No experience or education is necessary to take the Initial Certification Course. Most of our students come into the course without any experience or qualifications. The course is designed to teach foundational level Trauma Recovery Coaching skills from the ground up.

However, you do have to have completed the Initial Certification Course to take the Advanced Certification Course. And to apply for the Supervisor Certification you must have completed your Advanced Certification Course.

You may begin taking any of our Continuing Education Courses as soon as you enroll in any of our Certification Courses: Initial, Advanced or Supervisory

Accreditation is voluntary in the United States, not required. You can coach anywhere in the world with our Certification that allows coaching. We know of no country that does not allow it.

However, many ask us if we are accredited by the International Federation of Coaching, and if not, why we are not. The International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching (IAOTRC) is not accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). This is for several reasons:

First, we are fundamentally different in our structure, purpose and methodology from the ICF. The ICF is a coaching organization that upholds a set of core competencies, competencies which set a clear path for how accredited programs teach coaches. They are not designed to support any type of coaching that varies from their model and competencies. In that way, their focus is on ensuring conformation to their methods rather than a coaching program's effectiveness or impact because they believe their way forward is the best way.

The International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching does not conform to the ICF's model of coaching. We are not coaches who work with trauma survivors. We are trauma professionals who use the modality to coach to help trauma survivors build a life they love to live.

If we were to conform to the ICF's methods and competencies we would be limited in our capacity to help trauma survivors. Doing so would essentially gut our program of it's most effective and beneficial components. For this reason we have neither sought, nor will seek, ICF accreditation.

Second, The IAOTRC has always been on a path toward becoming an accrediting body for Trauma Recovery Coaching. Recognizing that standards and competencies are helpful within a profession we have pioneered the development for those within the modality of coaching with trauma survivors. A Code of Ethics, Guiding Principles and Core Competencies are vital to our success, but they must be ones that work for the population we serve. In the next few years the Association will launch their accreditation process.

If you wish to obtain an ICF credential you may still use our course to pursue that. If you follow the Portfolio Path you will be able to submit your course hours with us toward the number of overall coach education hours needed. Please refer to the ICF website for more information on that process.

All of our Initial Certification Courses are held online in our private virtual classrooms.

Our Advanced Certification Course is held in both an online and in person format. The online version starts the end of February each year. The in person course is taught in a five day intensive during October of each year.

The Supervisor Training is only offered in person. It is a week long training every Fall in November.

Our Advanced Topic and Coaching as a Business Continuing Education Courses are all online.

Our Initial Certification Courses are held twice a year. The first one starts in February and wraps up in July. The second one starts in August and concludes in January.

Our Advanced Courses are offered online starting in February and conclude in July. Our in person 5-Day Intensive Advanced Class is held in October each year.

Our Supervisor Training is one week in November of each year.

Our continuing education classes are offered throughout the year.

Tuition for the Initial Certification course is $2800. There are four required texts. The cost for purchasing them in paperback form is approximately $73 (depending on Amazon’s prices each day).

Tuition for the online Advanced Certification Course is $2800. There are three required texts. The cost for purchasing them in paperback or hardback form is approximately $70.

Supervisor Training is approximately $3150. The additional cost is to cover a more expensive facility fee because this training is 7 days. There are no textbooks for the Supervisor Training.

All classes are taught in our private Zoom rooms. There is no cost for you to join our classroom. However, you will be required to record some of your practice coaching sessions. This will require you to obtain your own Zoom account which is currently approximately $13/month. You won’t need it until the end of the class, so will not need to pay that fee for longer than two months.

The Initial Class will need approximately 7 hours of your time per week to attend classes, read required texts and complete homework.

The online Advanced Class will need approximately 6 hours of your time to attend classes, read required texts and complete homework.

The Supervisor Training and 5-Day Intensive Advanced Class will require that you do some reading and attend several Orientation Sessions before the in person training.

Each course has a portfolio of work that must turn in to demonstrate your competency. The Initial and Advanced Classes each have an examination that needs to be studied for and passed. Time spent on those projects is very individual. We cannot estimate how much time this will take for each student.

You do not have to attend every class in person. Each class, except for the in person trainings, is recorded. If you miss a class you can watch the replay. The replay video links are usually up and available within 24 hours of the class.

The only course that has attendance requirements is for the Initial Certification Course Practice Groups. This is the portion of the couse where students will have the opportunity to observe live coaching, and also to practice coaching themselves. You are required to attend 10 Practice Groups over the course of your 24 week Initial Course. There will be approximately 40 Practice Groups held during the class. You may attend any 16 of those to meet the requirement.

We cannot guarantee you any amount of income. We will give you the tools to both coach and to set up a coaching practice: creating your website, getting you active on social media, learning how to blog and create videos, defining your ideal client and marketing to them. We also offer a variety of marketing tools through the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching: two podcasts, a Blog, a YouTube channel and our annual Trauma & Recovery Summit. The more you avail yourself of those tools the more successful you will be.