For certificants

Credential mark usage guidelines

How to use the BCGC designation and the INBGC seal, and what is not permitted. Following these guidelines is a requirement of certification, not a courtesy.

The BCGC designation and the INBGC seal identify a practitioner who has been measured against a published standard and whose standing can be verified. These guidelines set out how they may be used, and how they may not. Following them is a requirement of certification rather than a courtesy: the Code of Ethics requires honest representation of credentials, and misuse is grounds for the published ethics process.

Verifying someone else's credential rather than using your own? See verify a grief coach's credentials.

Eligibility

Who may use the marks

In short

Only a certificant holding an Active Board Certified Grief Coach credential. Use stops immediately if the credential becomes Expired or Revoked.

That applies everywhere the marks appear: your website, professional profiles and directory listings, email signature, business cards, printed materials, proposals, and social media.

Candidates who have applied, are in review, or have not yet passed the Board Examination may not use the designation or the seal in any form. Describing yourself as working toward board certification is acceptable, provided it is not presented as a credential you hold and neither the designation nor the seal appears alongside it.

The marks say that an independent board has already reviewed you. Using them before that is true is the exact pattern the credential exists to make visible.

The letters after your name

The designation

In short

Write it as BCGC or Board Certified Grief Coach, after your name, separated by a comma. It identifies a person and may never be attached to a business, a program, or a service.

Correct forms

  • Jane Doe, BCGC
  • Jane Doe, Board Certified Grief Coach
  • Jane Doe, LPCC, BCGC

Where you hold other credentials, list them in whatever order you prefer. INBGC does not require a particular sequence.

Forms to avoid, and why

Jane Doe, B.C.G.C.
The designation carries no periods.

Jane Doe, bcgc
The designation is capitalized.

Certified Grief Coach
Drops the board and describes a category anyone may claim without preparation.

INBGC Certified Grief Coach
The organization name is not part of the designation.

Board Certified Grief Counselor, Grief Therapist, Certified Grief Specialist
Names a credential INBGC does not issue. Counselor and therapist imply clinical practice.

INBGC Accredited, Accredited Grief Coach
INBGC is not accredited by an outside body and does not accredit anyone.

The designation identifies a person

It may not be applied to a business, a practice, a training program, a course, a product, a service, a team, or an organization.

Correct

Jane Doe, BCGC, owner of Fieldstone Grief Support

Not correct

Fieldstone Grief Support, BCGC  ·  a board certified grief coaching practice  ·  our BCGC certified program

Specialty marks

Specialty endorsements

In short

An endorsement is written as a suffix to the base credential, so the prerequisite is visible in the mark itself. The suffix is never used on its own.

  • BCGC-AC, ambiguous loss and caregiving
  • BCGC-RL, divorce and relationship dissolution
  • BCGC-CL, workplace and career loss
  • BCGC-AG, illness and anticipatory grief
  • BCGC-PL, pet loss

BCGC stands alone and is the complete credential. What is never used alone is the suffix, which may not appear without an active base credential.

Correct

Jane Doe, BCGC-PL

Jane Doe, BCGC-AC, BCGC-RL

Not correct

Jane Doe, PL

Jane Doe, BCGC-Pet Loss

Jane Doe, BCGC-AC-RL

A certificant holding more than one endorsement writes each in full. An endorsement lapses with the base credential: if the BCGC becomes Expired or Revoked, every suffix comes out of use at the same time.

The mark

The credential seal

In short

Display the seal as issued, at any size where the wording stays legible, identifying you as an individual certificant. Do not alter it, and do not place it on anything you sell.

The seal is provided to certificants on issuance, in the sizes and file formats supplied by INBGC. Always use those files rather than a screenshot or a recreation.

Permitted

  • On your website, professional profiles, and printed materials, identifying you as an individual certificant
  • Beside your name and credential number
  • Linked to the registry, so a visitor can verify your standing in one step

Not permitted

  • Altering the colors, proportions, wording, or elements of the seal
  • Adding your name, business name, logo, or any text inside the seal
  • Rotating, cropping, applying effects to, or reconstructing the seal
  • Using the seal as your own logo, favicon, avatar, or brand element
  • Placing the seal on products, courses, training materials, or services in a way that suggests INBGC reviewed them
  • Displaying the seal at a size or prominence that makes it read as the primary mark on the page

The seal identifies you as certified. It does not indicate that INBGC has reviewed, approved, or endorsed anything you sell.

