If you’re thinking about transitioning into a career in the booming life coach industry, it is highly recommended that you enroll in a training program, especially if you’re just starting out. However, searching for life coach training programs online and selecting a program can be daunting and overwhelming. We’ve put together some tips to think about in your journey, and our picks for best life coach training programs and providers for 2024.
All programs offer some kind of value to the person taking the course, regardless of provider. The providers we reviewed ranged in price a few hundred to a quite a few thousand, with most being in the middle range. We recommend all coaches start with a life coach foundation program as the starting point before looking at advanced or additional training.
Remember, you already have the life skills and experience to help others; what you want is a training program to transition those life skills into a professional life coach career and business.
When choosing a provider and program, ultimately, you want to start strong whichever path you take. When starting the journey, focus on what’s important to you, not what everybody else thinks. Some of your considerations could include:
- Your schedule (be realistic about your existing commitments)
- Language
- Location
- Self-paced or scheduled
- Timezones
- Online or in class
- Ease of understanding course materials
- Duration of program
- Financial cost (of program and any impact on your income)
- Payment options
- Your learning personality
- Existing life experience
- Accreditation vs certification (be realistic about what you really need out of a life coach course and why).
When selecting a program pathway, it’s easy to miss the basic principle that a broad life coach foundation program is the starting point.
Another big factor is whether you propose to seek employment or work in areas that could require industry body accreditation, or whether you want to work for yourself on your own terms and program certification is more than enough for your needs and goals. It’s also important to take into consideration what you want out of your life coach course because you want training that other coaches and potential clients will respect and appreciate while at the same time weighing up time and cost factors. While industry accreditation might be important to some life coaches because of the nature of their work or client-base, it won’t be important or necessary for other life coaches. Regardless, when comparing different programs against your needs and goals, take time to weigh up what you really need: do you leap into a 1-2 year training program costing thousands if you don’t have any clients yet, don’t have the time to commit, or even know if a career in life coaching is right for you? Or perhaps your goal is simply to get certified as quickly and affordably as possible in the first instance so you can launch your business and maybe build your career with further specialized training later?
Our picks:
Coach Training Alliance
CTA is a leading, global coaching organization since 2000, and offers an International Coaching Federation (IFC) Level 1 approved life coach program.
What we like about CTA is their mid-range priced life coach course is a hybrid program delivered by teleconferencing, online media, and interactive software. The program duration is delivered over 6 months and includes coaching skills, business skills, and marketing skills. Students should be prepared for practicum requirements and final performance evaluation as part of the IFC requirements. CTA offers other programs too.
International Association of Professional Recovery Coaches
IAPRC offer an excellent Life Coaching Essentials program along with additional programs for life coaches wanting to enrich their credentials by adding professional recovery coaching to their toolbox. Not to be overshadowed, their Life Skills Essentials Program covers the basic skills and competencies for anyone wanting to transition to life coaching, along with the business and marketing skills components to help launch your life coach business.
The professional recovery modules add further value in a niche area with a focus on recovery coach competencies, the neuroscience behind joyful recovery and family issues in recovery aimed at existing coaches, counselors, and therapists as well as people in recovery, recovery advocates or family members seeking recovery insights and tools. IAPRC recovery coaching students can expect learning that helps them support clients by helping them to reconnect to their own inner capacity, resilience and sense of well-being.
What we like about IAPRC is their under mid-range price point and niche area focus. The life coaching essentials program on its own is good value price-wise. Students can take either the general life coaching essentials module which would suit anyone starting out as a life coach, or the niche professional recovery coaching module, or bundle them both together. They also offer payment plans on some programs.
iPEC
iPEC offer a dynamic 3-day live coaching fundamentals training program designed to teach you coaching and foundational skills you can use right away in work or life and get you up and running in days. The program is also Module 1 of their full Life Coaching program, and students can go on to complete their full life coach program later.
What we like about this program is it may suit those who are already confident in what they do and setting up the business side of things, but perhaps need to brush up on the coaching aspect. They also offer other courses including an executive coach program, health and wellness, sports and performance. Payment plans may be available for some programs. Students should double check they understand delivery of all the modules if they enroll in the full life coach program or bundle with other programs and the full cost.
Transformation Academy
Transformation Academy offer a wide range of life coach and other coaching niche courses. Most are bundled together meaning students can achieve training in different niches to add to their toolbox all in the one place.
What we like about Transformation Academy is their below mid-range pricing starting with the basics of becoming a certified life coach, then adds other advanced niche area training bundles such as happiness, goal success and life purpose niche bundles. Other bundles can also be added. Transformation Academy programs are not accredited. We rate Transformation Academy as good for those who want to get started straight away and for affordability.
IAP Career College
IAPCC offer a certified life coach program designed to help students understand the role of a life coach, how to coach, how to develop your skills to succeed as a life coach, how to get hired as a life coach, together with the business and marketing skills to launch your life coach business if you’re going to work for yourself. IAPCC have an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot review rating, and their program is one of the quickest and most affordable in the market, too. The program is self-paced, entirely online, the modules are easy to follow, and faculty support is available too: everything students need to get up and running and launch their career as quickly and affordably as possible. Students can study part-time or full-time as suits their schedule, and the program can be completed in as little as 4-12 weeks.
What we like best about IAPCC is that their program offers quick completion and ‘a lot of bang for very little buck’ at a super affordable price. There is an online final assessment but no practicum like other programs. On successful completion of the course students can access a paid discounted professional association membership, and can either download a free completion certificate, or pay a little extra and order an impressively embossed graduation certificate on fine linen paper by post for your cv or office wall. IAP College is not accredited.
We rate this program as the best for affordability, achieving certification, getting started straight away, and quick but realistic completion.
Summary
The biggest decisions to make in choosing life coach career is to work out at the start your realistic and actual needs in choosing a life coach program against budget, goals, completion time, and your life situation. We hope this review helps with your decision making.
Please reach out if you have any questions or queries to info@ascendlifecoachhub.com
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