About our Team of Certified Coaches

Inspired Strengths has a team of youth career and life coaches committed to helping youth get their careers and their lives on track. With a wide variety of experience, our goal is to find the best coach to meet your needs.

Deb Little

Barry Forward

Deb Little
Deb began as a Career Coach in June 2008 following her own journey through career exploration in April 2006. One of the biggest learning opportunities during her career exploration was that of understanding her values, personality style and transferable skills. The possibilities provided by knowing these qualities offered Deb the clarity to be able to shift from an eighteen year career in the shipping industry to a direction that offered her the opportunity to do what she loves; supporting people to understand what she had discovered, a best fit in the world of work. Through asking powerful questions, assessments and effective curriculum design, Deb’s clients uncover their unique qualities, natural abilities and strengths and focus that on potential career opportunities. Deb’s personal experience in career exploration taught her that when you understand yourself well enough it is possible to find work that you can be excited about.

Deb began her career in facilitation in the Shipping Industry in 1991 when she created health and safety training programs for the longshoreman working on board tanker ships entering confined spaces. Trusting her intuition, she could see that safety needed to be a top priority as peoples lives were at stake. She developed curriculum for both health and safety programs and developed standard operating procedures for use in the field. To be an effective communicator in the long shoring industry, particularly around health and safety concerns, Deb returned to school at the Justice Institute of British Columbia to obtain training in Mediation, Third Party Intervention.

When laid off from the shipping industry in December of 2006 Deb returned to school to obtain a Wellness and Lifestyles Diploma from Rhodes Wellness College and earn her credential as a Registered Professional Counsellor with the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association. While attending Rhodes College, Deb attended a coach training program through the Coaches Training Institute. Here she earned her credential with International Coach Federation as a Professional Certified Coach or PCC. In June of 2008 Deb began work as a Career Coach and Facilitator with Transitions Career and Business Consultants. When that contract ended she secured a new position as a Career Coach with the Mennonite Central Committee or MCC Employment Essentials. Deb has work with people from the age of 18 to 74

While in school a Deb began to recognize her desire to work with youth. Early interests led her and a colleague to develop a pilot program for elementary schools offering six life skills coaching programs to students in grades 3 - 5. This program was a good first step into youth coaching however when fine tuned she realized she wanted to impact a different age group. As a single mother of three teens she has been a first hand witness to the challenges that youth face as they complete high school and shift into the world of work. As a co-founder of Inspired Strengths this program was developed to specifically benefit the parents of youth and youth seeking clarity and direction as they decide on a career direction after high school. Inspired Strengths is a coaching program that teaches youth how to live their gifts.

As an active member of the International Coach Federations Vancouver chapter Deb believes in giving back to the coaching community as a board member in 2010-2011 and continues to support chapter with ongoing “Coach Giving” initiatives as the program coordinator for youth coaching & mentorship.

Barry Forward
Barry has been leading, motivating, and coaching young people and executives since 1990. A Career and Life Coach with Inspired Strengths and an Executive Coach with Forward Consulting, he is involved in individual and group coaching as well as facilitation and training. Barry is deeply interested in empowering young people and helping them find their purpose and career path.
A Certified Executive Coach with over twenty years experience in the corporate world, Barry has worked as a senior executive, marketing and communications specialist, and workshop leader. Early in his career Barry found a job that he absolutely loved, and talked his way into being a reporter, an on-air talk show host, and radio station programmer. Taking a strong commitment to effective communications he moved into the dynamic world of marketing and public relations and worked for Palmer Jarvis, one western Canada’s largest advertising firms. Eventually Barry became co-owner of Reputations Corporation in Vancouver.

Barry has been involved in the hiring of hundreds of individuals, and on the front- line of numerous individual’s career paths, as they attempted to break into an industry or considered a career change. In this role he served as an advisor, mentor and coach to young people as they worked their way toward a career that they love. Spend the time and do the work to find the right career that fits you – and Barry believes success can’t help but follow!

At present, Barry provides one-on-one coaching in diverse and complex contexts. His clients include students, new employees, those new to leadership roles, senior executives, and youth leaders. In an average year, Barry provides one hundred and fifty to two hundred hours of one-on-one coaching and group coaching. He is particularly proud of his work coaching, mentoring and developing youth leaders to increase their focus and direction, as well as their leadership capacity and effectiveness.

Throughout his career, maintains a strong commitment to support and champion youth empowerment through many organizations and community groups. He has been involved with the Big Sisters and Big Brothers organizations in Vancouver, and been a sports coach for soccer, baseball and hockey teams. Barry has served as a national Board member for five years for Pueblito Canada, an international development agency dedicated to improve the lives of children. He was also selected to serve as member of the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development’s Vancouver Coastal Regional Planning Committee. He has been a coach and a member of the executive for the North Shore Girls Soccer Club (and is the Club Registrar) for the past ten years.

Currently, Barry is an elected School Trustee and Vice Chair for the North Vancouver School Board. He believes the school system needs champions to ensure that every student, no matter what their background, unique personality or learning style, should have an opportunity to succeed. As Trustee, Barry connects with students throughout the education system and has served as the Board liaison to the Student Leadership Council. He speaks on a regular basis to parents and students, and has been delighted to be invited to speak at High School Graduation Ceremonies.