Advisory board
Express Your Interest
The Advisory Board owns the standard behind the Board Certified Grief Coach credential: the topic areas, the scope of practice, the Code of Ethics, and the passing threshold. Members set the standard and do not review individual candidate files. Two-year renewable terms.
the board's role
One board, holding the professional authority for the BCGC.
INBGC has one board, and it is the Advisory Board. Members set and maintain the standard candidates are measured against: the topic areas and their weightings, the scope of practice, the Code of Ethics, the continuing education requirements, and the passing threshold. They do not review individual candidate files.
That separation is the point. The people who define the bar have no involvement in who clears it, and no commercial interest in candidate flow.
What the Board does
- Sets and maintains the topic areas and their weightings, the scope of practice, the Code of Ethics, and the continuing education requirements.
- Sets the passing threshold for the Board Examination.
- Sets the qualifying training criteria that education providers are reviewed against.
- Ratifies specialty endorsement designations.
- Reviews the standard periodically as the field changes.
What the Board does not do
- Review individual applications or open candidate files.
- Decide whether any specific person is certified, or whether any specific provider is recognized.
- Handle operations, which sit with Program Administration.
Application intake, eligibility review, education review, examination administration, and credentialing decisions sit with Program Administration rather than with the Advisory Board. The board defines the standard. Program Administration applies it, and does not author the rules it enforces.
INBGC provides no foundational grief coach training, so no certification decision is ever influenced by where a candidate studied.
Why Serve
Why serve on the Board
Anyone can call themselves a grief coach. There is no license, no required training, and no authority checking, which leaves grieving people and the professionals who refer them with no way to tell one practitioner from another.
The Advisory Board decides what the standard requires. Serving on it means your judgment is what a hospice bereavement coordinator relies on when they decide where to send a family.
Shape the standard
Decide the topic areas and their weightings, the scope of practice, the Code of Ethics, the continuing education requirements, and the passing threshold that every Board Certified Grief Coach is measured against.
Protect grievers
The grief coach title is unprotected, so a grieving person choosing a coach is making that decision at the moment their judgment is least reliable. The standard you set is what gives them something to check.
Serve alongside your peers
The board seats experienced professionals from across the disciplines grief work touches: thanatology and bereavement, clinical mental health, hospice and palliative care, chaplaincy and spiritual care, and coaching standards and ethics.
Independent by design
Members set the standard and never review individual candidate files. Your role is the bar itself, never the people being measured against it, which means no conflict with the coaches you already work alongside and no say in any decision that touches your own referral relationships.
who we're seeking
Expertise we're seeking
The Board reflects the range of disciplines grief work touches. We're especially interested in professionals with depth in one or more of these areas, and a willingness to help define and uphold standards for non-clinical grief coaching as the field continues to grow.
Grief and bereavement
Thanatology, grief theory, and bereavement support, including professionals active in the Association for Death Education and Counseling.
Licensed clinical mental health
Therapists and counselors who work at the boundary between coaching and clinical care and can say where it belongs.
Hospice, palliative, and healthcare
Clinicians and bereavement professionals who meet grief in medical and end-of-life settings.
Chaplaincy and spiritual care
Chaplains, clergy, and pastoral caregivers who sit with grieving people as a matter of course.
Coaching standards, ethics, and non-clinical practice
Professionals with experience setting or enforcing professional standards outside a clinical license.
The commitment
Up to four standards-focused meetings a year, plus email review of proposed changes to the topic areas, the examination blueprint, the Code of Ethics, and the continuing education requirements. This is an unpaid role. It does not involve reviewing individual candidate applications.
express your interest
We'd welcome an initial conversation. Completing the form below is an expression of interest, not a
commitment. We review each submission and follow up to learn more before any invitation is extended.
Advisory Board Interest
What happens next: We review your background, reach out to learn more about your interests and availability, and, where there's a fit, extend an invitation to join the Board. Any appointment is confirmed in writing before your name appears on the public Advisory Board roster.