Ten Years of the Certificate in Professional Coaching

A reflection on what’s changed, what’s stayed, and why we still love this work

On 14–16 January 2016, we ran our very first Certificate in Coaching, North Point's coach training programme.

It’s strange to write that now. Ten years on, almost to the day.

At the time, we had no real sense of what the next

decade would hold. We had a programme we believed in, a clear philosophy, and a deep conviction that coaching could be taught in a way that was both robust and human. 

Beyond that, it was largely about faith, hard work, and a willingness to learn as we went along.

I remember that first weekend as if it were yesterday, and Matt and I turning towards each other at the end of the third day, with a mixture of relief and excitement, exclaiming, "Yes! It really works!"

Since then, the programme has grown, stretched, been refined, challenged, adapted, and reshaped more times than I can count. 

There have been seasons where we gained real momentum and then other moments where it felt more fragile and even a few when I wondered whether I should just give up. 

And yet, here we are, still delivering coach training that we’re deeply proud of.

That alone feels worth marking.

Looking back to where we began

In late 2016, after gaining our first ICF accreditation, we wrote a series of blogs to mark the moment. Reading back over them now is a reminder of where we were in our thinking and how much has stayed true at the core.

Even then, we were clear about what we stood for: 

Coaching, and coach training, was more to us than about learning a bunch of techniques. 

Lasting change happens from the inside-out.

And growth often requires going through discomfort rather than around it.

Those ideas still underpin everything we do.

What has changed is our experience of teaching them, living them, and watching hundreds of coaches apply them in the real world.

What’s changed over ten years

A lot, as it turns out.

We’ve trained many more coaches than we could have imagined in those early days. 

Coaches working across sectors, cultures and in different contexts. 

Coaches who’ve gone on to gain their ACC and PCC credentials. 

Coaches who’ve built businesses, or integrated coaching into their leadership roles, or simply become more thoughtful, grounded humans in the way they show up at work and at home.

The coach training programme itself has evolved too.

We moved fully online during Covid, which forced us to rethink delivery in ways that strengthened the learning experience. That also lead us to expand and we now train globally, with coaches joining us from different countries and time zones. I’m based in the UK, Matt remains in Dubai, and North Point has become genuinely international in both reach and perspective.

We transitioned the programme to ICF Level 1 when the new accreditation framework was introduced. That wasn’t only an administrative change; it was an opportunity to sharpen our thinking once more and ensure that what we teach meets the highest professional standards without losing its soul.

Alongside the training, we created our Basecamp membership. A space beyond the certificate for coaches to keep practising, reflecting, being challenged, and not doing this work alone. Because one of the things we’ve learned over ten years is that a coaching qualification is a milestone, not a finish line.

And now, as we look ahead, we’re beginning to explore what a Level 2 pathway could look like. Not as a rush to add more, but as a thoughtful next step that builds on what’s already there.

What hasn’t changed

Despite all of that, some things remain exactly the same.

We still care deeply about how coaching is taught.

We still believe in working with the internal and external world together.

We still love running this our coach training programme.

There is something powerful about watching someone grow in confidence, capability, and credibility over the months they’re with us. 

Seeing them move from tentative practice conversations to grounded, spacious coaching and hearing the moment when something really lands for them. It's very joyful to see people realise that this work has changed how they see themselves and others.

Ten years in, that hasn’t got old.

A celebration

So this isn’t a ‘look how far we’ve come’ post in the flashy sense. Or maybe it is!

But what it feels more like is giving ourselves a moment to acknowledge the journey and the people who’ve been part of it.

If you were in one of those early cohorts, we thank you for trusting us when we were still finding our feet and if you joined more recently, thank you for being part of what North Point has become.

We’re still here, and we are still deeply grateful to do this work.

If you’d like to explore the current ICF Level 1 Certificate in Professional Coaching (CPC), you can find more details here:

https://uae.northpoint.ac/coach-training

And as always, we’ll keep walking this path, changing lives one coaching conversation at a time.