The professional standard
The professional standard for non-clinical grief support
The six topic areas, the education and verified practice requirements, the ethics obligations, and the passing threshold every Board Certified in Grief Care is measured against.
Version 1.6, effective September 2026 | Maintained by the INBGC Advisory Board
This is the published professional standard for non-clinical grief support, of which grief coaching is one form. It is free to read, cite, and write into a referral policy, and it is the standard every person board certified in grief care is measured against.
Governance
How is the standard set?
Authority over the standard rests with the Advisory Board. It sets the topic areas and their weightings, the scope of practice, the Code of Ethics, the continuing education requirements, and the passing threshold. It does not review individual candidate files or decide whether any specific person is certified.
Three functions are kept apart, and no person or group does more than one. The Advisory Board sets the standard. Program Administration applies it to individual candidates and organizations. Referral partners reference it, never set it, and are never charged to cite it, build referral criteria around it, or verify a credential.
Nobody with a commercial interest in candidate flow helps define the bar. INBGC provides no foundational grief support training, so it holds no stake in where a candidate trained. A credential is only as strong as the independence of whoever issues it, and that independence is a structure rather than a claim.
The Advisory Board
Holds authority over the standard candidates are measured against, drawn from the fields grief work touches: hospice and bereavement care, chaplaincy and spiritual care, death care and grief education, and coaching practice, standards, and ethics. It does not review individual applications.
Program Administration
Applies the standard. Application intake, eligibility review, education review, examination administration, verified practice review, credentialing, renewals, and records. It does not author the rules it enforces.
Published policies
The standard, the eligibility requirements, the topic areas, the Code of Ethics, and the passing threshold are published in full and free to read, cite, or write into a referral policy at no cost.
Independent of training
INBGC sells no foundational grief support training, so the body that sets the standard has no financial interest in where any candidate studied and no student rate to protect.
The full separation of functions, including how ethics complaints are handled and what a referral partner may and may not do, is set out on the governance and accountability page. The seated Advisory Board roster is published at advisory board.
The examination
What does the Board Examination cover?
Six topic areas, weighted equally: foundations of grief and loss, the non-clinical grief coaching frame, grief coaching skills and techniques, scope of practice and referral, ethics and professional conduct, and diverse and disenfranchised grief. Every candidate is examined against the same standard.
The six areas are weighted equally, so no area counts for more than another. The same six areas form the blueprint for the education review. See the certification process.
The examination
What does the Board Examination measure?
Applied judgment, not memorized definitions. The examination presents standardized scenario-based items that ask the candidate to reason through real practice situations: scope judgment, referral decisions, ethical reasoning, applied grief knowledge, and professional decision-making across the six topic areas.
The Board Examination does not test recall. It presents scenario-based items that ask the candidate to apply judgment in situations a practitioner meets in non-clinical grief support: recognizing the limits of scope, deciding when to refer to licensed care, reasoning through an ethical question, applying grief knowledge to a person's situation, and making a sound professional decision.
Board certification independently verifies that the practitioner has met published standards for grief-specific education, applied knowledge, verified practice hours, ethics, scope, and professional judgment.
Requirement
What education is required?
Documented grief-specific education covering the six topic areas, completed through any qualified provider. INBGC does not provide foundational grief support training, so every candidate brings that education from elsewhere and Program Administration reviews it.
Topic areas of grief-specific education
Education must cover all six topic areas. That establishes a candidate has studied grief and loss in particular rather than coaching, counseling, or ministry in general. See the full requirements.
How education is reviewed
Program Administration reviews the education a candidate brings against the six published topic areas. Education from more than one provider may be combined, and what is assessed is coverage.
Live, cohort-based, and self-paced programs, graduate coursework, clinical training in grief and bereavement, and continuing education from associations and universities
Certificates of completion, transcripts, official course records, or letters of completion on provider letterhead
Education from every qualified provider is reviewed on the same terms, which is what keeps the credential independent of any training program.
Providers may apply to have their curriculum reviewed against the published qualifying training criteria and be listed as INBGC Recognized Education Providers. That review speeds a candidate's education review, because the curriculum has already been assessed. It is never required, a candidate whose provider never applied is reviewed on the merits, recognition is revocable, and no fee a provider pays touches whether an individual passes. See provider review.
Requirement
How are practice hours verified?
A minimum of 50 verified practice hours of non-clinical grief support provided to grieving people or families, documented through the candidate's signed attestation plus one supporting record. Group sessions count when they can be verified, and clinical treatment hours do not count. No client session is ever recorded, submitted, or reviewed, and no client participates at any point.
Verified practice hours
Practice hours confirm that a candidate has provided non-clinical grief support to grieving people rather than only completing coursework. Hours may be paid or unpaid, in private practice, an organizational setting, or a volunteer capacity.
Calendar exports, booking reports, or invoicing records that demonstrate grief support sessions
A signed confirmation from a manager, employer, mentor, or colleague with direct knowledge of the candidate's grief support work, or a professional reference letter
One supporting record accompanies the candidate's own attestation. Client confidentiality holds throughout, no client is contacted, and identifying details in a supporting record may be redacted.
Maintaining the credential
What is required to keep the credential active?
The credential renews annually at $125, with an ethics attestation confirming continued compliance. Continuing education runs on a rolling three-year cycle, 30 hours in total, completed through any qualified provider.
The credential is maintained rather than owned outright. It answers to the standard continuously, which is what keeps an active BCGC a statement about a practitioner's work now.
