On this page you will find links to submit your certification form and payment, FAQ about certification, as well as helpful information further down the page about re-certification.
If you are re-certifying, please scroll down below for more information.
For Recent Mentorship Graduates
Congratulations on completing the Mentorship Program and developing your skills. We acknowledge the commitment and dedication you have given to yourself in completing the program.
In your final (fifth) personal mentoring session in the Mentorship Program, your Personal Mentor’s responsibility is to let you know whether you are ready/not ready to apply for certification.
Although your Personal Mentor may suggest that you are ready to apply for certification or that a video could be certified, we require a second opinion from a Certification Reviewer to approve your readiness for certification. Your Personal Mentor has invested in you and guided you for 5-months and may have a positive bias toward your work. Sometimes there are discrepancies between the assessment of the Personal Mentor and the Certification Reviewer. Mentorship is not a guarantee of certification; it is a step towards certification.
If you have been recommended to apply for certification, use this link to complete the Mentee Certification Review Form to submit your application. Pay the certification fee here. Email certification@compassionateinquiry.com if you have further questions.
If you have not been recommended to apply for certification at this time, your Personal Mentor will recommend further steps and areas to develop, and will note these in your Mentee Package. If you have questions about this, please email your Personal Mentor directly for details.
- If your Personal Mentor suggested you receive additional (usually 3-7) mentoring sessions, here is a link to the Private Mentor page.
- If your Personal Mentor suggested you repeat the Mentorship Program, here is the link for the upcoming program.
Once you have completed the number of mentoring sessions recommended by your Personal Mentor, please discuss your readiness to pursue certification with your Personal or a Private Mentor, based on the last video reviewed. The decision to apply for a certification review after completing the required number of mentoring sessions is based upon both you and your Personal or Private Mentor agreeing that you have achieved a high level of competency in the CI Qualities, Skills and Stepping Stones. Your Mentor would then complete this google form, which will be passed on to the Certification Coordinator, who will note that you have been approved to apply for a Certification Review.
Your application for certification must be received within 1 year of completion of the Mentorship Program – this would either be February 15 or August 15, depending upon whether you attended the August or February Mentorship Program the previous year. (This does NOT include the additional time you may have taken for the 6-month extension). If we do not receive your application for certification within one year of the end date of the Mentorship Program, you are required to take the Mentorship Program again. There are no extensions or exceptions.
In the event that your submission is not approved for certification, you will have 1 year and three months from the last day of your Mentorship Program to submit up to 2 more videos for a Certification Review. If you have not been approved for certification after one year plus 3 months after the last day of your Mentorship Program, and after submitting a maximum of 3 videos within that time period, you will need to retake the Mentorship Program before reapplying for certification.
For additional support or clarification, please email certification@compassionateinquiry.com your email will be answered within 72-hours, during the Office working days, Monday to Friday (EST Time Zone). We appreciate your patience!
See Deadlines for Certification
The requirements, payment and application for certification as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner must be received within one year of the completion date of the Mentorship Program that the applicant participated in – this would be either Feb 15 or Aug 15 annually.
For the August Mentorship Program:
- Program Ends: February 15th of the following year
- Application for certification must be completed within one year of the last day of the Mentorship Program, i.e. by Feb 15 the next year
- If the mentee accepted and paid for the 6-month extension, then program completion requirements are due August 15; but application for certification would be due by Feb 15 of the following year.
For the February Mentorship Program:
- Program Ends: August 15th of the same year
- Application for certification must be completed within one year, by August 15 the next year
- If the mentee accepted and paid for the 6-month extension, then program requirements are due February 15; but application for certification would be due by August 15 of the same year.
Requirements for Certification
Certification as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner:
To apply for certification as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner, the candidate must:
- Receive a certificate of completion for the Professional Online Training
- Complete at least one 6-month block of the Mentorship Program
- Be advised that they are ready to apply for certification by their designated personal mentor
- You are required to have 50 hours of clinical practice during the Mentorship Program and another 50 hours before applying for a Certification Review, totalling 100 hours.
- You are required to see at least 10 different clients to make up the clinical practice hours during the Mentorship Program; and 10 new clients for the clinical practice hours required before the Certification Review, totalling 20 different clients.
