--- title: Life Coaching Accreditation url: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/life-coaching-accreditation type: programme published: 2026-03-25 last_reviewed: 2026-07-10 reviewed_by: sarah-lindqvist publisher: The Study Guild --- # Life Coaching Accreditation A 12-week live life-coaching programme with assessed session recordings and business training, taught by an ICF Professional Certified Coach. ## Programme facts - Price: £499 (payment plans available, never discounted) - Format: Live online + self-paced - Live contact hours: 30 - Expected self-study hours: 50 - Duration: 12 weeks - Level: All levels - Tutor: sarah-lindqvist ## Learning outcomes - Hold a full coaching session that demonstrates the core ICF competencies - Contract clearly with a client on scope, confidentiality and outcomes - Recognise when a presenting issue requires therapeutic referral rather than coaching - Ask questions that move a client rather than gather information - Price and position a coaching practice from a costed income target - Run the first ten client conversations that establish a practice ## Curriculum 1. **What coaching is, and is not** — The boundary with therapy, consultancy and mentoring, established properly before any practice begins. Topics: Coaching versus therapy versus advice; Ethical frameworks and codes; Recognising clinical need; Referral in practice 2. **Contracting** — The conversation that prevents most of the problems a coaching practice encounters later. Topics: Scope, confidentiality and its limits; Outcomes and measurement; Cancellation and payment terms; Three-way contracts with employers 3. **Listening at depth** — The core skill, practised under observation until it changes. Topics: Levels of listening; What you notice and do not say; Silence as an intervention; Reflecting without paraphrasing 4. **Powerful questions** — Asking what moves a client rather than what satisfies your own curiosity. Topics: Open questions that are not fishing; Challenging supportively; Questions that create insight; Avoiding advice disguised as a question 5. **Goals, and their limits** — Goal frameworks, and when a goal is the wrong container for what a client brought. Topics: Outcome versus process goals; When the stated goal is not the real one; Motivation and ambivalence; Reviewing and renegotiating 6. **Working with resistance** — What to do when a client repeatedly does not act, without becoming their manager. Topics: Ambivalence rather than obstruction; Accountability that is not pressure; Naming a pattern; Ending a coaching relationship well 7. **Recorded practice: round one** — Full session recordings reviewed by tutor and peers against the competency framework. Topics: Recording logistics and consent; Self-assessment first; Receiving critique; Targeted improvement plans 8. **Pricing from a real number** — Working backwards from the income you need, rather than from what competitors charge. Topics: Costing your year properly; Billable versus unpaid time; Raising prices with existing clients; Packages versus hourly 9. **Finding clients** — The part most new coaches fail at, taught as assessed content rather than a bonus. Topics: Positioning and niche; The first ten conversations; Referral systems; What does not work 10. **Corporate and team coaching** — Selling into organisations, which is where the larger fees are. Topics: Buyer motivations in organisations; Proposals and pilots; Measuring impact credibly; Pricing corporate work 11. **Supervision and continuing practice** — The structures that keep a coach improving and safe after qualification. Topics: Why supervision matters; Peer triads; Logging hours towards credentials; Continuing development 12. **Final assessment clinic** — Second recordings and business plans reviewed live. Topics: Final recording review; Business plan critique; Route to ICF credentialling; Your first quarter ## Assessment Two full recorded coaching sessions submitted in weeks 6 and 12, assessed by Sarah Lindqvist against the published competency framework, plus a costed business plan for your practice. Written feedback on each recording with one free resubmission. Both recordings must pass — attendance does not earn the credential. ## Upcoming cohorts - 2026-09-17 to 2026-12-10 — Thursdays 18:30–21:00 UK, 12 weeks (open, cap 18) - 2027-01-22 to 2027-04-16 — Thursdays 18:30–21:00 UK, 12 weeks (open, cap 18) ## Is life coaching regulated in the UK? No. Anyone in the UK may call themselves a life coach and charge for it, with no qualification, registration or insurance legally required. Credentials from the International Coaching Federation and the EMCC are voluntary, which is why the assessed ones carry weight with informed buyers. Sources: - [Regulated professions and their regulators](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulated-professions-and-their-regulators) — GOV.UK ## Does this programme give me an ICF credential? No, and any provider claiming otherwise is misrepresenting how it works. The ICF awards its credentials directly, on its own application and assessment. This programme gives you the assessed training hours, the logged coaching hours and the recorded sessions that an application requires. We are explicit about this because the distinction is routinely blurred in marketing. What we provide: 30 hours of live tuition, assessed recordings against ICF core competencies, and a structure for logging your client hours. What we cannot provide: the credential itself, which only the ICF can award after its own assessment. ## How much do life coaches earn in the UK? Advertised UK rates commonly run from £50 to £150 an hour, with corporate and executive work higher. Actual income depends almost entirely on client volume rather than rate, and a large share of newly qualified coaches never build to full-time earnings. We are deliberately careful with this figure because published, reliable data on UK coaching income does not really exist. The range above reflects advertised rates across practitioner directories, not a survey, and should be treated as indicative only. The more useful thing we can tell you is where people fail, which is client acquisition. That is why it is assessed on this programme rather than mentioned. ## Will I really be recorded coaching? Yes, twice, and both recordings are formally assessed against the competency framework. This is the single most uncomfortable part of the programme and precisely the reason it produces competent coaches. Nobody can tell you whether your questions actually land without watching you ask them. ## Common questions **What if I do not have practice clients?** We help you find them. Most learners coach a colleague, a friend of a friend, or another learner from a different cohort. Practice clients are not paying clients and are told so explicitly. **Can I do this alongside a full-time job?** Yes, though it is the most demanding programme we run — one 2.5 hour evening session a week for 12 weeks plus roughly four hours of practice and study. Recordings are the part people underestimate. **Is coaching the same as therapy?** No, and confusing the two causes real harm. Coaching works with people who are functioning and want to move forward. Therapy treats psychological distress. Recognising which is needed is taught and assessed here. --- Source: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/life-coaching-accreditation · The Study Guild