The Nightingale Fellowship

What is the Nightingale Fellowship Program?

The Nightingale Fellowship is a four-month leadership development and resilience program that helps guide women to deeply connect with their values, prioritize their wellbeing, cultivate resiliency and explore their full potential.

The Nightingale Fellowship provides a safe, non-judgmental space for women leaders to process experiences and emotions, and supports women on the frontlines to:

• Develop practices for stress management & self-care in crisis
• Build resilience and capacity to think clearly under pressure
• Strategize approaches to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity
• Learn mindfulness and attention practices for emotional health
• Process learning and growth opportunities from crisis
• Design ways to manage caring for family while working on the front lines
• Clarify values and deeper purpose for their work now
• Envision long-term development and connect with purpose

What does the Nightingale Fellowship Program include?

The Nightingale Fellowship is a uniquely designed program that includes individual leadership development and resilience coaching, along with group workshops called Leader Labs.

Leadership Development and Resilience Coaching

A fellow’s journey through the program is tailored to their specific needs and goals. Fellows are paired with an experienced professional leadership coach to work one-on-one toward their goals and to overcome challenges. Fellows schedule sessions with their coaches when it is convenient for both of them.

Focus areas for Leadership Development and Resilience Coaching might include:

• Understanding one’s strengths and blindspots as a leader
• Clarifying values and deeper purpose for one’s work
• Processing and identifying growth opportunities from crisis and challenges
• Strategizing approaches to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity
• Strengthening self-compassion, self-care and resilience

Leader Labs

Leader Labs are professionally facilitated, 90-minute virtual workshops offered exclusively for Nightingale Fellows that focus on introducing tools, models, and practices to support authentic leadership and resilience. Leader Labs are offered multiple times each month to accommodate all timezones and availability.

Focus areas for Leader Labs include:

• Cultivating a practice of Active Hope: moving from despair, resignation, and exhaustion to purposeful, engaged action
• Exploring mindful self-compassion and self-care practices that allow women to do their work with more ease
• Understanding the power of vulnerable, authentic leadership, and being our true selves at work and as leaders

In addition to individual coaching and Leader Labs, Nightingale fellows will also:

• Receive a weekly fellows-only newsletter sharing practices, coaching tips and readings for growth
• Have access to The Coaching Fellowship global alumnae community of 1,100+ women leaders

Program Costs

Thanks to the generosity of our dedicated coaches and the #StartSmall initiative, we can offer this program at heavily subsidized rates. While we would like the program to be free, we charge a moderate fee to cover our costs for running the program and to reach as many fellows as possible. We are offering a self-selected tiered pricing system that allows you to select the price that best works for you. For full information on our pricing options, please click here.

What do we look for in fellows?

The Nightingale Fellowship is open to early and mid-career women-identifying, direct practice professionals— those who work firsthand with the populations most impacted by COVID-19 as the primary part of their role. Women offered a Nightingale Fellowship place can be leaders in their organizations at any level, regardless of their title, and have worked in-person (or virtually) with their communities throughout the pandemic.

Leaders applying for the fellowship are typically between the ages of 25 and 40 and may be based anywhere in the world.

Examples of direct practice professionals and leaders include:

• Medical practitioners in leadership roles who work directly with patients
• Behavioral health or rehabilitation services team leads, supervisors or directors who work directly with participants
• Disability services coordinators, supervisors, or directors who provide direct care
• Educators who work directly with students
• Clinical and direct practice social workers
• Assisted living team leads, supervisors, or directors
• Homeless prevention program managers, supervisors, or directors who work directly with clients
• Food distribution program managers, supervisors, or director who work directly with the community
• Therapists, drug and alcohol counselors, school social workers, etc.

We are looking for candidates who are:

• Dedicated to prioritizing their wellbeing while supporting the community they work with
• Dedicated to their self-discovery and development
• Willing to speak freely about their difficulties and triumphs
• Open to being challenged to explore outside their comfort zone
• Clear on what to expect from coaching (read “What is a coach?” below and visit the FAQ page to learn more)
• Clear that coaching is not therapy
• Realistic about coaching goals attainable within a 4-month program
• Willing to give their coaches feedback on conversations and the relationships
• Willing to join a community of like-minded professionals
• Committed to the value of fellowship and community

Disclaimer: We require that all applicants are emotionally and mentally stable before applying to our program. We understand that COVID-19 has caused significant emotional trauma, loss, and change—however, please be honest with yourself and with us as you consider whether you are in a stable place to participate in this program.

Coaching is a wonderful opportunity for personal transformation, but it can also trigger those recovering from trauma. Our coaches do not have specific therapeutic training to support trauma healing and cannot be in a position to interfere with anyone’s healing process.

If you have any further questions regarding this requirement, or are wondering if the program might be a fit for you, please reach out to us at [email protected].

We are continually working hard as an organization to welcome, embrace and support all people. The Coaching Fellowship does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, educational background or military status in any of our activities or operations.

What is a coach?

A coach is NOT the same as a mentor, consultant, or career counselor.

A Coaching Fellowship coach will work with you to reach your personal and professional goals. They will guide you and help you focus on your strengths, rather than directly advising you or telling you what to do. They will enable you to grow, motivate you and hold you accountable for your goals.

Click here for a helpful chart to further clarify what a coach is.

How are fellows and coaches matched?

We match fellows and coaches as closely as possible based on time zone compatibility, coach experience and fellows’ needs. A coach may live in a different country than the fellow, which has proven successful in our programs: we have coaches in 23 countries and we continue to expand.

All of our coaches are professionally trained and highly experienced in leadership development. They help fellows gain better understanding of their strengths and blind spots, both personally and professionally, and are dedicated to fellows’ success.

2021 Summer Calendar

NOTE: Please take note of the dates above and plan ahead carefully. If you are selected to join our 2021 Summer Nightingale Fellowship, you will be expected to follow and honor the program timeline.

Have more questions about our program? Check out our FAQ page or email us at [email protected]