- Apply for certification within a one year period of the completion date of the Mentorship Program, once your Personal or Private Mentor has said that you are ready.
- Complete 10 case study forms for clients seen during the extra 50 hours of clinical practice required for certification
- Submit one video (20 – 50 minutes) to the Certification Team for review. The video must be in Gallery View and the client must be someone who has not participated in the Compassionate Inquiry training
- Submit liability insurance
- Pay a certification fee of $230 CAD
To document your submission requirements, please use the Compassionate Inquiry Certification Clinical Hours Tracking Sheet and the Compassionate Inquiry Certification Case Study Form x10
See Private Mentors
This page lists approved Compassionate Inquiry Private Mentors, whom you may contact for individual or group mentoring for additional mentoring sessions. They can provide guidance and feedback whether you are in the Professional Training, are preparing for a Certification Review, or for the mentoring or supervision sessions required during your first two years of practice as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner. Please discuss the rate for mentoring directly with your chosen mentor.
FAQ Regarding Certification
When can I apply for certification?
You are invited to apply for certification once you have completed the Mentorship Program and submitted all the requirements for mentorship completion, as well as the requirements for certification. In addition you must receive the approval of your Personal Mentor to pursue certification. The time frame for applying for a Certification Review must be within one year of the completion date of the Mentorship Program you attended.
What are the requirements needed to apply for certification?
There are a number of requirements in place for submitting your certification application including:
- A certificate of completion for the Professional Online Training
- The completion of at least one 6-month block of the Mentorship Program
- You have been advised that you are ready to apply for certification by your designated Personal Mentor
- You are required to have 50 hours of clinical practice during the Mentorship Program and another 50 hours before applying for a Certification Review, totalling 100 hours. You are required to see at least 10 different clients to make up the clinical practice hours during the Mentorship Program; and 10 new clients for the clinical practice hours required before the Certification Review, totalling 20 different clients.
- Apply for certification within a one-year period after the end date of the Mentorship Program
- Completion of 10 case study forms for clients seen during the extra 50 hours of clinical practice are required for certification
- Submission of one video (up to 50 minutes) to the Certification Team for review. The video must be in Gallery View and the client must be someone who has not participated in the Compassionate Inquiry training
- Submission of Professional Liability Insurance that covers Compassionate Inquiry, unless it is unavailable in your country.
- Be registered with a professional regulatory body that includes counselling within its scope of practice and that provides you with a membership number and a Code of Ethics to abide by.
- Be legally able to practice Compassionate Inquiry within your professional scope of practice and within your jurisdiction.
- Payment of a certification fee of $230 CAD
What can I do if I am not certified based on the video I submitted?
If the video you submitted was not certified, then you have a three-month window from your one-year initial certification deadline to submit up to two more videos for a Certification Review. For each of these, you would need to pay the $230 review fee. After the three-month window for submitting a second or third video, if you have not been certified, you would need to repeat the Mentorship Program.
My Personal Mentor has approved me for certification, now what?
Once you have completed all of the requirements for the Mentorship Program and have received the approval from your Personal Mentor to proceed with a certification submission, you will receive a letter from our Mentorship Coordinator and a certificate of completion for the Mentorship Program, along with instructions on how to apply for a certification review. This letter will outline the next steps in the process which includes a link to enter your submissions for certification (i.e. insurance, video for review) and a link to pay your certification fee).
What is the review process?
Over the course of the mentorship program, 8 of your videos are reviewed by your personal or group mentors. Your Personal Mentor acts as your first and last reviewer, who will guide and assess your competency in Compassionate Inquiry. In your final personal mentoring session, your Personal Mentor will let you know if you are ready to apply for certification. If they suggest that you are ready, your certification reviewer acts as your second reviewer who assesses your skills and competency as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner. Your certification reviewer is NOT one of your personal or group mentors and is not influenced by their views.
The Certification Review Team determine if someone is ready to certify when the applicant demonstrates proficiency in the Compassionate Inquiry competencies found in the Compassionate Inquiry Competency Form and Compassionate Inquiry Map as well as determining if the applicant is:
- Competent
- Attuned
- Confident
- Present
- Spontaneous, rather than adhering to rigid guidelines or a formula
- Proficient in embodying and applying the Compassionate Inquiry Qualities, Skills and Stepping Stones
There is also criteria used to exclude certification which includes:
- Did the participant have an agenda during the session, so was not attuned to the client in the present moment?
