INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS COACHING (ICHWC) CERTIFICATION EXAM Last updated: 3/6/2018 Please note this document is provided to share information related to the ICHWC Health and Wellness Coaching Certification Exam. For complete and most updated information, always refer to the ICHWC website, www.ichwc.org. WHAT IS ICHWC? The International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching (ICHWC) was previously called the National Consortium for Credentialing Health and Wellness Coaches (NCCHWC). They have recently change their name as they are representing the international health coaching movement. The Health & Wellness Coach (HWC) Certifying Examination is overseen by the National Board for Certifying Health & Wellness Coaches which includes members from the International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). They meet regularly to make decisions regarding the examination and related topics. It is recommended that you spend some time reviewing the ICHWC website, as many questions can be answered there. It is also important to note that FMCA is an approved transition program by ICHWC. We are separate organizations with separate requirements. Information is provided here for your reference, please refer to the ICHWC website for more comprehensive information on the ICHWC certification exam, http://ichwc.org. FMCA is currently transitioning the health coaching program to meet the ICHWC permanent phase requirements. Registration instructions, eligibility requirements, fee information, a Bulletin of Information, and more resources can be found at www.nbme.org/hwc. ICHWC CERTIFICATION EXAM Background The Health & Wellness Coach Certifying Examination (HWCCE) has been designed to set minimum standards for competence in areas such as the coaching relationship, communication techniques, processes for behavior change, ethics, professionalism, and more. All practitioners who pass the examination and meet the additional eligibility requirements will be designated National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC). These practitioners will be the exemplars of competence in health coaching, demonstrating a standard of practice that members of the public can rely on when choosing a health coach partner. The HWC Certifying Examination has been created through a partnership between the ICHWC, of which our program is a member, and the NBME, co-sponsor of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) and an international leader in the assessment of health professionals.
REQUIREMENTS AND DATES Please review the ICHWC website to determine if you meet ALL the qualifications to sit for the exam. While completion of the FMCA course meets the requirement of completion of an approved transition program, there are additional requirements to meet. If you will not complete an approved transition program (including FMCA) by the application deadline, you will not be eligible to apply for the exam. If you have questions about if a previous program is approved, or alternative criteria, please refer to the ICHWC website. The first administration of the exam was September 2 16, 2017 at Prometric testing centers across the United States. Starting in 2018, ICHWC will be offering the exam twice a year. Only Beta and January 2016 classes were eligible to take the September 2017 exam once they met all the criteria. All eligibility requirements must be met prior to applying to sit for the exam. The application window for the next ICHWC certification exam in June 2018 will be open January 2 - March 15, 2018. At this time, coaches can apply for eligibility to sit for the exam to become National Board Certified. The second exam is scheduled for June 15-30, 2018. You may register at http://www.nbme.org/hwc/ If you plan to register for the June exam, take a look at these easy to follow registration steps: https://ichwc.org/hwc-certifying-examination-application/. The application period is through March 15, 2018. PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST COMPLETE THE FMCA PROGRAM PRIOR TO THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IN ORDER TO APPLY TO SIT FOR THE EXAM. The only exception would be if you have a certificate from a previous coaching program. EXAM DATES: The first 5 exams will be under the "transition phase": September 2017, June 2018, November 2018, June 2019, November 2019. Exam candidates will be eligible to sit for one of the first five exams if they have completed an ICHWC-Approved Transition Program, along with the other requirements outlined on the ICHWC website. FMCA is an Approved Transition Phase program. Application Period Exam Dates First Exam February 1 May 15, 2017 (closed) September 1 16, 2017 (closed) Second Exam January 2 March 15, 2018 June 15 30, 2018
Third Exam May 1 June 30, 2018 November 1 15, 2018 Fourth Exam January 2 March 15, 2019 June 15 30, 2019 Fifth Exam May 1 June 30, 2019 November 1 15, 2019 Some of the FMCA requirements can be used to apply towards the application for the ICHWC exam, but each organization has different requirements that need to be completed. APPLICATION SUBMITTAL Certificate of Completion We provide ICHWC with a list of all students who graduated from the FMCA program. According to ICHWC, to date, you do not need to provide a certificate of completion. Important information to include in the email that you submit with the ICHWC application. In the email, please note the following: That you completed the FMCA program The COMPLETION DATE of your class With regards to your "class" FMCA refers to classes by START date. So, if your class started in July 2016, you are in the "July 2016 Class", (NOT the "July 2017 Class"). Please do NOT note that you are in the "July 2017 Class" in your application. Please only note the COMPLETION DATE of your class. If you have already submitted, you do not need to make a correction. Finally, per ICHWC, you MUST pay before 11:59 pm EST on March 15th to sit for the exam in June. There will be no exceptions. PRACTICE EXAM ICHWC has posted Practice Exam questions. You can find them at the following link, under Downloads, at the bottom of the list "Health & Wellness Coach Practice Exam Online/PDF." http://www.nbme.org/hwc/ Selecting "Online" takes you to a mock test. Selecting "PDF" provides a PDF of the questions.
