ICF Coach Mentoring
What Is ICF Mentor Coaching?
ICF mentor coaching is a structured process designed to support your development as a coach through review of your actual coaching sessions. Unlike supervision (which focuses on your overall practice and wellbeing), mentor coaching specifically focuses on developing your coaching skills against the ICF Core Competencies.
Mentor coaching is required by the International Coaching Federation for:
How I Work With You
We work with recordings of your real coaching sessions. You send me recordings at least 24 hours before our scheduled sessions, allowing me to review them in advance. This means our time together focuses entirely on discussion, feedback, and your development - not on listening to recordings together.
Through a phenomenological lens, we explore:
- Your presence and embodiment with clients
- How you demonstrate the ICF Core Competencies in practice
- Patterns and themes across your coaching sessions
- Your development edge as a coach
- Areas for refinement in your coaching practice
For PCC-level mentoring, we work specifically with the PCC markers, examining the depth and sophistication of your coaching.
Two Ways to Work Together
10 Hour Mentoring Package
The 10-hour package is structured to meet ICF requirements and support your credential application.
Investment
€1,300 (payable in installments if requireed)
What's included
- Review of multiple recorded coaching sessions (submitted in advance)
- Detailed feedback aligned to ICF Core Competencies or PCC markers
- Focus on your specific development areas
- Discussion of your coaching choices and decision-making
- Confirmation of any mentoring hours for your ICF application
- Flexible scheduling based on your preparation timeline
Pay-As-You-Go Option
If you're not ready to commit to a full package or you only need additional mentoring hours, you can book individual mentor coaching sessions.
Investment
€200 per 1 hour session
This works well for:
- Coaches wanting to try mentor coaching before committing
- Coaches needing individual hours to supplement group mentoring hours
- Ongoing development between credentials
What to Expect
Before Our First Session
- We'll have an initial conversation about your goals, timeline, and which credential you're pursuing
- You'll send me your first coaching recording (minimum 24 hours in advance).
- I'll review the recording and prepare detailed feedback for us to explore when we meet.
During Our Sessions
- Discussion of what I noticed in your recording
- Exploration of your coaching choices and thinking
- Feedback on Core Competencies or PCC markers
- Questions to deepen your awareness
- Planning for your continued development
Between Sessions
- You'll record more coaching sessions with real clients
- Submit recordings in advance of each session
- Reflect on feedback and experiment with your practice
My Approach to Mentor Coaching
While mentor coaching focuses on ICF competencies, I bring my phenomenological grounding to this work. This means I'm not just checking boxes on competencies - I’m attending to the quality of your presence, how you're being with clients, and the deeper patterns in your coaching.
I work developmentally, not evaluatively. My role is to support your growth, not to judge whether you're "good enough”. Even when providing challenging feedback, I do so from a place of care and belief in your potential.
I draw on my experience as:
- A PCC credentialed coach since 2021
- An associate coach trainer on multiple ICF-accredited programs
- A coaching supervisor who has worked with dozens of coaches
- Someone who has navigated the ICF credentialing process myself
- A former board member of ICF Ireland
The Difference Between Mentoring and Supervision
Mentor Coaching
- Specific to the ICF
- Focused on ICF Core Competencies
- Works with recorded sessions
- Credential-oriented
- Structured 10-hour requirement
- Developmental but competency-focused
Coaching Supervision
- Broader focus on your whole practice and wellbeing
- Ongoing developmental relationship
- Not credential-specific
- Flexible format and timing
- Includes self-care and ethical support
- Required for EMCC credentialling and some other coaching bodies
Practical Information
Scheduling
Sessions are scheduled flexibly based on your preparation timeline and are typically 1-hour or 1.5-hour sessions via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Most coaches complete 10 hours over 3-6 months. The ICF mandates that 10 hours of coach mentoring must be completed over 3 months or more. This is important if you’re planning to renew an ACC credential as you’d ideally want to start mentoring 6-12 months before your renewal date.
Recording Requirements
- Recordings are real coaching sessions with actual clients (not practice sessions).
- While you can share audio or video, I prefer to work only with audio - this provides additional privacy protection for your coachee and aligns with how ICF assesses recordings.
- Sessions should be between 25 - 45 minutes
- Sent securely at least 24 hours before each session
Transcript Requirements
- Ideally, when sharing recordings, you will also provide a transcript in PDF or Word format.
- The transcript should contain timestamps at every change of speaker and a verbatim transcript of what was said by both coach and coachee
- If you struggle with transcripts, I can usually generate an approximate transcript using an offline AI model from the recording that you share. An offline AI model means your recording isn’t shared with any third party to create the transcript.