- Did the participant repeatedly miss important cues?
- Did the participant miss picking up on the client’s discomfort?
- Was the participant unable to process their own triggers internally, preventing them from being fully present with the client?
- You would not recommend this participant to someone you know to receive therapy.
If the certification team agrees that the candidate is certifiable and skilled in the Compassionate Inquiry competencies, they will be certified as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner and will be invited to submit a bio and headshot to be added to the Practitioner Directory on the Compassionate Inquiry website.
In the event that the second reviewer is inconclusive of your competency, a third reviewer is invited to review your submission. We have found our review process to be very robust and thus far demonstrates 100% consistency among reviewers.
I have made my final submission for certification, when will I know the result?
Once you have submitted the required forms and final video for review, the Certification Coordinator will assign a reviewer to your submission. The reviewer will take up to 30 days to complete your review. Once the review is complete, you will receive a notice regarding your results.
I made a submission, but my submission was rejected, why is this?
Your submission may have been rejected if one of the certification requirements listed above was missing or incomplete, or if your video was not in gallery view or if your client was someone within Compassionate Inquiry.
I was not granted certification by the review team, What are my options now?
In the event that your submission is not approved for certification, the reviewer will make recommendations to you for areas of improvement and will require you to have a certain number of additional personal mentoring sessions with a mentor of your choice. You will have 1 year and three months from the last day of your Mentorship Program to submit up to 2 more videos for a Certification Review. Request your Personal Mentor or Private Mentor to let you know when you are ready to re-apply.
Extensions for the Certification Process
There are no extensions granted for the certification process. Participants who complete the Mentorship Program have one year to apply for certification after the last day of the program. If you are unable to apply for certification in that time frame, you must re-take the Mentorship Program.
Financial Support for the Certification Process
There is currently no financial aid for the certification process.
When am I ready to certify?
Although your Personal Mentor may suggest that you are ready to apply for certification or that a video could be certified, we require a second opinion from a Certification Reviewer to approve your readiness for certification. Your Personal Mentor has invested in you and guided you for five months and may have a positive bias toward your work. Sometimes there are discrepancies between the assessment of the Personal Mentor and the Certification Reviewer. Mentorship is not a guarantee of certification; it is a step towards certification.
I took the Mentorship Program but did not receive CI certification
The Mentorship Program is a process to preserve the quality and integrity of the CI approach and prepares you to apply for certification as a CI Practitioner. There is no guarantee that you will be ready to apply for certification at the end of the Mentorship Program. It may take additional mentoring sessions or another round of the Mentorship Program for you to be prepared for certification.
What are the recertification requirements?
Recertification is required every 2 years. Please find more details on recertification below.
Recertification as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner:
The following is for those who have completed the Professional Training, completed the Mentorship Program, and have been certified as a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner. It is also for CI Practitioners who have not taken the Mentorship Program, but who were certified in 2020 after taking the Professional Training in 2019.
The Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner must apply for recertification at least 30 days before the two-year expiration of the practitioner’s original certification date as listed on his/her/their certificate. If a Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner does not re-certify, all of the privileges of certification are discontinued.
The requirements for recertification include:
- At least 50 hours of clinical practice per year in the previous two years, totalling 100 hours.
At least 6 documented supervision or Compassionate Inquiry mentoring sessions each year, during the first 2 years of clinical practice. This would be 12 supervision and/or mentoring sessions in the 2 year period before applying for re-certification. At least 50% of the mentoring or supervision sessions must be obtained from an approved Compassionate Inquiry Mentor. All of the Compassionate Inquiry Mentors are trained in supervision. We highly recommend that at least 2-3 of the sessions include a video review by a CI Mentor. The other 50% of sessions may be obtained from an approved Compassionate Inquiry Mentor or from a psychotherapist/psychologist with background training in at least 30 hours of supervision. You may include group mentoring or supervision sessions as part of these recertification requirements, as long as each person has 40 minutes of attention in these sessions. i.e. an 80-minute session for 2 people or a 2-hour session for 3 people.
