ICF Mentor Coaching
Expansive Mentor Coaching™
ICF Mentor Coaching for ACC & PCC Credentials
A clear, ICF-aligned way to develop as a coach
Many coaches come to mentor coaching for a clear, practical reason: they need the 10 hours of ICF MentorCoaching required for an ACC renewal or a PCC application.
Others come because something in their coaching feels ready to deepen.
Often, it’s both.
Expansive Mentor Coaching™ offers ICF Mentor Coaching for coaches pursuing or renewing ACC and PCC credentials, held in a way that supports both the requirements and the deeper maturation of your coaching.
This work is not about performance or imitation.
It’s about helping your coaching feel coherent, ethical, and confidently your own, while clearly aligning with the ICF Core Competencies.
What Expansive Mentor Coaching™ offers:
Alongside my private coaching practice, I have served as an ICF Mentor Coach and Assessor since 2015, supporting more than 150 coaches across ACC, PCC, and MCC pathways.
I bring over 5,000 hours of coaching experience and deep familiarity with how ICF assessors actually listen, not just what they listen for.
My role is not to teach you how to “sound right,” but to sit with you in the real texture of your coaching, helping you see how the competencies are already showing up, and where they can become clearer and more consistent.
What Expansive Mentor Coaching™ offers
This is ICF Mentor Coaching, meaning:
Feedback is based on observed or recorded coaching
Learning is grounded in the ICF Core Competencies
Sessions support your ACC renewal or PCC application
Mentor coaching hours are documented in alignment with ICF standards
Within that structure, the work is clear, reflective, and human — focused on learning and integration rather than comparison or performance.
My Mentor Coaching Philosophy
I don’t mentor coaches to sound like me. I mentor coaches to sound more like themselves, with greater attunement, confidence and congruence
In practice, this means:
Strength-based development
We build from what’s already working.
Compassionate, direct feedback
Clear, evidence-based observations offered without judgment.
A true learning laboratory
A well-held space to experiment, reflect, and integrate.
Alignment without imitation
Your unique coaching voice, clearly aligned with the ICF Core Competencies.
Assessment-informed guidance
Objective feedback shaped by years of ICF assessment experience.
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” - Steven Spielberg
That balance guides everything I do here.
I’ve had the privilege of mentoring and assessing over 150 coaches.
You’re welcome to read what some past mentees have shared about their experience.
For more specific details on ACC, PCC, and MCC pathways, click here.
Who this is for:
Expansive Mentor Coaching™ is well-suited for coaches who:
Need 10 hours of mentor coaching for ACC renewal or PCC application
Want to understand and deepen the competencies way beyond the checklist
Care about coaching maturity, not just credentialing
Want feedback that strengthens confidence rather than erodes it
Valiue a clear, well-held learning environment
This mentor coaching is best suited for coaches who want to deepen and refine their coaching practice and how they demonstrate the ICF Core Competencies.
Mentor coaching formats
I offer ICF Mentor Coaching in both small-group and individual formats.
Each option:
Fulfils the ICF requirement for mentor coaching hours
Includes review of recorded coaching sessions
Supports ACC and PCC credential pathways
Integrates learning into your real coaching practice
The next Expansive Mentor Coaching™ group begins April 14th, 2026.
You can review the full programme details here, and if it feels aligned, schedule a brief conversation to explore fit.
ICF Mentor Coaching
✓ The 10 hours of ICF Mentor Coaching required for ACC renewal or PCC application, including review of recorded coaching sessions.
✓ Sincere, objective, and evidence-based feedback based on the ICF core coaching competencies from a Master Certified Coach who cares about you and your success.
✓ A well-held learning laboratory where feedback is supportive, specific, and oriented toward integration rather than performance.
✓ Greater confidence and clarity in your coaching, with a deeper, more embodied understanding of how the competencies show up in real client work
Group Mentor Coaching
$1,300 USD
Includes 7 hours of small-group mentor coaching and 3 required 1:1 mentor coaching sessions.
Individual Mentor Coaching
$2,300 USD
Includes 10 hours of individual mentor coaching with recorded-session review.
Both options meet the ICF requirement for mentor coaching hours for ACC renewal or PCC application.
Payment plans are available for self-funded coaches.
If you’d like to explore whether this feels like the right fit, you’re welcome to learn more here.
How I Can Help
As coaches, we hold a lot.
We’re building our practices, supporting others through complexity, and tending to our own lives at the same time. It’s meaningful work, and it deserves care and support.
Frequently Asked Mentor Coaching Questions
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Mentor coaching is both a practical requirement and a meaningful part of a coach’s professional development.
For many coaches, it serves a few purposes at once:
Meeting ICF requirements.
Mentor coaching is required for ACC and PCC credentialing and renewal, and it ensures your coaching aligns with the ICF Core Competencies and ethical standards.
Refining your coaching.
Working with an experienced mentor coach offers thoughtful feedback on real coaching, helping you sharpen your listening, presence, and decision-making without losing your own style.
