Certificate in Coaching

The Institute of Counselling was founded in 1985 as a Christian based, not for profit independent educational body. It is committed to promoting pastoral care throughout the services it provides.

The Aims of the Institute of Counselling are:

The Institute provides a wide range of counselling and related courses. Students enrol with assurance and confidence on our quality courses, which are fully backed by the experience and resources of the Institute of Counselling.

In its early years the Institute offered only courses in Clinical and Pastoral Counselling, within a pastoral context. Since 1985, over 18,000 students from the UK and overseas have enrolled on these courses.

In recent years, has also produced a selection of further courses which follow the clinical person-centred approach developed by Carl Rogers and others.

The Institute is committed to providing counselling skills training to all who will benefit from the courses. On this basis a non-discriminatory policy is operated with regard to students' background, culture, ethnic origin, gender, age or creed.

Certificate in Coaching

This tutor supported distance learning course introduces you to relevant up-to-date information and skills related to coaching.

The aim of the course is to deepen your knowledge and to provide you with the skills related to coaching. This is achieved through providing information and training in essential coaching skills. Case studies, practical activities and assignments are included as key teaching tools.

Coaching is rooted in developmental psychology and is commonly applied in organisational settings. For example, coaching is often associated with team building, executive coaching, anger/conflict management, life-skills coaching, career development, and so on. A coach is both a mentor and a guide. He or she helps clients define aspirations, recognise patterned ways of relating, identify options, uncover rules, and set new goals that can help them grow - and so become the person they want to be. To this extent, a coach acts as a catalyst for positive change. He or she also helps the person become a more effective part of a ‘system’ (such as the family, community, church, corporation or industry).

The course is designed for:

• People who are considering coaching as a career and want to gain a certificate in the subject.
• Personal, corporate or organisational coaches who want to enhance their knowledge and skills.
• Trainers, careers advisors, human resource personnel, line, middle and senior management.
• People who work in the caring professions (teachers, nurses, doctors, health visitors, ministers and pastors, community workers, and so on).
• Those interested in the field of coaching.

This course is designed to be both relevant and practical.

Your course in mentoring includes the following topics:

1. Defining coaching
2. Describing the coaching process
3. The tasks of a coach
4. Seven steps to developing a good coach-client relationship
5. Understanding and identifying different 'learning styles'
6. Attitude and perception management
7. Coaching through life’s transitions
8. Coaching core values
9. Systems coaching: working with groups (including companies, organisations, families and the community)
10. Ethical guidelines for coaches

The course materials consist of 10 lessons, 5 tutor marked assignments and a textbook. This is supplemented with suggested background reading.

If you enrol on, and successfully complete the Coaching and Mentoring Certificate courses, you are eligible for the Institute’s Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring