decisions and actions lies with you. The responsibility for providing support with insights, observations and challenges lies with your coach.
Coaching is not a substitute for professional advice or counsel by legal, medical, psychological, financial, business or other professionals. As such, you have a role in sharing how you want to be coached, getting full value from coaching and letting the coach know when something is not working.
The coaching relationship is tailored to meet your individual needs.
Some common reasons why you might seek out a coach include:
- You want something more, better, or different for your life or career
- You feel stuck and unsure about how to make the right choices
- You feel burnt out or uninspired, and want to reconnect with an inner sense of fulfillment
- You are facing a sticky challenge, such as an interpersonal conflict
- You are experiencing a major life transition and are trying to navigate it or figure out what’s next
The benefits of coaching are many. According to research done by the International Coaching Federation, 80% of people who receive coaching report increased self-confidence, and over 70% benefit from improved relationships, work performance, and more effective communication skills. When it comes to coaching within organizations, 86% of organizations report that they recouped their investment on coaching and more (source: ICF 2009).
Coaching provides an invaluable space for personal development. Specifically, by providing opportunities for inner reflection and active experimentation, coaching can help to:
- Boost confidence
- Increase effectiveness
- Improve relationships
- Resolve conflict
- Make meaningful change
- Find more fulfillment in both work and life
With therapy, the relationship is hierarchical with the therapist as an “expert” focused on diagnosis and treatment. Emphasis is on the past and the present, as well as on one or more problems. In therapy, often the question is presented as “Why and from where?”
With mentoring, the relationship is also hierarchical, where the mentor is considered the “expert” and the mentee as the “learner”. Emphasis is on knowledge transfer. The question is often “What knowledge and experience can be shared and passed on?”
In coaching, you and your coach are peers, co-creating the journey. Coaching sees both parties as naturally creative, resourceful and whole. The alliance is designed together and the focus is the present and the future, with a solutions-oriented focus. During coaching sessions, your coach will not give advice, provide answers, or offer mentorship. Your coach will ask a lot of questions and hold you to your agenda and purpose. The question is often presented as “What’s next/what now?”
This program is designed to include a total of 8 sessions over a 4 to 6 month period. At the beginning, you will meet with your coach for an initial discovery session, where you will agree on goals, desired outcomes, commitments, and meeting logistics. 4 to 6 months is required to help you integrate learning and practice new ways of being and doing.
Complete an online application form.
Your application will be considered based on your expression of interest, the number of applicants from your library, and your library’s current funding capacity. InterLINK will contact all applicants to advise if they have been selected for the 2026 cohort.
InterLINK engages two certified coaches, Patricia Chong and Tanya Tang, to guide participants through their sessions.
InterLINK provides staff coaching through libraries or federations. InterLINK will invoice the appropriate library / federation that will cover the cost. There is no cost to the coachee.
Get in Touch
Want to learn more about how InterLINK supports public libraries in British Columbia? Let’s connect.
Explore more InterLINK servicesCONTACT USProfessional Development
Alison Brierley, Strategic Projects Coordinator