AUGUST 2017 STUDENTS ONLY We have received several messages from students in the August 2017 course regarding the timing of the completion of the FMCA course and the ICHWC Health & Wellness Certifying Exam. The concern expressed by students is that the application deadline for the November 2018 ICHWC exam is June 30, 2018, which is prior to the completion of the August 2017 FMCA course, which is July 31, 2018. Therefore, students in the August 2017 Class will not be eligible to apply for the November 2018 ICHWC Health & Wellness Certifying Exam. We understand your concerns and frustration, however, this is a schedule set by ICHWC. There are over 50 programs that have ICHWC approval so it would be impossible to coordinate the end date of all the programs with the deadlines for the exam applications. Additionally, one of the requirements to apply for the ICHWC exam is "completion" of an ICHWC-approved transition program. Therefore, we cannot make any exception to this criteria, since FMCA is an ICHWC-approved transition program, and the FMCA course will not be "completed" until July 31, 2018. We apologize for the inconvenience. You may consider the benefits. After the completion of the FMCA course, you will have time to acquire the remainder of the 50 coaching sessions required to apply for the exam. You will also have more time to continue to advance your knowledge of health coaching and prepare for the exam. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Non-US citizens are welcome to travel to the US to sit for the exam, as long as they are approved through our application process. International students are eligible to sit for the ICHWC exam if they meet the requirements. There are a select few sites outside of the US where candidates are able to sit for the exam. You can search for available locations at Prometric Testing's website. Candidates may visit www.prometric.com/hwccp. and search under Locate a Test Center for a country where an approved test center is located. The exam and requirements are exactly the same as they are here in the United States, and at this time the exam will only be offered in English. CONSIDERING TAKING EXAM IN FUTURE For those of you considering taking the ICHWC exam in the future, I wanted to make you aware of the following. Per the ICHWC website: "Effective January 24, 2018 health & wellness coaches who have completed an ICHWC-approved program and intend to sit for an exam during the transition phase, must meet all eligibility requirements by June 30, 2020 (formerly June 30, 2019). This modification indicates that HWC Certifying Examinations 1 through 7 all fall within the transition phase." FMCA is an ICHWC Approved Transition program. If you have completed the FMCA course as an ICHWC Approved Transition Program, you will have until June 30, 2020 to apply for the exam. ICHWC has not addressed any additional requirements after this date for students who have completed an ICHWC Approved Transition Program. After that date, you must complete an ICHWC Approved Permanent Phase Program to sit for the exam. FMCA is currently in the process of meeting those standards.
ICHWC COACHING LOGS and COACHING SESSIONS If you intend to sit for the National Certification Exam, you will need to meet the requirements of ICHWC. ICHWC requires documentation of 50 coaching sessions (please see the ICHWC website for details). Some of the coaching sessions that you complete during the Practicum may count towards the required 50 sessions. Please note, this is subject to change as ICHWC develops the new program standards for the permanent phase. Classes August 2017 and PRIOR: ICHWC will count coaching sessions 6 months prior to date of course completion. This means you can start counting sessions starting in Month 7. Please make sure your coaching logs reflect this date. ICHWC will review the coaching logs and count back 6 months from the date of completion of the FMCA course, which is Month 7. It is also acceptable to include the coaching sessions through the FMCC with incoming students. This has been reviewed with ICHWC. Our program is unique in that we have the Coaching Center and students are required to receive coaching through the Coaching Center as part of the requirements of the program. We generally do not have apprentice coaches coaching students from the same class, so they are not "direct classmates." Generally, the apprentices are coaching students through the coaching center from the following class. In this case, these students are considered "clients." We have reviewed this with ICHWC and confirmed it is acceptable. February 2018 and AFTER: Coaching sessions for the ICHWC coaching log may only be counted after students complete a Practical Skills Assessment (PSA). Sessions with other students or classmates will not count for the ICHWC coaching log, even if they are through the FMCC. This has been reviewed with ICHWC. Please note: You do not need to finish all 50 ICHWC sessions before the FMCA class is over. Please refer to the ICHWC website and review the definition of what qualifies for a coaching session. The Intro sessions for the Functional Medicine Coaching Center do not count towards coaching sessions for the ICHWC Coaching Log, as no coaching is generally completed during these sessions. You may also find the coaching log on the ICHWC website at the following link: http://ichwc.org/individuals/
DESIGNATION All health & wellness coaches who successfully pass the exam will be deemed National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches, and will be able to place the following after their name, NBC-HWC. ICHWC WEBSITE The ICHWC website has many resources to help you prepare for the exam. The following resources may be a good place to start to review: Bulletin of Information regarding application process ICHWC Coaching Log ICHWC Health and Wellness Coach Scope of Practice ICHWC Exam Content Outline ICHWC Code of Ethics ICHWC Health and Wellness Coach Practice Exam These resources can be found at the following links: Website (all info, sign up for mailing list) - www.ichwc.org Exam Requirements with Details - www.ichwc.org/individuals Application Documents - http://ichwc.org/hwc-certifying-examination-application/ Bulletin of Information (TONS of information on the process and exam) - http://www.nbme.org/pdf/hwc/hwcce_boi.pdf Content Outline with Resources (Study Guide) - http://www.nbme.org/pdf/hwc/hwcce_content_outline.pdf Practice Exam - http://www.nbme.org/pdf/hwc/hwcce_practice_test.pdf QUESTIONS If you have questions, please review the website at www.ichwc.org If you have specific questions about the exam, eligibility, scheduling, please contact ICHWC at: https://ichwc.org/contact/ If you have questions about the FMCA course in regards to the requirements for the exam, please contact: Elizabeth@functionalmedicinecoaching.org.