Symbols

Trademark symbols

In short

Use the trademark symbol on the first or most prominent appearance on a page. Do not use the registered symbol with any INBGC mark.

The trademark symbol belongs on the first or most prominent use of BCGC or Board Certified Grief Coach in a given page or document. It is not necessary on every mention afterward, and repeating it throughout reads as clutter.

The registered symbol is reserved for marks that hold a registration. Using it otherwise is a misrepresentation, so it does not appear with any INBGC mark.

What you can say

Claims you may and may not make

In short

Describe what the credential actually verified. The accurate version is more persuasive than the inflated one, because a referral partner can check it.

Accurate

  • I hold an active Board Certified Grief Coach credential from the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching.
  • My grief-specific education was reviewed against six published topic areas.
  • I documented verified practice hours and passed a proctored Board Examination.
  • I am held to a published Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice, and my standing can be verified by credential number.
  • I maintain my credential through annual renewal and continuing education.

Not accurate

I am accredited. INBGC is not accredited by an outside body and does not accredit practitioners or programs.

I am licensed. Grief coaching is not a licensed profession, and the credential is not a license.

I was trained by INBGC. INBGC provides no foundational grief coach training. On the Specialty Path, specialty education may be described accurately as specialty education toward an endorsement.

My practice, program, or course is board certified. Certification applies to a person.

INBGC endorses or recommends my services. The board certifies practitioners and endorses nothing they sell.

Anything implying treatment. No claim that grief coaching diagnoses, treats, cures, heals, or replaces therapy or clinical care.

Verification

Your credential number

In short

Your credential number is yours to share, and sharing it is what makes the credential useful to the person deciding whether to trust you.

Your number is formatted BCGC-YYYY-NNN. Include it in your professional profiles, on your website, and in your materials. It is what allows a client, a referral partner, or an employer to confirm your standing independently rather than taking a self-applied title at face value.

Linking your credential number or your seal to the registry makes verification a single step for the person checking, which is the point of holding a credential that can be checked at all.

Lapse and revocation

If your credential is not active

In short

If your credential lapses or is revoked, remove the designation, the seal, and any claim of board certification from every place they appear.

That includes your website, professional profiles, directory and referral listings, email signature, social media, and printed materials still in circulation. Continuing to present an inactive credential is a misrepresentation under the Code of Ethics.

Reinstatement requirements are available from Program Administration at [email protected].

Accountability

Reporting misuse

Anyone may file a report

Report inaccurate or unauthorized use of the BCGC designation or the INBGC seal, by a certificant or by anyone else, to [email protected]. Program Administration reviews every report.

Reports may be made by members of the public, referral partners, employers, clients, and other certificants. Anyone verifying a credential and finding a discrepancy is encouraged to report it. Outcomes under the published Code of Ethics can include guidance, warning, probation, suspension, or revocation.

Common questions

No. The designation identifies a person rather than a business, so it goes after your own name. Write it as Jane Doe, BCGC, owner of Fieldstone Grief Support, rather than attaching it to the practice. The same applies to programs, courses, products, and services.
No. The designation and the seal are available only once the credential has been issued and is Active. You may say that you are working toward board certification, provided it is not presented as a credential you already hold and neither the designation nor the seal appears alongside it.
No. INBGC is not accredited by an outside body, does not pursue outside accreditation, and does not accredit practitioners or programs. Describe what is actually true instead: your education was reviewed against six published topic areas, your practice hours were verified, and you passed a proctored Board Examination. That is checkable, which a word on a page is not.
No. A suffix never appears without the base credential, because the base credential is the prerequisite and the mark is built to show it. Write BCGC-PL rather than PL, and write each endorsement in full where you hold more than one, as in Jane Doe, BCGC-AC, BCGC-RL.
No. The seal identifies you as a certified practitioner. Placing it on a product, course, or service suggests INBGC reviewed that material, which it did not. You may state on the same page that you hold the credential, and you may display the seal in your own bio or profile area.
Yes, at no cost. Send the wording or the layout you intend to use to [email protected] and Program Administration will confirm whether it is permitted. Asking beforehand is always easier than correcting a printed run afterward.

Program Administration

Questions about permitted use

Program Administration answers questions about the designation, the seal, and your credential number at no cost, before you publish. Send the wording or the layout you intend to use.

Contact Program AdministrationRead the Code of Ethics

Credential mark usage guidelines, Version 1.0. Published August 2026 by the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching. Revisions are published at this address with a new version number and date.