History of Rhodes
Rhodes Wellness College has been delivering education since 1996, establishing connections within the industries we and our students serve. Committed to maintaining high standards and safeguarding public trust, our programs are accredited and recognized by leading associations that uphold stringent educational standards, ensuring excellence and competency in coaching, counselling, nutrition, and wellness. Learn more about our accreditation and the recognition we have earned in the field.
Rhodes Wellness College opened on February 12, 1996, at 333 Terminal Avenue by a visionary, Bea Rhodes. Initially known as Rhodes and Associates, the facilities included only one classroom and one office. Bea was determined to help develop mentors and guides who would have the book smarts and street skills to do transformational work. Bea created an iterative approach to professional counselling and coaching that allowed students to rapidly and expertly increase their abilities in a safe and supportive environment.
The college began its training programs with the 12-week Life Skills Coach Training Certificate Program. The first intake was summer of 1996. 16 students were enrolled.
In 1998, the College moved to 96 East Broadway, and shortly thereafter we created an incorporated company called Rhodes Career College Ltd. We added an additional program – The Life Skills Counselling Program. These changes were made in response to the growth of the school. 2 classrooms and 5 offices were now in use.
The college launched its first diploma program in 1999, with the Life Skills Instructor Diploma program (now called the Life Coach Diploma program).
In January 2001 the Wellness Counsellor Diploma was launched. This program took over a year to develop. Much attention was paid at the time to this holistic model of helping others; course developers were commissioned to present every module in each wellness counselling course. Many iterative changes have been made over the years but the program maintains true to its original concept – that healing only occurs with a full and balanced approach focusing on mind, body, emotions, and spirit. This holistic model has since become very popular in treatment and recovery programs throughout North America.
In 2005, Rhodes growth led to the school moving into its current facilities at 1125 Howe Street (Suite 280). Rhodes was doing very well with its 4 programs and needed more space to facilitate the increase in enrollment. The college now had 4 classrooms, 10 offices, a boardroom, and a kitchen. The physical campus was close to 7,000 square feet of space.
After consultation with employers and practicum hosts, it became apparent that the industry wanted additional focus on academic studies and professional studies for many counselling programs. With this feedback, the college spent over a year developing its Professional Counsellor Diploma. The new diploma featured advanced training in trauma counselling, relationship counselling, ethics, mental health, and integrated counselling approaches. Our Professional Counsellor Diploma Program has continuously improved over the years and to this day remains one of our most popular programs.
Rhodes became part of the Canadian Professional Counsellors Association and the International Coach Federation ensuring that its students could pursue further designation in counselling and coaching with two of the most reputable associations in Canada and the world.
Rhodes Career College changed its name to Rhodes Wellness College in 2007.
In 2009, Rhodes Wellness College recognized a need to help individuals who were balancing other work and personal schedules, and who could not attend class full-time, become professional coaches. The college launched its first online Life Coach Certificate on Skype, enabling students to move through its International Coaching Federation curriculum by studying twice per week.
In 2013, Rhodes happily graduated its 1000th graduate after 14 years of operating. This meant now there were 1000 potential lives changed as they became professional coaches and counsellors. The positive ripple effect of those 1000 graduates is immeasurable.
Always wanting to stay ahead of the curve, Rhodes Wellness College switched its online mode of delivery to the new (at the time) platform called Zoom in 2014. The college also expanded its part-time offerings to provide more varied times for online students across Canada.
Rhodes decided to hold a competition to celebrate the college’s 20th anniversary. The winner of the competition received a full-ride scholarship to its Professional Counsellor Diploma Program. This competition consisted of having prospective students post a video to show why they wanted to go to Rhodes. The winner was Alex Coles who is now a certified life coach and counsellor.
In 2018, the college successfully launched its part-time Life Skills Counsellor Certificate program online. As with all of its online programs, this program is fully facilitated by expert faculty in real-time. All part-time program cohorts are capped at 14 students to allow for maximum individualized attention.
