Description
Become a Certified Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Instructor
The Smart Transitions Instructor Certification Training prepares educators, mentors, and workforce professionals to deliver the nationally recognized Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Course (ST-LWPC) — a proven framework that helps youth bridge the gap between school and adult life.
Developed by Tom Crockett and the Together We Can Foundation, Smart Transitions is built on the belief that all youth — including those from high-risk or underserved backgrounds — deserve access to the same life, work, and success skills that empower their more connected peers.
What You’ll Learn
This certification training equips instructors with the tools, curriculum, and confidence to guide youth through every aspect of the Life-Work Portfolio process, including:
- Building self-awareness and identifying individual strengths
- Helping youth set and plan meaningful goals
- Teaching personal brand development and professional presentation
- Strengthening career readiness and post-secondary planning skills
- Facilitating network and mentor building for long-term success
- Supporting behavioral change and motivation to improve outcomes
Participants receive a complete curriculum package and implementation logistics for program delivery in classrooms, community settings, or one-on-one environments.
Why It Works
- Evidence-based framework: Built on 15+ years of research and field application with measurable results.
- Flexible delivery: Use certification within schools, nonprofits, workforce programs, or private practice.
- Practical resources: Includes facilitator guides, lesson plans, and reproducible student materials.
- Recognized credential: Become a Nationally Certified Smart Transitions Instructor.
Is This Certification Right for You?
We find that our best instructors share the following qualities:
- They genuinely like working with teen and young adult populations. This may sound obvious but not everyone likes interacting with teens. They can be challenging and resistant. They tend to test adults until they feel they can trust them. They may tend to think they know everything they need to know (they don’t know what they don’t know syndrome).
- ST-LWPC Instructors are not and should not be responsible for classroom discipline. We require a teacher or staff member representing the organizations we partner with to be present in the classroom while we teach. This is for the safety of everyone involved and eliminates the need for the ST-LWPC Instructor to be responsible for discipline, but instructors should patient and not easily flustered by youth comments or behaviors, while also having the requisite classroom management skills to keep a class on track and moving forward.
- Our instructors are flexible enough to allow classroom conversations to expand and diverge in order to follow engaging topics and questions.
- In our experience, young adult populations are looking for honesty and authenticity from the adults in a teaching/coaching/mentoring role in their lives. They are not looking for adults to be their friends, but they are looking for adults who treat them with respect. Our best instructors also draw on their personal life experiences as they teach.
- Many of the youth we work with have had difficult lives and experienced trauma and abuse. A basic understanding of adolescent psychology and brain development can be useful.
- If you have experience as a high school teacher or working with teen populations it can be beneficial.