ICF Credentials, Mentor Coaching, SUPERvision, MCS / CSS, AAMC / AACS and other stuff...
Dr Clare Beckett-McInroy EdD MCC ACTC MP ITCA ESIA
Most coaches are building their practice alongside work, life, family, clients, delivery, study and everything else. Accreditation can feel like something that can wait another month.
The upcoming 2027 ICF changes mean...
ICF states: “Beginning January 1, 2027, all ICF credential candidates must work with a mentor coach who has earned the MCS designation.”
That is significant.
Until 31 December 2026, current ICF requirements still apply. ICF says: “Until this date, current requirements and processes remain in effect.”
So, if you complete your Mentor Coaching in 2026, you are working within the current framework. You have more choice. More flexibility. More time to reflect, practise and integrate.
And if you wait...
ICF Mentor Coaching for ACC, PCC and MCC requires 10 hours over a minimum of three months. ICF also states that three of those hours must be one-to-one, with the remaining hours delivered one-to-one or in a group setting.
So, this is not something to leave until the last minute.
If you want to submit before the end of 2026, you need to be thinking about your Mentor Coaching now.
From 1 January 2027, new Mentor Coaching hours for ICF credential candidates will need to be with a Mentor Coach who holds the new ICF Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS). For ACC and PCC Portfolio applicants, ICF has also announced that, from 1 April 2027, the Performance Evaluation requirement will be replaced by an enhanced Mentor Coaching requirement, with standard Mentor Coaching documentation submitted as part of the application.
This is a real shift.
Mentor Coaching is becoming even more clearly positioned as a developmental, formative and competency-based process.
When you are coaching, you are listening, noticing, choosing, responding, holding the relationship, tracking energy, meaning, silence, movement, emotion and possibility.
It is not always easy to see your own patterns while you are inside the work.
That is why high-quality proven Mentor Coaching matters.
In group Mentor Coaching, you do not only learn from your own recording. You learn by watching and listening to others. You begin to hear where a question opens something up, where curiosity lands, where the coach follows the team or client, where they lead, where they overwork, and where they trust the process.
You start to recognise the ICF Core Competencies in real time.
And then you start to recognise them in yourself.
At BECKETT MCINROY / CoachME, we have been delivering Mentor Coaching for over 15 years. We have supported coaches across ACC, PCC and MCC pathways, and based on our internal tracking we have a 100% track record of ACC, PCC and MCC recordings submitted to ICF by our students for assessment.
It is rigour, care, expertise, moderating each other's work as a team and not luck.
We challenge, provide developmental feedback, deepen your knowledge of the competencies/BARS/Markers - the what to and the how to...
Our Mentor Coaching and SUPERvision model
Our CoachME Mentor Coaching and SUPERvision Model is not simply about telling coaches what they did well or what they missed.
It is about developing the whole practitioner.
It's available in over 60 languages too!
We work with:
- competency awareness
- reflective capacity
- ethical maturity
- relational presence
- use of self
- systemic awareness
- emotional and somatic data
- contracting and psychological safety
- PCC and MCC markers
- confidence, courage and clarity in the coach’s own voice
We bring Mentor Coaching and SUPERvision together in a way that honours both fields, while also keeping them distinct.
Mentor Coaching focuses on the development of coaching competence against ICF standards.
SUPERvision creates a wider resourcing, restorative reflective space for the coach’s practice, ethics, relational dynamics, systemic patterns, self-as-practitioner and ongoing professional development. It's about the business side of the work too.
Both matter.
Both are becoming more visible globally.
And both need trained, experienced, ethically grounded practitioners.
Understanding also how the same topic can be taken to Mentor Coaching or to SUPERvision is important too - the sweet spot between the two as we call it.
ICF has now introduced the Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS) and Coaching Supervisor Specialization (CSS). ICF has also announced new Advanced Accreditations in Mentor Coaching and Coaching Supervision, designed to create clearer standards and stronger pathways for those pursuing these specialisations. More on the latter in the coming weeks.
I was called upon by ICF to support the creation of the Mentor Coaching and Coaching SUPERvision competencies, and to advise on ICF’s new Mentor Coaching and SUPERvision Specialisations, as well as the Advanced Accreditations in Mentor Coaching and Coaching Supervision that are being announced.
We have also been training Mentor Coaches and SUPERvisors for almost seven years.
This is not new work for us.
It is work we have been researching, practising, refining and teaching for years.
Why choose BECKETT MCINROY / CoachME?
We are a global team of 16 ICF MCCs.
Our MCC faculty are also EMCC ESIA-accredited SUPERvisors.
We bring Mentor Coaching, SUPERvision, coach education, assessment, reflective practice, systemic work, gestalt, metaphor, existential approaches, team coaching and creative modalities together with deep respect for ICF standards.
CoachME was the first ever coach training school to receive the ICF Coaching Impact Award and also won the ICF Middle East Prism Award as well as EMCC awars too!
We offer:
- Mentor Coaching for ACC, PCC and MCC
- one-to-one Mentor Coaching
- group Mentor Coaching
- training for Mentor Coaches
- training for SUPERvisors
- ICF Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 pathways plus CCEs in coach education, leader-as-coach and master classes
- EMCC ESIA and AC-linked SUPERvision routes
- ongoing community, cafés, updates, research and practice spaces
If you are renewing ACC
Do not leave your 10 hours of Mentor Coaching too late.
ICF states that ACC lCF requires 10 hours of Mentor Coaching each time you renew.
And if you are thinking about PCC later, it makes sense to choose Mentor Coaching that stretches you towards PCC-level awareness, not just minimum compliance.
If you are choosing a Level 3 - we have over 50 graduates to date and if you are looking for mentor coaching for portfolio for MCC we have 100% track record on this too!
That is why our work is always developmental.
Not box-ticking.
Not rushed.
Not performative.
Real feedback. Real reflection. Real growth.
Reach out to simon@beckdtt-mcinroy.com if you would like to chat with me.
Useful links
Mentor Coaching offer: https://beckett-mcinroy.com/product/mentor-coaching/
Certification in Mentor Coaching: https://beckett-mcinroy.com/product/coachme-level-7/
CoachME Professional Certificate in Systemic SUPERvision: https://beckett-mcinroy.com/product/certification-in-coachme-coaching-supervision/
Diploma in SUPERvision: https://beckett-mcinroy.com/product/esqa-diploma/
All programmes: https://beckett-mcinroy.com/shop/
If you have been meaning to get your ICF credentialing, Mentor Coaching or renewal sorted, now is the moment to map it properly.
Not in panic.
Not at the last minute.
But with the right Mentor Coaches, the right SUPERvisors, the right structure and the right developmental space around you.
References
International Coaching Federation. Introducing the Mentor Coach Specialization.
International Coaching Federation. ACC & PCC Performance Evaluation Changes.
International Coaching Federation. Mentor Coaching with ICF.
International Coaching Federation. Introducing Advanced Accreditations in Mentor Coaching and Coaching Supervision.
International Coaching Federation. Introducing the Coaching Supervisor Specialization.