Supporting ongoing growth.
Coaching is a developmental profession. Mentor coaching creates space to reflect, integrate learning, and deepen your understanding of the competencies over time.
Receiving an objective perspective.
A mentor coach offers a clear, outside view of your work, helping you notice patterns, strengths, and meaningful edges that are harder to see on your own.
For many coaches, mentor coaching becomes less about “fixing” and more about clarifying, trusting, and strengthening the coaching they’re already doing.
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Choosing an ICF Mentor Coach is a meaningful step. It’s not just about meeting requirements. It’s about finding someone who can support your growth with care, clarity, and respect for who you already are as a coach.
As you’re deciding, here are a few things that tend to matter most.
Experience and perspective
Look for a mentor coach who holds a credential equal to or higher than the one you’re pursuing and who has experience mentoring other coaches through the credentialing process. Their depth of experience, both as a coach and as a mentor, shapes how clearly they can see patterns, strengths, and developmental edges in your work.
Alignment with how you learn and grow
A strong mentor coach helps you integrate the ICF Core Competencies in a way that makes sense to you. Pay attention to their feedback style. Does it feel clear and supportive? Do you feel understood in how you think, reflect, and learn? The right mentor often feels like someone who understands where you are and can walk with you toward where you’re going.
Their approach to feedback
Mentor coaching works best when feedback is both honest and humane. Look for someone who can offer challenge without harshness and encouragement without avoiding what matters. A good mentor coach supports reflective practice and helps you notice not only where you can grow, but where your coaching is already strong.
Ethics and professionalism
Trust is essential in mentor coaching. A mentor coach should clearly embody the ICF Code of Ethics, hold appropriate boundaries, and treat confidentiality with care. These aren’t just formal requirements. They’re what allow real learning and openness to happen.
Trust and connection
You should feel able to bring your questions, uncertainties, and learning edges into the space. Mentor coaching often invites you into vulnerable territory, especially when working with recordings. Feeling seen, respected, and supported makes that possible.
Practical fit
Finally, consider the practical pieces. Does their structure, whether group, individual, or a blend, fit your needs? Is their timing workable for your credentialing timeline? And while cost matters, it can be helpful to weigh it alongside the quality of presence, feedback, and support you’re likely to receive.
For many coaches, the right mentor coach is someone who helps them feel clearer, more grounded, and more trusting of their own coaching, not someone who asks them to become someone else.
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The ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies were created to bring greater clarity, integrity, and consistency to the practice of mentor coaching. They reflect the growing maturity of the profession and help distinguish mentor coaching as its own discipline within coaching.
At their core, these competencies support high-quality development for coaches and mentor coaches alike.
They are designed to:
Support high standards in coaching.
The competencies provide a clear framework for developing coaching skills that align with the ICF Core Competencies, particularly in preparation for credentialing.
Deepen skill development through targeted feedback.
Mentor coaching focuses on refining how coaches listen, respond, and partner with clients, using real coaching and reflective feedback to support growth.
Clarify the role of the mentor coach.
The competencies define mentor coaching as distinct from personal, life, or business coaching, with a clear focus on coaching skill development and competency alignment.
Create transparency for coaches seeking mentoring.
A shared competency framework helps coaches make informed choices when selecting a mentor coach who fits their learning needs and goals.
Support ongoing learning and research.
These competencies serve as a foundation for continued research, training, and the evolution of credentialing and professional standards within coaching.
Emphasize ethics and reflective practice.
Ethical conduct, thoughtful reflection, and professional responsibility are central to the mentor coaching role, and these competencies reinforce that expectation.
Provide standards for evaluation and accountability.
The competencies offer a framework for assessing mentor coaches themselves, helping ensure professionalism, consistency, and quality across the field.
Together, the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies support the continued development of mentor coaching as a rigorous, ethical, and reflective practice that serves both individual coaches and the profession as a whole.
This information is drawn directly from the ICF website. (https://coachingfederation.org/credentials-and-standards/core-competencies/mentor-coaching)
You can download a copy of the ICF Mentor Coaching Competencies here.
“Working with Jory Stillman as my mentor coach for four months was an awesome experience. Jory's expertise in the ICF's ACC and PCC markers helped me refine my coaching skills, focus on the client (not their problem), and become more attuned to clients' energy shifts. Her clear communication, direct feedback, and ability to tailor our sessions to my goals were instrumental in my growth as a coach. Jory provided tangible examples of coaching techniques, new ways to ask good questions, and ample opportunities to practice, enhancing my confidence and capability. By the end of our time together, I felt fully prepared to submit my application for the ICF ACC credential. I highly recommend Jory as a mentor coach for anyone looking to take their coaching practice to the next level.”
- Tracy Klein M.P.H, MA, PCC, Wellness, Life & Functional Medicine Coach
Curious to explore next steps?
You’re welcome to schedule a complimentary 30 minute coffee conversation. We’ll talk through what you’re working toward and see whether mentor coaching together makes sense.