WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO.

NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS® was established in 2003 by Bill and Penelope Valentine as a direct result of the many years that they worked in specialty schools. More specifically, their relationships with parents and students while enrolled in the schools and while the student transitioned home led to the establishment of NEXT STEP. We are a skills-based, parent-coaching model that has been especially designed to educate and support all parents - whether your struggling teen or young adult is still residing IN THE HOME, or is ENROLLED IN  or  TRANSITIONING out of a specialty school or program. 

Each certified coach has extensive knowledge and a minimum of 20 years working within programs as directors, headmaster, communicators, counselors and parent educators. Every professional offering NEXT STEP has extraordinary hands-on experience working with families who have a struggling teen or young adult, and has an in-depth understanding of this challenging process.

NEXT STEP is a strategic alliance of professionals offering parent coaching, coach training and program consulting. Coaching is a non-therapeutic model that creates a collaborative relationship between the coach and client. It is a personal skills-based model that is goal oriented and seeks to educate, empower and motivate. Each associate with NEXT STEP is a Certified Coach. Our skilled and certified coaches have traveled throughout the U.S. and overseas to meet the needs of our parents and families.

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Penelope Valentine, CC, is Founder of NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS® and is an ICF Certified Coach. Penelope brings a solid professional background of more than thirty-five years working in areas as diverse as airlines, corporate, private sector and non-profit administration, treatment center, and private education. Her educational background includes language studies, counseling, alcohol and drug studies, and coaching.  Further, Penelope has received certification in coaching teens and college students with AD/HD from the Edge Foundation.

In 1987 Penelope made a major career and life-style change - moving from the corporate world to working with at-risk teens, young adults and their parents. She found a sense of fulfillment working in some of the country's premier emotional-growth schools and programs where she was instrumental in creating and developing a pioneer parent support and educational services department for parents of children enrolled in these specialty schools and programs. She has an in-depth knowledge of specialty school curriculum and teachings, of the challenges faced when making the decision to enroll a child or when transitioning out of these schools. 

As an ICF Certified Coach Penelope brings her passion and expertise to her coaching so that each client can realize their goals and achieve fulfillment. It is her background as a counselor, teacher and administrator, along with her ability to support, motivate and mentor, that gives Penelope unique skills. 

Penelope is also co-founder of Ever Higher LLC and is responsible for the company's finance, marketing and logistics. Her talent for organization and logistical administration has supported more than a hundred workshops and seminars for Ever Higher LLC. 

After growing up and living in four foreign countries, Penelope has put her roots down in Redmond, Oregon. Penelope is a step-mother and step-grandmother. She and her husband, Bill, live in beautiful Central Oregon where she enjoys reading, gardening, the great outdoors and her pets.
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"Penelope has been a real asset in helping us structure a framework that provides focus and common sense to our day-to-day parenting."  Nevada parent
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Bill Valentine, PsyD., CC, is Founder of Ever Higher LLC and NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS®. In 1987, after a successful thirty-year business career in fields as diverse as grain merchandising, publishing, advertising and outdoor adventure, Bill Valentine began a quest for opportunities to combine personal growth with service to others. 

His search led him to a group of private, residential schools serving at-risk youth. It was here, in his work with hundreds of young people and their families as counselor, director of wilderness programs, academic dean, parent educator and Executive Director of California Operations, that Bill learned first hand of our children's greatest need - for models of healthy, growing adults. 

Modeling his belief that "if you're not dead, you're not done", Bill obtained his Master of Arts degree in Education, his Doctor of Psychology degree, his professional ICF Coach Certification, completed three marathons and numerous triathlons, climbed more than 20 major mountains, and has completed the 2650 mile hike of The Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada - all after the age of 40. 

In 2000, he started his third business, Ever Higher LLC, offering coaching, consulting, seminars, workshops and outdoor adventures to adults wanting to increase their successes as leaders, parents, partners and friends. Bill has challenged and led thousands of growing adults to personal summits through his workshops and seminars. Bill is also co-founder of NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS® and brings his passion for working with struggling teens and young adults to his coaching relationships.

Dr. Bill Valentine has 17 years sobriety. He is a father and a grandfather, and lives in Redmond, Oregon, with his wife Penelope.
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"Bill has been instrumental in guiding our family through some very trying times. He possesses a unique wisdom that is both highly perceptive and intuitive. He has stood out with a clear voice in a sea of conflicting and contradictory advice.Highly recommended.  Illinois parent
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Vicki Jones, MS, CPC, is an Associate Coach with NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS® and has worked as a personal growth facilitator for the past 25 years. She has advanced degrees in Psychology and Education, and decades of experience counseling teens, young adults and adults in self-discovery and personal empowerment.

Since 1986 she has worked in the field of private secondary education with children and their families facing emotional and social adjustment challenges. The past eight years have been devoted to creating and delivering personal growth and parenting workshops as a professional trainer, facilitator, and coach for parents as well as counselors and other staff. In 2001 she completed her Professional Coaching Certification through the Academy for Coach Training and is a licensed Living Your Vision® workshop facilitator. Vicki is committed to offering safe and supportive opportunities for her clients to be challenged to deeper levels of self-knowledge so they may experience greater fulfillment and life satisfaction.

On a personal note, Vicki is an adventurous traveler, a voracious reader and a slow, but committed, runner. 
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Vicki has worked with our family to develop strategies, techniques and skills in understanding our struggling teens and each other. Her support, wisdom and guidance has been insightful and caring. She challenges you to be your best." California parent 
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Barbara Cass, BS, CC, is an Associate Coach with NEXT STEP FOR SUCCESS® and has been working with families of adolescents and young adults for over thirty years. Having received a degree in Social Work from the University of Vermont, she spent a year working in social services at a university hospital and then a year in VISTA, volunteering in New Orleans. In 1976, she began as a counselor at a therapeutic boarding school that was a pioneer in working with troubled teens. 

In 1984, Barbara, her husband and a group of colleagues founded the Cascade School, a personal 
growth, college preparatory school for struggling teens. As Counseling Supervisor she developed and 
facilitated student and family workshops and seminars, regional parent support groups, staff training’s, 
as well as program development.

Barbara expanded her experience in 2005 by becoming a certified NLP Life Coach. NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is a system for studying how our communication patterns and belief systems determine the outcome of events that shape our lives. Integrating all of her skills, she has been working with young adults and their families helping them identify and pursue attainable goals and life skills.

Barbara has been married for 25 years and is the mother of a remarkable 20 year old son. She is on the Board of Equine Outreach, a non profit equine program committed to rescuing abused and abandoned horses, and spends her time grooming , feeding treats and just loving them.

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