Peace of Mind Organizing

Color me certified!

21 November 2008

Yesterday I sat for the examination to become a Certified Professional Organizer®. The certification exam is administered by the Board of Certified Professional Organizers. Certification began in 2007 and since then over 275 professional organizers have become certified. (There are 4,300 members of NAPO.) I’m happy to say I passed!

I’ve been chomping at the bit to take the exam ever since it became available. But in order to qualify to take it, an organizer has to have at least 1500 billable hours under her/his belt or 1250 hours and 250 substitute training hours over the past three years. It wasn’t until this month that I qualified to take it.

I did study and I benefited from the studying. I’m absolutely delighted to have this credential, which I’ll be able to begin to use once I receive the paperwork in the mail. Next year, when I finish the Level III certification program from the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, I’ll also have the credential CPO-CD® (certified professional organizer in chronic disorganization). Having those two credentials will be the fulfillment of two very important goals for me.

As a sad counterbalance to this good news, I learned yesterday morning that Lori Hall Steele, the writer I blogged about in September, passed away at the age of 44. Lori was suffering from a neurological disease (most likely ALS) that left her unable to work or pay her mortgage. My September blog post was part of a national writers’ campaign to raise money to help Lori pay her mortgage so she wouldn’t lose her house as she fought the illness. That that campaign raised $70,000, which surely will be a help to her family.

Lori’s beautiful essay in the Washington Post about looking after her son, written before her illness, is even more poignant now. Here’s her obituary from her local newspaper in Traverse City, Michigan. Rest in peace, Lori.

Tagged with: blog of the week, board of certified professional organizers, certification, cpo, cpo-cd, lori hall steele, nsgcd

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