RIA
Transformational Leadership
& Group Coaching Training
Are you a leader looking to create powerful, transformative experiences that make lasting changes in other’s lives?
This 5 month program is designed to teach you some of the most powerful tools for transformation that have been tested in thousands of workshops by dozens of leaders.
What makes this training so unique?
The Relational Inquiry Approach (RIA) is a unique blend of group coaching skills, parts work, Circling, Authentic Relating, and leadership training.
This potent combination allows our participants to experience unparalleled transformation in a surprisingly short amount of time.

The Relational Leadership Academy has been such a source of community, learning and professional growth for me. As a psychotherapist for several decades, the platform has supported me in showing up with more skill, authenticity and presence with clients. I’ve also had profound experiences of connection and personal healing during RLA events. This practice develops vital skills leading to greater intimacy and connection, the perfect antidote for these times. I truly believe that having these skills and this depth of community with others is essential to our success as leaders and facilitators; that this work can help us resolve a lot of global issues and create a much more harmonious world.
SAVANNAH HANSON, PSYCHOTHERAPIST
Upon completion of this program you will be a Trained & Certified RIA Group Coach.
By the end of the program you'll be able to offer powerful group coaching, group facilitation, workshops, retreats, healing programs that create powerful transformative experiences for those you are here to lead
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What's included..
- 5 in-person immersive trainings weekends in Austin, Texas
- Support and structure to launch your own group coaching program by the end of the training
- In-depth online video trainings packed with content
- Triad groups to receive personalized support from your fellow leaders and facilitators
- Monthly assignments to support you in creating your own group program
- Monthly group accountability calls
- Complimentary access to the Relational Leadership Academy online platform, with 40+ LIVE classes every week to practice these skills
Program Outline
Create Transformation through the power of Connection
A special kind of transformation is possible in groups. When people feel safe, held and supported in a group, they allow themselves to be more deeply impacted and transformed. Discover how to inspire more intimacy and connection among your participants with these methods.
- Teach your participants these essential communication tools to create a container of acceptance and deeper intimacy
- Implement simple yet powerful bonding exercises
- Discover how to unearth the deeper meaning and intentions of your participants
- Bridge gaps between different kinds of people
- Utilize your own vulnerability to inspire your participants to reveal and explore more deeply
Learn Specific Group Coaching Techniques that create lasting changes
Unlike other facilitation programs, you will learn group coaching techniques to empower and guide your participants to life-changing transformation. You will witness others heal and transform patterns in an embodied, emotional and relational way. Some of the techniques you’ll learn include:
- Parts work group exercises that allows multiple participants to simultaneously engage and support one another in their process.
- Archetypal work that teaches participants to trust themselves and the group more deeply.
- Self-inquiry to deepen their relationship with their own inner worlds and take this practice out into their own relationships.
- How to assign your participants "soul work"
Share Your Own Group Program with the world
- Receive support in creating or birthing your own group program where you can share your passion with the world
- Receive personalized feedback on your facilitation and program design from our team of experienced trainers, coaches and facilitators
- Collaborate, practice and refine your skills with other facilitators, receiving valuable feedback on your facilitation, program ideas and more.
- Continue to receive access to our Relational Leadership Platform for an additional 3 months after the training ends
Master the Art of Safety & Trust
- Discover how to cultivate deeper emotional and psychological safety in your groups
- Experience this powerful transformative work firsthand so that you show up fully, authentically and vulnerably
- Practice setting clear boundaries and expectations, resulting in more group trust in your leadership
- Discover how to cultivate a culture of consent, acceptance, and self-expression in your groups
- Inspire deeper vulnerability and engagement among those you are here to serve
- Increase your capacity to be with intense and difficult moments
- Embody authentic attuned leadership
Gain the confidence to handle whatever comes your way
- Discover how to addressing difficult and intense moments
- Skillfully facilitate participants who create chaos or take up a lot of space
- Transform conflict into intimacy
- Manage personal triggers during leadership
- Discover how to handle participant’s defensiveness, walls, and projections
Influence others through Ethical Leadership
- Experience what it means to be a leader within yourself first
- Explore integrity, power and transparency as a leader
- See and name the invisible river of power dynamics
- Create avenues for consent and dissonance in your group
- Clearly own both our power and our limitations in leadership
- and more..
Completion of this program will certify you as a RIA Group Coaching Facilitator.
When you complete this training you will walk away with...
- A powerful framework of transformation that you can now use in workshops, retreats, group experiences, and group coaching programs
- Your own group program that will help to transform the lives of others
- An incredible experience of intimacy and growth with other powerful leaders
- Feeling more powerful, confident, and competent as a leader
- Clearer connection to your power and how to use it well
- Community of like minded peers to support you in your growth moving forward
- A clear understanding of how to facilitate lasting change in other’s lives
- The skills to address those who challenge or trigger you
Have questions?
Want to learn more?
Schedule an interview to see if this program is a good fit for you
Want to learn more?
Schedule an interview to see if this program is a good fit for you
To provide the most value to our students and ensure the highest quality experience, we are limiting this training to only 24 participants.
This training is only offered once a year
Before applying please check the training schedule below. Live Immersion Dates:
Sept 30 - Oct 2
Weekend 1
November 4 - 6
Weekend 2
December 2- 4
Weekend 3
January 6 - 8
Weekend 4
February 3- 5
Weekend 5
RIA Transformational Leadership & Group Coaching Training - 2022
Led by Course Leaders Mark Boughton, Peter Will Benjamin, and Jen Burns
Assisted by Cameron Grayson & John Adams
- Payment plans available
- Maximum of 24 students accepted
- Application Only
- Complete Your Application HERE
Have Questions?
Ready to Apply?
Book in a chat with Peter
About the Facilitators

Peter Benjamin
Peter Will Benjamin is one of the joyful co-founders of The Connection Institute. As lead staff trainer and CEO he delights in caring for the staff and students. Peter also works as a Professional Coach and teaches continuing ed for Coaches and Therapists. Peter’s mission is to support people in feeling worthy of love and goodness, in order to access their personal power. He’s also an intimacy junkie, community builder, and dancer.

Jen Burns
Jen is a Head Trainer and facilitator at the Relational Leadership Academy. Jen trains coaches, teachers and therapists on how to create safe spaces where people feel excited to open up in authentic vulnerability.
She is known for her ability to easily shift the energy of a group from energizing and engaging to deeply vulnerable and intimate. She teaches an array of topics including cultivating trust, the art of self-revealing and embodied leadership.

Mark Boughton
Mark Boughton has been studying communication skills and the psychology of relationships and interpersonal dynamics for over a decade. By the time he was twenty two, he had worked, traveled or volunteered on every continent of the globe, and had discovered a deep passion for understanding people.
He stumbled upon the world of therapy and coaching in his early twenties, immediately knew his calling, and has been facilitating relational practice ever since. He has a love for building community and bringing people together to connect, and also works as a coach helping people vision and actualize their deepest desires.