The foundational coaching skills in these courses are suitable for all coaches, consultants, therapists, mental health professionals and healing arts practitioners, including naturopaths, psychologists, spiritual guides, massage therapists, energy healers, intuitive guides, acupuncturists, and chiropractors.  And for many different fields of work such as managers-as-coaches, and financial planners.  It is also suitable if:

• you are interested in going pro with internationally accredited MCC Level certification but want to start small with a low-risk, short foundation course.
• You want to add sought-after ICF benchmarked coaching competencies to your existing work: managers, leaders, consultants, trainers, practitioners, therapists, and psychologists. Coach 101 is adapted for our popular Manager as Coach course, which has resulted in 2 ICF Global Prism award nominations (top 5 and top 10).
• You are a working coach who has never learned the basic ICF competencies and wants to fill your gaps.

How much time does life coach certification take?

• Live classes will take 1.5 – 3 hours weekly. These can take place over 6 weeks if you opt for intensive training, and up to 12 weeks if you choose to spread it over months. 
• Practical application is 1-4 hours weekly. Count on at least 1 hour a week to practice your new skills and processes and 1-2 hours for supplementary materials. 
• Online course material will take  1-2 hours weekly.  1-2 hours for supplementary materials and ongoing assessment.

What is the financial investment for Life Coach certification?

• This short course is a stand alone program costs €1,990.
• Bundled with ILS Global Skills (60 ICF hours, for ACC accreditation) €3,900.
• ILS Master Coach bundle of Life, Business, Executive, Enneagram Coach and Global Skills (150 ICF hours, PCC Accreditation) €7,600.

What else is required?

Passion and Purpose: Your passion for building a purposeful career that makes a difference is vital. Motivation helps with commitment – so choose a course that inspires you.

The simplest definition for life coaching certification is that it’s a qualification that first teaches and then verifies that you have the current global best practice skills and knowledge to work as a professional life coach. 

Because the coaching industry has exploded into a $3 billion global industry and is still growing, many free and cheap certification mills have popped up, making it more confusing and more important to be discerning when choosing a program.

According to the ICF International Coaching Federation 2020 Global Coaching Study, the number of professionally certified coaches increased by 33% from 2015 to 2019. The industry is maturing, so your potential clients are getting savvier. Clients are hiring coaches with trusted qualifications and are willing to pay more for them (especially companies).  And it is a major differentiator with the rise of AI Coaching.  

You can coach without certification.  Life experience and your natural ability to guide others are important—it makes you a natural coach and will give you a great foundation, but natural skills do not make a Master Coach. A talent for cooking at home is different from running a top-rated restaurant; the life coaching profession is no different.

The coaching industry is unregulated, so most countries don’t restrict anyone from using the job title “Life Coach.” After all, the title “coach” is even used in sports.  Coaching falls outside the realm of mental health professions and is closer to consulting, giving us much more freedom than psychologists. But it also means that anyone can call themselves a life coach without training.

This infographic from InnerLifeSkills Master Coach School, shows some things to consider weighing the pros and cons of no certification vs free or cheap certification vs ICF accredited certification.

I am an instructor of the material in these courses which is ICF-accredited through InnerLifeSkills®, a Master Coach School.  The approach goes deeper than surface-level, to-do list coaching encouraging a heart-centered, conscious approach to changing lives through coaching.  The ILS team is led by Colleen-Joy MCC and we have trained 30,000+ students in over 27 countries for over 20 years.

There is an application process ahead of an intake call that will help me do my damndest to ensure this is a fit for where you are and what you need right now in your business.  If after our first session together you feel that you aren’t going to get what you need, I will refund you what you paid, less the processing cost.

The foundational skills of listening and asking valuable questions that are taught are suitable in almost any field of work (manager as coach, financial planner, sports coaching to name a few) and will benefit your relationships too.

That’s okay, maybe you haven’t learned the basic ICF competencies and want to fill in your gaps.
Or if you have ICF certification, you could benefit from the recap or earning CCE hours. 
Or maybe you want to add additional, specialized skills to what you offer.