Independent board sets first grief coach certification standard

The Independent National Board for Grief Coaching has published a formal standard for an unregulated field and is backing it with its Board Certified Grief Coach credential. The move is meant to help clients, referrers and practitioners distinguish trained coaches from anyone using the title without published requirements.

Why it matters: - The title grief coach is not protected, so anyone can use it without training, an exam or a published standard. - The new standard aims to give clients and referral sources a clearer way to judge whether a grief coach has met defined requirements. - The board says the credential is designed to make referrals more defensible and the scope of practice more explicit.

What happened: - The Independent National Board for Grief Coaching issued the Board Certified Grief Coach credential and published the standard behind it. - The board says the credential establishes what the grief coach title should mean. - The published standards and code of ethics are available at inbgc.org.

The details: - Candidates must pass a Board Examination with a minimum score of 80% across six equally weighted topic areas. - Applicants must document at least 25 verified practice hours. - Candidates must agree to a published code of ethics that defines grief coaching scope and when to refer a client to a licensed professional. - The credential requires annual renewal and 30 hours of continuing education on a rolling three-year cycle. - The standard covers grief tied to death, divorce, job loss, serious illness, estrangement, caregiving and the loss of an identity or career. - Practitioners are tested on grief in each of those contexts. - The organization says candidates come from more than one background, including coaches and clinicians working in a non-clinical coaching role. - Two routes lead to the credential: an Equivalency Path for practitioners with qualifying outside training and a Curriculum Path for those preparing through board materials. - Both routes lead to the same Board Examination and the same credential. - An Advisory Board of licensed clinicians, credentialed thanatology professionals and practicing coaches sets and owns the published standard. - Program Administration applies the standard to individual candidates. - People with a commercial interest in the volume of candidates do not set the requirements.

Between the lines: - The board is trying to create a trust signal in a field where consumers may struggle to tell qualified practitioners from untrained ones. - The separation between standard-setting and program administration is meant to reduce conflicts of interest. - The broader grief definition signals that the credential is meant to cover more than bereavement after death. - The inclusion of clinicians practicing in a coaching capacity suggests the board is trying to define a distinct non-clinical lane for the work.

What's next: - The board will continue administering the exam and renewing the credential through continuing education requirements. - Meridian Credentialing LLC, the Ohio company operating the board, will manage the credentialing structure behind the standard. - Referral sources and clients will likely use the published standard to assess the Board Certified Grief Coach designation as the field develops.

The bottom line: - The Independent National Board for Grief Coaching is trying to turn an unregulated title into a defined credential with published rules, an exam and ongoing oversight.