Care Coaches are unique to the LPC. They are individuals who will walk beside you, talk with you about what is on your mind, support you in navigating reproductive concerns, and empower you to make the best decisions for you. Staff and volunteers at the LPC are vetted and trained, meaning you will not experience a staff member or volunteer who has not gone through orientation, an interview, and our training course More Than Mud and signed our Statements of Faith and Principle.

Care Coaches are carefully vetted and background-checked members of the LPC community. We run a background check and check references (personal, professional, pastoral) for all staff and volunteers. Care Coaches will have taken our foundation course, More Than Mud, and understand and agree with the LPC’s Spiritual and Theological Foundations and Standard of Care. After More Than Mud, potential team members have one-on-one interviews and counseling with our Director of Center Operations, Cheryl Dudek. Cheryl has an MA in Christian Ministry and Pastoral Counseling, specializing in sexual trauma, grief, depression, and anxiety disorders. She stewards the staff and volunteers of the LPC to confront their own trauma, biases, and preconceptions before having any client interaction. She also oversees the training of Care Coaches, the process of which is extensive and collaborative, lasting many months. It includes the course Agents of Hope, which requires another 25 hours of in-depth training in peer counseling and trauma-informed care. All together, it could be at least one year before a Care Coach is sitting one-on-one with a client. At the LPC, we value excellence, which means both that we require excellence of our staff, and that we provide the training and enrichment necessary to achieve excellence in client interactions.

Our Care Coaches support clients through issues related to pregnancy, reproductive loss, and relationships. They follow a client-directed care model, which means that they allow the client to decide what they discuss when they are ready. They are trained and expected to respect boundaries. They seek God’s direction in their words and actions and prioritize prayer and reflection. They are humble, never assume to know more about a client than the client has shared, and always seek growth, improvement, and excellence. The main objective for our Care Coaches is to listen to you, offer you friendship and ongoing support, and exemplify the accepting, hopeful, affirming love of Jesus.

• A Care Coach will not attempt to coerce or manipulate a client.
• Care Coaches will not provide contraception, abortion medication, or abortion procedures. They will not recommend or refer clients for abortions.
• Care Coaches will not initiate, broker, or facilitate adoptions.
• A Care Coach will not force spiritual information, denominational recommendations, or Church-related events or organizations on clients.
• Care Coaches will not force or encourage a client to discuss any topic; their sessions are client-directed.
• They are sensitive to the biases of their own life experiences and monitor how that impacts their conversations with LPC clients. If a client interaction triggers a particular care coach, the team will switch Coaches to ensure that our client receives the best possible care.
• LPC leadership is always available if a client believes they’ve experienced mistreatment during their appointment at the center.