Professional Bodies

When choosing a life coach it can be reassuring to know that they work to certain standards of good practice as a professional, as you will be placing a huge amount of trust in them. Not all qualified life coaches are members of a professional body, however being a member means a life coach has met certain requirements set by their member organisation and must abide by a code of ethics and complaints procedure.

All professional bodies differ in their requirements for membership; some require very strict standards for all their members and others provide different categories for their members (e.g. Associate Member, Member, Accredited Member). Life coaches who are a member of a professional body will make this clear on their profile.

Accredited Life Coaches

Being accredited with a professional body means the individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.

To find out more information about accreditation visit the professional bodies’ websites below. Each will have information on their requirements. This list of professional organisations is not exhaustive.

Life coaching specific professional bodies include:

ICF - UK International Coach Federation

AC - Association for Coaching

EMCC - European Mentoring and Coaching Council

APECS - Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision

Other professional bodies include:

BACP - British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

BPS - British Psychological Society

UKCP - UK Council for Psychotherapy

Here at Life Coach Directory we recognise the value of being a member of a professional body, and for those of you who are wary about visiting a life coach we would suggest choosing a life coach on our site who is a member of a professional body. This way you know they are part of an organisation that offers a code of ethics and a complaints procedure.