Sept. 13, 2023 - Alina is a medical doctor who recently fled Russia for her own personal safety. New to the U.S. and eager to find an employer and return to work, Alina received a referral from the Arapahoe Public Library to connect with a career coach at the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning—an organization helping New Americans, and other internationally trained healthcare workers, understand and navigate the licensure requirements, gain appropriate U.S. training and experience, and ultimately become credentialed, re-licensed in the state of Colorado.
Alina’s career coach at the Spring Institute helped her access much-needed benefits to support her as she navigated the program and completed her education validation. With the help of a career coach—and an astonishing 99-percent passing prediction rate on a readiness exam—Alina is now on her way to starting the three-part U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
“People at the Spring Institute are kind and supportive, and gave me information about the steps I needed to take in order to match my goals. I really appreciate all this work—for me it is really more than just help, it means so much! [The coaches] are awesome people; they help and motivate me, and are there every time I need it,” says Alina.
Thanks to grant money from the Coronavirus State Local Fiscal and Recovery Funds Act, Alina is one of nearly 2,000 Coloradans who have received career coaching services through the Career Coaching Collaborative, a state-wide program providing funding to hire career coaches for every local workforce area and grantees of community-based organizations, like the Spring Institute.