Ethics obligations
Every certificant operates under the INBGC Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice. Its fourteen principles cover the non-clinical scope, competence, client welfare, confidentiality and records, boundaries and conflicts of interest, risk recognition and escalation, fitness to practice, continuity of service, honest representation, and accountability to the board. Attestation is a condition of certification, and annual renewal includes an ethics attestation confirming continued compliance. Conduct that raises a concern is reviewed under the published complaint process, with outcomes up to revocation.
Renewal and continuing education
The credential renews annually at $125. Continuing education runs on a rolling three-year cycle: 30 hours in total, including at least 6 hours in ethics, scope of practice, and risk and referral, and at least 4 hours in diverse and disenfranchised grief. It may be completed through any qualified provider, and INBGC does not require certificants to buy it from the board.
The standard
What score is required to pass?
80 percent, across six equally weighted topic areas. The standard is applied identically to every candidate.
The passing standard is criterion-referenced. It measures competence against the published standard rather than performance relative to other candidates, so no candidate is competing for a limited number of credentials.
The threshold is set by the Advisory Board and reviewed periodically as the field changes. Program Administration applies it and does not adjust it.
Accountability
How are complaints and revocation handled?
Anyone may submit a concern about a certificant's conduct, in writing, at no cost. Program Administration reviews it confidentially, and where a violation is found outcomes range from guidance to revocation of certification. A revoked credential is reflected in the registry, and certificants have a right of appeal.
Accountability that rests with the school that issued a certificate depends on that school's own interests. A board holds the credential open to review for as long as it is held.
Who may raise a concern
Clients, referral partners, employers, colleagues, and members of the public may submit a concern in writing to Program Administration at no cost. Reports are reviewed confidentially, and Program Administration may request additional information.
Outcomes and appeal
Where a violation is found, outcomes follow the published enforcement process, from guidance up to revocation. A revoked credential shows as Revoked in the registry promptly, so a verification check returns current standing. Certificants have a right of appeal.
Concerns about a certificant go to [email protected]. The full complaint, review, and appeals process is set out on the governance and accountability page. INBGC has no authority over a practitioner who does not hold the credential, which is the practical consequence of there being no license for grief coaching.
Verification
How is a credential verified?
Enter a practitioner's credential number in the INBGC registry to confirm the name on the credential and whether it is active and in good standing. Verification is free, takes seconds, and does not involve the practitioner. Institutions that maintain credentialing files can request formal written verification from Program Administration.
Credential status
Active means the certificant has met all eligibility, examination, and renewal requirements, and the designation may be used.
Expired means the certification has lapsed and the designation may not be used until it is reinstated.
Revoked means the certification was withdrawn following an ethics review and the designation may not be used at all.
Two ways to check
Credential number lookup. Ask the practitioner for their credential number and enter it in the INBGC registry. It returns the name on the credential and its current status. Lookup is by credential number, and the registry is not searchable by name.
Written verification. Institutions that maintain credentialing files write to [email protected] with the practitioner's name or credential number and receive formal written verification in a form they can file. Both routes are free.
A certificate image or a claim on a website confirms nothing about current standing. A credential can lapse, and it can be revoked. Confirming with the issuing board is what a resource list actually depends on.
Organizations writing the standard into a referral or vetting policy may cite and link this page at no cost. Sample policy language and criteria for evaluating any non-clinical practitioner are published on our referral criteria page. See also for referral partners.
Version and citation
Using and citing this standard
The standard is published as a stable reference so that an organization can adopt it, cite it, and know which version it adopted. Each version carries a number and an effective date, and revisions are published at this address so the version you cite remains identifiable.
Version 1.7, effective October 2026.
Suggested citation
Independent National Board for Grief Certification. Professional standard for non-clinical grief support, Version 1.7. Effective October 2026. inbgc.org/standards/
You may reproduce this standard, the six topic areas, the scope of practice, and the passing threshold in your own referral protocol, inclusion policy, vetting checklist, or intake procedure, in whole or in part, with attribution. No permission is required, no fee applies, and there is no requirement to notify INBGC that you have used it.
Change log
Version 1.7, October 2026. The board's name changed from Independent National Board for Grief Coaching to Independent National Board for Grief Certification, and the credential's name changed from Board Certified Grief Coach to Board Certified in Grief Care. The acronyms INBGC and BCGC are unchanged. The standard is now titled the professional standard for non-clinical grief support. Verified practice hours are defined as non-clinical grief support provided to grieving people, with clinical treatment hours excluded. Requirements, topic areas, and the passing threshold are otherwise unchanged.
Version 1.6, September 2026. Code of Ethics expanded from eleven to fourteen principles, adding risk recognition and escalation, fitness to practice, and continuity and ending of service. Scope of practice adds a required response to warning signs of suicide, self-harm, and other acute risk, with assessment and treatment remaining outside the scope. Prolonged Grief Disorder adopted as the term for the recognized clinical diagnosis wherever the standard refers to it. Topic areas 1, 4, and 5 updated to match.
Version 1.5, August 2026. Published standard, six topic areas, education and verified practice requirements, passing threshold, renewal and continuing education, specialty endorsements, and complaint and revocation process.
Reading an earlier version
An organization that adopted an earlier version may continue to cite it by number. Where a later version changes a requirement, the change is described in the change log so that the difference between the version cited and the version in force is clear.
Questions about this standard, or a request for the published scope of practice and referral indicators in a form your team can circulate, may be sent to [email protected].
Common questions
Next step
Meet the standard
This is the standard every certificant is held to. If you are considering certification, the next step is confirming you meet the published eligibility requirements.