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 is board certified in grief care, which is non-clinical grief support, 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 Board Certified in Grief Care credential.
Eligibility
Who may use the marks
Only a certificant holding an Active Board Certified in Grief Care 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
Write it as BCGC or Board Certified in Grief Care, after your name, separated by a comma. It names a qualification you hold, not a job title, and it may never be attached to a business, a program, or a service.
Correct forms
- Jane Doe, BCGC
- Jane Doe, Board Certified in Grief Care
- Jane Doe, LPCC, BCGC
- Jane Doe, MDiv, BCC, BCGC
- In a sentence: Jane Doe is board certified in grief care.
In professional contexts, lead with the post-nominal rather than the spelled-out form. 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.
I am a BCGC
The designation is not a noun for a person. Write that you are board certified in grief care, or place BCGC after your name.
Certified Grief Coach
Drops the board and uses a label anyone may adopt without any review.
INBGC Certified Grief Coach
The organization name is not part of the designation, and the credential certifies non-clinical grief support rather than a job title.
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 Example Grief Support
Not correct
Example Grief Support, BCGC · a board certified grief support practice · our BCGC certified program
The mark
The credential seal
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
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 in Grief Care 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
Describe what the credential actually verified. The accurate version is more persuasive than the inflated one, because anyone can check it.
Accurate
- I hold an Active Board Certified in Grief Care credential from the Independent National Board for Grief Certification.
- I am board certified in grief care, which is non-clinical grief support.
- My grief-specific education was reviewed against six published topic areas.
- I documented verified practice hours and passed the 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.
- For clinicians: my board certification covers the non-clinical grief support I provide, not my clinical practice.
Not accurate
I am accredited. INBGC is not accredited by an outside body and does not accredit practitioners or programs.
I am licensed. There is no license for grief coaching, and the credential is not a license.
I was trained by INBGC. INBGC provides no foundational grief support training.
My clinical practice is board certified. The credential does not certify clinical practice.
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 non-clinical grief support diagnoses, treats, cures, heals, or replaces therapy or clinical care.
Verification
Your credential number
Your credential number is yours to share, and sharing it is what makes the credential useful to the person deciding whether to trust you.
Include your credential number in your professional profiles, on your website, and in your materials. It is what allows a client, an employer, or an organization 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.
Expiration and revocation
If your credential is not Active
If your credential becomes Expired or 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 a credential that is not Active is a misrepresentation under the Code of Ethics.
There is no grace period. A credential not renewed by its renewal date shows as Expired the next day, and the designation may not be used while it is Expired. An Expired credential may be reinstated with the $125 renewal fee, a $75 reinstatement fee, and all outstanding attestations. After 90 days, reinstatement also requires current continuing education compliance. After 24 months, the certificant reapplies and sits the Board Examination.
See renewal and continuing education, or write to Program Administration at support@inbgc.org.
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 ethics@inbgc.org. Program Administration reviews every report.
Reports may be made by members of the public, professionals, employers, clients, and other certificants. Anyone verifying a credential and finding a discrepancy is encouraged to report it. The possible outcomes are set out in the published Code of Ethics.
Common questions
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.
Credential mark usage guidelines, Version 1.1. Published October 2026 by the Independent National Board for Grief Certification. Version 1.1 updates the board name and the credential name, formerly Board Certified Grief Coach, with no change to the rules for use. Version 1.0 was published August 2026. Revisions are published at this address with a new version number and date.