HOLISTIC TRAUMA-INFORMED COACHING CERTIFICATION
Core Competencies & Standards for Certification
HTCC certification is built around more than completing coursework. Students are expected to develop and demonstrate ethical coaching practice, professional responsibility, trauma-informed awareness, effective coaching skills and the ability to support the whole person while remaining within the appropriate scope of coaching.
The following competencies establish the professional knowledge, skills and standards expected of HTCC students and graduates.
PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATIONS
Core Coaching Competencies
The rigorous ethical, structural, and trauma-informed standards guiding holistic coaching mastery.
01
COMPETENCY 01
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
HTCC coaches are expected to practice with integrity, honesty and respect for the people they serve. Ethical coaching requires understanding professional responsibility, protecting the coaching relationship and recognizing the limits of the coach's role.
- Ethical decision-making and professional conduct
- Respect for client dignity, privacy and autonomy
- Confidentiality and appropriate handling of client information
- Informed consent and clear communication about the coaching relationship
- Honest representation of training, credentials and professional experience
- Awareness and appropriate management of conflicts of interest
- Commitment to client welfare
- Recognition of situations requiring consultation, referral or another qualified professional
- Responsibility for remaining within the legal and professional scope of coaching
02
COMPETENCY 02
Coaching Agreements, Boundaries & Scope of Practice
Professional coaching begins with clarity. Coaches must establish what the relationship is, what the client can expect and where the boundaries of coaching begin and end.
- Clear coaching agreements and expectations
- Appropriate professional boundaries
- Understanding the difference between coaching, education, consulting and clinical treatment
- Clear communication about fees, scheduling, confidentiality and responsibilities
- Appropriate management of dual relationships and boundary concerns
- Recognition of issues that fall outside the coach's education or professional scope
- Appropriate referral when a client needs licensed medical, mental-health or other specialized professional care
- Respect for applicable laws and professional requirements
03
COMPETENCY 03
Trauma-Informed Coaching
HTCC coaches learn to recognize that trauma, chronic stress and protective responses may influence how a person experiences change, relationships, decision-making and the coaching process.
Scope Clarification: Trauma-informed coaching does not mean diagnosing or treating trauma. It means bringing greater awareness, responsibility, choice and safety into the coaching relationship.
- Foundations of trauma-informed care
- Awareness of fight, flight, freeze and other protective responses
- Basic nervous-system awareness within the scope of coaching
- Recognition of triggers and activation without diagnosing the client
- Emotional and relational safety
- Respect for client choice, consent and pacing
- Avoidance of coercive, shaming or unnecessarily activating coaching practices
- Awareness of the potential for retraumatization
- Ability to distinguish coaching support from trauma treatment
- Recognition of when referral to an appropriately licensed professional is needed
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE STANDARDS
Core Competencies
The core standards governing relational safety, embodied presence, and rigorous relational communication.
COMPETENCY
04
CLIENT SAFETY, CHOICE & AUTONOMY
Effective coaching supports the client’s ability to think, choose and act for themselves. HTCC coaches are taught to create a respectful coaching environment without positioning the coach as the authority over the client’s life.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Respect for client choice, values, beliefs and lived experience
- Creation of an emotionally and relationally respectful coaching environment
- Client consent before introducing exercises, practices or change-work techniques
- Respect for a client’s right to pause, decline or modify an exercise
- Awareness of power dynamics within the coaching relationship
- Support for client agency rather than dependence on the coach
- Appropriate pacing based on the client’s responses and stated needs
- Avoidance of manipulation, coercion, shame or pressure
- Recognition of situations in which additional professional support may be appropriate
COMPETENCY
05
COACHING PRESENCE & SELF-AWARENESS
The coach is part of the coaching environment. HTCC students develop the ability to remain present, curious and grounded while recognizing their own assumptions, emotional reactions, beliefs and personal experiences.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Focused presence during coaching conversations
- Curiosity without rushing to fix or advise
- Awareness of personal assumptions and biases
- Recognition of personal triggers and emotional reactions
- Ability to distinguish the coach’s story from the client’s experience
- Appropriate emotional regulation and professional composure
- Flexibility when a coaching conversation moves in an unexpected direction
- Willingness to receive feedback and continue developing as a coach
- Respect for the client as the primary authority on their own experience
COMPETENCY
06
ACTIVE LISTENING & EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
HTCC coaches learn to listen for more than words. Effective coaching communication includes attention to what the client says, what they emphasize, recurring patterns, changes in language and what may need further exploration.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Active and attentive listening
- Clear, respectful and direct communication
- Reflecting and summarizing without imposing interpretation
- Listening for recurring language, beliefs, patterns and priorities
- Noticing changes in tone, energy or emphasis without diagnosing their meaning
- Asking for clarification rather than making assumptions
- Allowing appropriate silence and space for reflection
- Communicating observations in a way that invites exploration
- Checking understanding with the client
- Adapting communication to support clarity, trust and productive coaching conversations
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE STANDARDS
Core Competencies
Cultivating client awareness, translating insight into sustainable action, and applying a holistic framework to whole-person development.
