Maintaining the credential
Renewal and continuing education
What it takes to keep a Board Certified in Grief Care credential active: annual renewal, an ethics attestation, and 30 hours of continuing education every three years.
Board certification in grief care, which is non-clinical grief support, is maintained rather than held outright. The BCGC credential renews every year and answers to the published standard for as long as it is held. This page sets out what renewal requires, how continuing education works, what happens when a credential lapses, and how education providers can have an offering recognized for renewal hours.
Annual renewal
What does renewal require?
BCGC credentials renew annually, on the anniversary of the date the credential was issued, at $125 per year beginning after the first year. Each renewal requires a set of attestations, and payment alone never counts as agreement. There is no grace period: a credential not renewed by its renewal date shows as Expired the following day.
Annual credential renewal
$125 per year, beginning one year after the credential is issued. The first year is included in the certification fee. The renewal fee is the same for every certificant and is non-refundable.
Annual attestations
At each renewal the certificant attests to the Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice as currently published, confirms their registry information, discloses any relevant criminal, civil, regulatory, or professional complaints or actions, confirms fitness to practice, acknowledges material changes to the standard, and attests to continuing education progress.
Renewal keeps a credential active. It does not suspend review: a certificant whose conduct raises a concern may be reviewed at any point in the credential term, renewed or not.
Continuing education
How many continuing education hours are required?
30 hours on a rolling three-year cycle. At least 6 must be in ethics, scope, and risk and referral. At least 4 must be in diverse and disenfranchised grief. The remaining 20 may be in any grief-related topic area. Continuing education is completed and reported across the cycle, and there is no separate recertification fee.
| Area | Minimum hours per three-year cycle |
|---|---|
| Ethics, scope, and risk and referral | 6 |
| Diverse and disenfranchised grief | 4 |
| Any grief-related topic area | 20 |
| Total | 30 |
When the cycle starts
The first three-year cycle begins on the credential issue date in the certificant's INBGC record, and all 30 hours are due by the third anniversary of that date. Each later cycle is measured the same way. Annual renewals maintain active standing during the cycle and never restart it. For example, a credential issued on October 15, 2026 has a first cycle running from October 15, 2026 through October 14, 2029, and all 30 hours, including the required minimums, fall within that period.
The two required minimums mirror two of the six topic areas on the Board Examination. Scope and referral is where a practitioner's judgment carries the most risk for the person being served. Diverse and disenfranchised grief is where practice most easily drifts toward the practitioner's own assumptions. Both are required to be revisited, not learned once.
Continuing education may be completed through any qualified provider. INBGC does not sell continuing education and does not approve its own.
Qualifying education
What counts toward continuing education hours?
Education whose subject is grief and loss, or the ethics, scope, and referral judgment that non-clinical grief support depends on, from a credible provider. Offerings reviewed and listed as Recognized Continuing Education count in the topic area they were recognized for without further review.
The test is the same one the standard applies to initial education: whether grief itself is the subject. Graduate coursework, association and university continuing education, conference sessions, and structured workshops on grief, loss, bereavement, and the six topic areas may all qualify. General coaching, business, or marketing education does not count toward the hours, however useful it is.
The six topic areas are published in the professional standard for non-clinical grief support. Questions about whether a specific offering qualifies go to [email protected].
Documentation
How are continuing education hours documented?
Certificants attest to continuing education progress at each renewal, and the hours are reviewed at the third annual renewal with a categorized activity log. Records are kept for at least four years after the end of the cycle they apply to. Program Administration runs random and targeted audits and may request documentation at any time.
For each activity, keep a record that shows:
- A certificate of completion, transcript, or attendance confirmation
- The provider name and program title
- The date completed and the number of hours earned
- The category the hours count toward, and enough description to show the activity fits it
A certificant selected for audit submits the requested records by the deadline Program Administration provides. Hours that cannot be documented do not count toward the cycle.
Standing
What happens if a credential lapses?
A credential not renewed by its renewal date shows as Expired the following day. While it is expired, the certificant may not represent themselves as board certified or use the BCGC designation. The registry reflects current status, so anyone checking a credential number sees that it has lapsed.
The registry reports one of three statuses. Active means every eligibility, examination, and renewal requirement is met and the designation may be used. Expired means the credential has lapsed and the designation may not be used until it is reinstated. Revoked means the credential was withdrawn following an ethics review and may not be used at all.
Using the designation while a credential is expired or revoked is a violation of the Code of Ethics. A certificant who lets a credential lapse should remove the designation from their website, profiles, and materials until it is active again. Guidance on correct use is in the credential mark guidelines.
Returning to active
How is an expired credential reinstated?
By reinstatement request to Program Administration. Reinstatement requires the $125 renewal fee, a $75 reinstatement fee, and all outstanding attestations. Missed years are not back-billed. After 90 days, the certificant also demonstrates current continuing education compliance. After 24 months, the certificant reapplies and sits the Board Examination.
| Time since expiration | What is required |
|---|---|
| Up to 90 days | Reinstatement request, all outstanding attestations, the $125 renewal fee, and the $75 reinstatement fee |
| 90 days to 24 months | Everything above, plus evidence of current continuing education compliance |
| More than 24 months | Reapplication and the proctored Board Examination at the 80 percent standard |
After two years the standard may have changed, and the examination is how a returning practitioner shows they are current against it as it reads now. The usual examination rules apply, including the 30-day wait between attempts and the limit of three attempts in any 12-month period.
Where a continuing education shortfall needs to be made up, it is completed through any qualified provider. INBGC does not sell instruction, including remediation. All fees are non-refundable.
Reinstatement requests go to Program Administration at [email protected]. The designation may not be used until the registry shows the credential as Active.
Active certificants
What comes with an active credential
An active credential carries registry standing anyone can confirm and access to group rates on professional liability coverage through INBGC's insurance partners. These end when a credential lapses.
- Registry standing. An active credential that any referral partner, employer, or client can confirm by credential number in seconds, at no cost and without involving the certificant.
- Group liability rates. Active certificants qualify for group rates on professional liability coverage through INBGC's insurance partners. Coverage is a benefit, not a requirement.
The Public Resource Center is free to everyone, certificants included. The optional Advanced Resource Center is $99 per month and is not included in certification or renewal.
For providers
Recognized Continuing Education
A provider may have a specific offering reviewed to confirm that it qualifies for renewal hours in a named topic area. Review is $250 per application, with a $125 annual renewal. Recognition applies to the offering, not to the organization.
Recognized Continuing Education is a narrower review than the Recognized Education Provider review of a full program. It asks one question: does this offering qualify for renewal hours in the topic area named? A provider with one recognized workshop may say that workshop is recognized for continuing education. It may not describe itself as recognized on the strength of it.
Recognition is a convenience for certificants, never a gate. An offering that was never reviewed can still count toward a certificant's hours if it meets the same test, and no fee a provider pays affects any individual certificant's standing.
Providers with questions about Recognized Continuing Education may write to [email protected].
For referral partners
Why the credential is maintained rather than permanent
A certificate proves a course was completed on a date. A maintained credential is a statement about a practitioner's standing now: renewed this year, attestations made this year, continuing education in progress, and open to review for as long as it is held.
That is the difference a referral partner is relying on when they check a credential number. The standard changes over time, as it did in Version 1.6 with the addition of risk recognition and escalation, and renewal is how every certificant is held to the standard as it currently reads rather than as it read when they certified.
Common questions
Fees and policies
See every fee in one place
Renewal, retakes, and every other fee are published in advance, along with the refund policy.
Published by the Independent National Board for Grief Certification. Requirements reflect the current professional standard for non-clinical grief support.