Ben, a professional administrator in post-secondary education for over twenty years, and retired architect Paul Leong acquired Rhodes Wellness College. Ben became the college’s President.
Rhodes Wellness College appointed Bea Rhodes to be its Senior Education Advisor and to this day Bea is still an active contributing faculty member and advisor to Rhodes.
COVID affects all Canadian schools in the spring of 2020. On March 15, 2020, Rhodes Wellness College became the first private college in B.C. to move all of its programs online, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and to protect its students. This move of full-time programs online was facilitated and informed carefully by Rhodes’ ten years of previous experience teaching online and five years of experience with Zoom.
Rhodes Wellness College hosts its first-ever Career Development week entirely online from March 30th – April 2nd, helping students learn coping mechanisms to study online and to cope with the uncertainty that was gripping the world.
June 1, 2020: The owners of Rhodes Wellness College Ltd., Ben, and Paul, acquire the Vancouver School of Healing Arts (VSOHA). VSOHA moves to Rhodes Wellness College and the two sister schools share space. VSOHA has programs in yoga therapy, bodywork therapy, and yoga teacher training and was founded in August, 2003.
September 28, 2020: The Northern Indigenous Counselling program begins with 18 Indigenous students from the Northwest Territories.
September, 2020: Professional Teaching Assistants are added to many full-time classes to help support faculty optimally offer Rhode Wellness College’s intensive experiential education.
The first ever online graduation for Life Coach Diploma, Wellness Counsellor Diploma, and Professional Counsellor Diploma, takes place on December 11, 2020.
The brainchild of a group of professional counselling students that started their courses in January 2021, the D&I Student Committee is formed- a new committee that would greatly help the college and its students reach further in efforts to become stronger allies for marginalized populations, including Indigenous populations, BIPOC students, and the Rainbow community.
Virtual Cafes, Online Practice labs for counselling and coaching, All-student assemblies, Student Services drop-in rooms, and student services events like group yoga are all added online so that students have many options to receive support, improve their skills, prepare for exams and demos, and build a network with other students from other cohorts- all to really step into the opportunities that online learning can bring.
A one-of-a-kind program combining holistic nutrition and professional counselling is launched in collaboration with the Health Coach Alliance, enabling graduates of this new program to earn three designations in one 20-month diploma program.
Students assembled on September 30th to honour the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. Four Indigenous students shared their personal stories and the stories of their loved ones, helping all in attendance better understand the tragic plight that Indigenous persons in Canada faced for centuries due to colonization and continue to face every single day.
15 graduates of the Northern Indigenous Counselling (NIC) cohort participated in a graduation ceremony at the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. Speakers included Chief Edward Sangris from Yellowknife’s Nation, Jim Antoine, National Chief Geral Antoine, from Dene Nation, Dr. John B. Zoe, Chairperson of Hotıì ts’eeda, and Premier Caroline Cochrane, all of who helped honour and commend the achievements of the NIC graduates.
After working to maximize learning, even in a Covid-19 world, that featured all online learning, Rhodes was excited to welcome students who wanted to study in a mixed in-person/online environment to the college’s campus at 1125 Howe Street. The college now offers fully online or blended online/in-person experiences for its full-time students.
A two-day intensive online conference featuring 11 workshop facilitators and 31 sessions is now an annual occurrence and introduces students to higher-level counselling and coaching techniques including Trauma Healing for Veterans and First responders, utilizing Expressive Arts to help survivors of sexualized violence. Gender Affirming Care, and How to Kick Imposter Syndrome. Career Development Days have become a highlight event in the education of every Rhodes student.
In September of 2023 Rhodes student body surpasses 400 students for the first time ever.
Rob Wynen, a student like many others, joins Rhodes to pursue his dream of becoming a Professional Counsellor
In the summer of 2024 twenty-three students commence an incredibly unique End of Life Doula program. The program is 129 hours long and is currently the most comprehensive death doula training program in Canada.
1/2K counsellors, end-of-life doulas, coaches, and nutrition counsellors and coaches are trying to change the world, one client at a time!