COMPETENCY
07
Questions, Awareness & Insight
Effective coaching helps clients explore what they think, believe, want and choose. HTCC coaches learn to ask purposeful questions that deepen awareness without leading the client toward the coach’s preferred answer.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Open-ended and thought-provoking questions
- Questions that encourage reflection and self-discovery
- Exploration of beliefs, assumptions, patterns and possibilities
- Curiosity rather than predetermined conclusions
- Recognition of recurring themes within the coaching conversation
- Appropriate challenge without judgment or shame
- Helping clients consider alternative perspectives
- Allowing clients time to discover their own answers
- Avoiding leading questions designed to produce a specific response
- Supporting insight that can translate into meaningful action
COMPETENCY
08
Client-Led Goals, Action & Accountability
Insight becomes useful when the client can translate it into choices and action. HTCC coaches learn to help clients identify meaningful goals and create realistic next steps while keeping ownership of the process with the client.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Clarifying what the client wants to create, change or experience
- Developing goals that reflect the client’s priorities and values
- Breaking larger goals into realistic next steps
- Identifying potential obstacles, resources and support
- Helping clients determine how progress will be recognized
- Creating appropriate accountability without control or pressure
- Reviewing progress with curiosity rather than judgment
- Adjusting goals and actions when circumstances change
- Recognizing and reinforcing meaningful progress
- Supporting the client in taking increasing ownership of their choices and results
COMPETENCY
09
Holistic Coaching & The Amazing YOU Method
HTCC teaches coaches to consider the whole person rather than reducing a client’s challenge to a single area of life. The Amazing YOU Method provides a framework for exploring six interconnected areas of human development: physical health, mindset, emotional maturity, energy, relationships, and business and purpose.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Understanding of the six Amazing YOU Power Zones
- Ability to recognize how challenges in one area may influence another
- Exploration of physical well-being and supportive lifestyle patterns within coaching scope
- Identification of mindset, beliefs and thought patterns
- Support for emotional awareness and maturity
- Awareness of energy, stress and mind-body experience within the scope of holistic coaching
- Exploration of relationship patterns, communication and boundaries
- Support for purpose, meaningful work, business and personal direction
- Ability to help clients identify which area deserves attention without overwhelming them
- Integration of multiple areas when appropriate while maintaining a clear coaching focus
- Recognition of when a concern requires expertise or care outside the coach’s professional scope
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE STANDARDS
Advanced Coaching Competencies
Mastery through holistic methodology, rigorous ethics, and documented practical application.
10
CORE COMPETENCY
HOLISTIC CHANGE-WORK TOOLS & APPROPRIATE APPLICATION
HTCC students are introduced to a range of holistic tools that may support awareness, emotional wellness, mindset change and personal development within an appropriate coaching relationship.
The purpose is not to apply every technique to every client. Coaches learn to select tools intentionally, explain what they are doing, obtain client consent and remain within the boundaries of their education and professional scope.
Training may include:
- EFT and emotional wellness techniques
- Hypnosis-informed coaching tools
- Timeline and personal-history exploration
- Reparenting concepts and exercises
- Mind-body awareness practices
- Energy and Reiki-informed concepts
- Visualization and guided imagery
- Belief and mindset change techniques
- Grounding and self-regulation practices
- Additional Amazing YOU coaching exercises and tools
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Appropriate selection of coaching tools based on the client's goals and needs
- Clear explanation of an exercise before using it
- Client consent and choice
- Ability to modify or stop an exercise when appropriate
- Recognition that coaching tools are not substitutes for medical or mental-health treatment
- Understanding of the limits of their education and scope
- Appropriate referral when a client's needs exceed the coach's role
11
CORE COMPETENCY
BUSINESS ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
HTCC prepares students not only to coach, but also to operate their coaching practice with integrity.
Students learn and are expected to demonstrate:
- Honest representation of credentials, education and experience
- Ethical marketing and communication
- Clear descriptions of coaching services
- Responsible use of testimonials and client stories
- Clear fees, payment expectations and coaching agreements
- Respect for client privacy and appropriate handling of records
- Professional scheduling, communication and client systems
- Ethical enrollment and sales practices
- Avoidance of exaggerated promises or guaranteed client outcomes
- Appropriate professional boundaries in business relationships
- Compliance with applicable business, privacy and professional requirements
- Commitment to operating within the legal and professional scope of coaching
12
CORE COMPETENCY
PRACTICUM, FEEDBACK & DEMONSTRATED COMPETENCY
HTCC certification requires students to move beyond studying coaching concepts and demonstrate their ability to work with real people.
Students complete a minimum of 25 documented coaching practicum hours as part of the certification process.
Students are expected to demonstrate:
- Preparation for professional coaching sessions
- Appropriate use of intake forms and coaching agreements
- Establishment of clear coaching goals and expectations
- Ethical and professional conduct with real clients
- Application of HTCC coaching competencies during actual sessions
- Appropriate use of Amazing YOU and holistic coaching tools
- Trauma-informed awareness and respect for client autonomy
- Clear professional boundaries and recognition of scope
- Documentation of qualifying practicum hours
- Ability to receive and integrate coaching feedback
- Continued development based on review and experience
- Satisfactory completion of HTCC curriculum, practicum and graduation requirements
GRADUATION STANDARD
CERTIFICATION IS DEMONSTRATED, NOT SIMPLY ATTENDED.
