By Frances White and Steve Couch
The Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision (APECS) has opened membership to non-coaches.
As well as to practising coaches or supervisors, through Community Membership, APECS is offering membership to all interested in the field, such as those who work in academia, a related HR role or with in-house coaching as part of their role.
For 20 years, APECS has nurtured a small community of experienced professional members, all interested in a different way of seeing and engaging with accreditation and professional standards in coaching and supervision. Twenty years ago, Patti Stevens and John OʼBrien diverged gently from the EMCC pathway, honouring their belief that coaching couldn’t effectively be captured in competencies and that ongoing reflection and supervision needed to be at the heart of any professional coaching practice. They also created APECS specifically to be non-commercial, not pursuing a business model of accrediting coaches to a defined standard, which further requires hours of training courses accredited by a specific entity.
APECS remains a small, intimate community of very experienced practitioners, thinkers who highly value their reflective practice, alongside the APECS dialogic and rigorous yet flexible approach to accreditations.
Many also have membership of other bodies, but value coming together in the APECS community for quality conversation, inquiry and developmental practice. They enjoy inquiring, rather than instructive or prescriptive, gatherings and are passionate about the supportive and developmental practices of reflection and supervision, and love being part of a connected community.
APECS has much to offer others who value this approach, and in turn others’ participation will allow APECS to include broader views, expand its developmental landscape, and give greater opportunities for more people to reflect, inquire and contribute to the field of coaching.
Members will be part of a community of professionals who rather than needing for anyone to be ‘right’ or better, focus on expanding collective wisdom through inquiry and deeper reflection. They will have access to cheaper or free events, including on models and approaches that inform the work, and to a pathway, supported by peer volunteers, to accredit to Certified or Accredited Master level in Coaching, Supervision or Team Coaching under the newly launched dialogue-led accreditation process.
- Frances White is APECS director for communication and Steve Couch is APECS director for membership
- For more information on Community Membership applications or to join a bi-monthly Lighthouse session signalling the pathway to membership, visit:
- https://www.apecs.org/