INBGC STANDARDS
Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice
These standards govern the professional conduct of every Board Certified Grief Coach (BCGC) credentialed by the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching. Certification requires agreement to these standards. Ongoing compliance is required to maintain active certification.
Maintained by the INBGC Advisory Board
Scope of practice
What does grief coaching cover?
Grief coaching is a professional service that helps people navigate loss, transition, and significant life change. It is a present- and future-focused practice grounded in the client's strengths, capacity for meaning-making, and ability to adapt. Grief is not limited to death and bereavement.
For the purposes of INBGC certification, grief is the natural human response to any significant loss or unwanted change. The scope of practice includes support for clients experiencing:
- Death of a person or pet
- Estrangement from family, community, or identity
- Divorce and relationship endings
- Anticipatory grief
- Job loss, career transition, or forced retirement
- Ambiguous loss
- Serious illness, their own or a loved one's
- Major life transitions that carry an element of loss
Scope of practice
What do Board Certified Grief Coaches provide?
A structured, confidential relationship focused on adjustment, meaning, and life after loss. Coaching is non-clinical, and it includes referral to licensed professionals when a client's needs call for clinical care.
- A structured, confidential space for clients to process loss and transition
- Education about grief responses and adaptive coping
- Goal-setting and support related to adjustment and life after loss
- Assistance with meaning-making, identity, and re-engagement
- Resources and referrals to additional professional support when appropriate
Scope of practice
What is outside the scope of grief coaching?
Grief coaching is not clinical practice. A Board Certified Grief Coach does not diagnose, treat, prescribe, or provide psychotherapy, and does not present as a licensed clinician unless separately licensed.
Board Certified Grief Coaches do not:
- Diagnose mental health conditions
- Prescribe medication or offer medical advice
- Provide psychotherapy, clinical counseling, or trauma treatment
- Provide legal, financial, or estate planning services
- Treat complicated grief disorder or other clinical presentations
- Practice as a licensed counselor, therapist, or clinician, unless they hold separate licensure for those professions
Scope of practice
Where is the boundary between coaching and clinical practice?
Grief coaching and grief therapy are distinct services. Coaching focuses on forward movement, adjustment, and quality of life. Clinical therapy addresses psychological disorders, trauma, and conditions that require licensed mental health treatment.
A Board Certified Grief Coach recognizes when a client's needs exceed the coaching scope and responds accordingly. Understanding where coaching ends and clinical care begins is a core competence of the credential, and it is examined directly on the Board Examination.
Scope of practice
When must a coach refer to a licensed professional?
A Board Certified Grief Coach must refer a client to an appropriate licensed professional when the client presents with indicators that exceed the coaching scope. Referral does not require ending the coaching relationship.
Referral is required when a client presents with:
- Suicidal ideation or self-harm
- Active substance use related to grief
- Symptoms consistent with complicated or prolonged grief disorder
- Trauma requiring clinical intervention
- Acute psychiatric symptoms
- Any presentation the coach is not qualified to address
Referral does not require ending the coaching relationship. Coaches may continue to provide coaching support alongside clinical treatment, with appropriate coordination.
Code of ethics
What are the ten ethical principles?
Ten principles define the professional obligations of every Board Certified Grief Coach. They apply to all coaching relationships, professional communications, marketing, and public conduct, and agreement to them is a condition of certification.
The well-being of the client is the primary obligation of every Board Certified Grief Coach.
Coaches practice within the boundaries of their training, experience, and scope of practice.
Coaches protect client information and share it only with explicit consent or as required by law.
Coaches accurately represent their credentials, training, and professional background.
Coaches provide services without discrimination and promote equity and inclusion.
Coaches ensure clients understand the nature, scope, and limits of grief coaching before work begins, including what coaching is not and when referral to licensed care is required.
Coaches avoid conflicts of interest and disclose any that may arise.
Coaches act with integrity, respect, and professionalism in all interactions, maintain clear professional boundaries, and avoid dual relationships.
Coaches commit to ongoing learning to maintain and enhance professional competence.
Coaches comply with INBGC decisions and report violations.
Accountability
How are ethics concerns reported and reviewed?
Anyone may submit a concern about a certified coach's conduct. Reports are reviewed confidentially by Program Administration. Where a violation is found, INBGC may issue guidance, a warning, probation, suspension, or revocation of certification. Coaches have a right of appeal.
Report a concern
Anyone may submit a concern about a coach's conduct that may violate this Code of Ethics. Reports are submitted in writing to [email protected].
Review process
Reports are received and reviewed confidentially by INBGC's Program Administration, which may request additional information as needed.
Outcomes
Where a violation is found, INBGC may issue guidance, a warning, probation, suspension, or revocation of certification, in accordance with its published enforcement process.
Appeals
Coaches have the right to appeal a decision in accordance with INBGC's appeals process and timeline.
A credential that is revoked may not be used at all. Certification status is verifiable directly with INBGC at any time.
Accountability
Is agreement to these standards enforceable?
Yes. Agreement to this Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice is a condition of INBGC board certification. It is not a formality. It is a professional commitment enforceable through the INBGC credentialing process, up to and including revocation.
Before certification
All candidates review and agree to these standards before certification is awarded. Agreement is a documented condition of the credential, not an optional acknowledgment.
Every year after
All credentialed coaches affirm ongoing compliance annually as part of the renewal process. A coach whose conduct raises a concern may be reviewed at any point in the credential term.
For candidates
Become board certified
These are the standards every Board Certified Grief Coach agrees to. Applications are open and reviewed on a rolling basis. Creating your account takes about a minute and does not enroll or charge you.
Frequently asked questions
Next step
Get board certified
Applications are open and reviewed on a rolling basis. Creating your account takes about a minute and does not enroll or charge you. You choose your pathway in the next step.