HTCC certification represents successful completion of the required education, personal development, practicum and competency requirements established by Your Own University.
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
The HTCC Code of Ethics
HTCC students and graduates are expected to approach coaching as a position of trust. Certification carries a responsibility to protect client autonomy, communicate honestly, maintain appropriate professional boundaries and practice within the limits of the coach's education and scope.
INTEGRITY - Represent education, credentials, experience and services honestly. Do not misrepresent qualifications or make claims that cannot be supported.
CLIENT AUTONOMY - Respect each client's right to make their own decisions. Coaching should support personal agency rather than create dependence on the coach.
CONFIDENTIALITY & PRIVACY - Protect information shared within the coaching relationship and communicate clearly about the limits of confidentiality and how client information is handled.
CONSENT & CHOICE - Explain coaching practices and exercises appropriately and respect a client's right to ask questions, decline, modify or stop an exercise.
PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES - Maintain clear and appropriate boundaries within coaching relationships and address potential conflicts of interest responsibly.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE - Provide services only within the boundaries of the coach's education, training and applicable legal scope. HTCC certification does not authorize diagnosis, psychotherapy, medical treatment or other regulated professional services.
TRAUMA-INFORMED RESPONSIBILITY - Use trauma-informed principles to support safety, choice, pacing and respect. Do not represent coaching as clinical trauma treatment.
HONEST MARKETING & ENROLLMENT - Describe services, pricing, credentials, testimonials and potential outcomes accurately. Do not use deceptive claims, coercive sales practices or guarantees of specific client results.
REFERRAL & COLLABORATION - Recognize when a client's needs exceed the coach's role or competence and encourage appropriate support from qualified professionals when necessary.
CONTINUED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT - Remain responsible for continued learning, self-awareness, ethical development and compliance with laws or professional requirements relevant to the coach's location and practice.
ETHICS ARE PART OF THE PRACTICE.
HTCC graduates are expected to carry these standards into their coaching relationships, professional communication and business practices.
CERTIFICATION STANDARDS
What HTCC Certification Represents
HTCC certification represents the successful completion of a comprehensive holistic, trauma-informed coaching education and the demonstration of required coaching competencies through study, personal development and real-world practice.
TO EARN HTCC CERTIFICATION
Students must successfully complete the requirements established for the HTCC program, including:
- Required HTCC curriculum and coursework
- Study and application of the Amazing YOU Method
- Professional coaching foundations
- Trauma-informed coaching education
- Ethics, boundaries and scope-of-practice education
- Holistic coaching and change-work training
- Personal development requirements
- A minimum of 25 documented coaching practicum hours
- Required coaching review and feedback
- Demonstration of the HTCC Core Competencies
- Required certification and graduation requirements
WHAT THE CERTIFICATION MEANS
Graduates who successfully complete the program earn certification through Your Own University as a Holistic Trauma-Informed Coach.
HTCC prepares graduates to provide educational and coaching services using the principles, competencies and methodologies taught within the program.
Certification reflects completion of Your Own University’s HTCC training requirements. It does not represent government licensure or authorization to practice medicine, psychotherapy, psychology, counseling or another regulated healthcare or mental-health profession.
Graduates are responsible for understanding and following the laws, regulations, business requirements and professional scope applicable to the services they provide and the location in which they practice.
ABOUT OUTSIDE PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS
HTCC includes professional coaching foundations and competencies that may support graduates who later choose to pursue credentials through outside coaching organizations.
Outside organizations establish and may change their own education, experience, mentoring, assessment and application requirements. Students seeking an additional professional credential are responsible for reviewing and satisfying the current requirements of that organization.
Completion of HTCC does not automatically confer a credential, accreditation or membership from an outside organization.
READY FOR YOUR NEXT CHAPTER?
Ready to Become an
HTCC Certified Coach?
If you are ready to deepen your own development, learn to coach the whole person and build the professional skills to support others responsibly, the next step is to apply.
HTCC is an application-based certification program so we can make sure the training, expectations and professional scope are a good fit for you.
Application required. Enrollment is offered after acceptance.
The YOU Mission
To know yourself is the ultimate gift you can offer the world.
At Your Own University, you are encouraged to bring awareness to your experiences, recognize what they have taught you, and use that knowledge to create a life and body of work that feels like your own.
Your experiences matter. What you have survived, studied, learned, practiced, and become holds value. Your next chapter might become a business, a book, a program, a certification, a community, a new career, or a mission only you know you are meant to pursue.
You do not need someone else to tell you what your purpose should be. You need to know yourself well enough to recognize it, understand where you are in building it, and get the right support for the stage you are in.
That is what Y.O.U. is here to help you do.
Dr. Lisha Antiqua
Founder of Your Own University and the Soul Psychology