An alternative to the above is to complete the CI Mentorship Program within the 6-Month period before your re-certification due date. If your personal mentor confirms that your final video is certifiable, then the completion of the Mentorship Program may be a replacement for the paragraph above and the only submission requirements needed would be your 20 CE credits and 50 documented clinical practice hours in addition to the 50 hours obtained in the Mentorship Program.
- Submission of 5 case studies as well as a 20-50 minute review of 1 Compassionate Inquiry session with a client along with the signed permission to video record CI Session. The video must include the beginning and end of the session.
- You must record the Zoom session “gallery view” OR record the session in such a way as to ensure that both you and your client can be seen simultaneously on the screen
- Your client must be someone who is not trained in CI.
- Download permission to video record CI Session fillable document here.
- 20 CE credits every 2 years (see below).
- Submission of Professional Liability Insurance that covers Compassionate Inquiry, unless it is unavailable in your country.
- Be registered with a professional regulatory body that includes counselling within its scope of practice and that provides you with a membership number and a Code of Ethics to abide by.
- Be legally able to practice Compassionate Inquiry within your professional scope of practice and within your jurisdiction.
- Recertification fee of $230.
- If the initial video is inadequate, allowance for 2 more video submission, for an additional cost of $230 for each video review, due within 3 months of completion of the first video review.
- If the applicant is still not certifiable, he/she/they will be recommended to participate in the Compassionate Inquiry 6-month Mentorship Program.
Subsequent Recertification
- After the first two years of CI clinical practice, when re-certifying for the second and subsequent times, at least 3 mentoring or supervision sessions are required per year (6 every two years) and 50% of these must be with an approved CI Mentor, while the remaining 50% can be with an approved CI Mentor or a supervisor who is a psychotherapist, social worker or psychologist of one’s choice who has trained in at least 30 hours of supervision.
- The requirement of at least 50 clinical practice hours per year, or 100 hours over two years is required for re-certification each time, as is submission of a 25-50 minute video and a recertification fee of $230 CAD (subject to change)
Note: for participants in the 2019 Jan, Apr and Aug Cohorts, we invite you to re-certify within 2 years after the last day of your training. However, as per the agreement that was in place when your training began, your initial recertification may be after 3 years. Each subsequent recertification date will be every 2 years from the certification date on your certificate. Application for certification is due at least 30 days before the 2-year period expires.
If you were in the 2019 Jan, Apr and Aug Cohorts, and would like to participate in the Mentorship Program before applying for recertification, the 8 mentoring sessions (5 personal and 3 group mentoring sessions) in the Mentorship Program would count towards the 12 mentoring or supervision sessions required before re-certifying.
For participants already certified, needing to re-certify, who are enrolled in the Mentorship Program, if your Personal Mentor during your 5th mentoring session indicates that you would pass a certification review, you DO NOT need to submit another video for re-certification. Your Mentor will email the Certification Coordinator letting them know this so they can update your file. If your Personal Mentor assesses that the video submitted for your 5th mentoring session is not certifiable, you will need to select a new video and apply for a formal re-certification review and pay the associated fee.
Form Downloads:
Download the Supervision Tracking Sheet here:
CI Supervision Tracking Sheet for CI Practitioners
Download the 5 case studies fillable document here:
Download the Clinical Tracking Sheet here:
Continuing Education Credits:
Proof of completion of at least 20 hours of Compassionate Inquiry Continuing Education within the 2-year period is required for re-certification.
- These can include attendance or viewing the recording of the monthly zoom calls with Gabor and the recordings of the Master Classes, as well as attendance at the annual Compassionate Inquiry Conference, the Compassionate Inquiry guest lectures, or assisting at a Compassionate Inquiry training. In time we may offer specialty workshops taught by other Compassionate Inquiry Practitioners that can be used for CE credits.
- Proof of attendance at trauma-related, or IFS or meditation related workshops, or training related to the material on the Compassionate Inquiry recommended reading list (up to 10 hours of the 20 required)
- You will receive 1 CE credit for every hour of continuing education
- You will submit a CE log every 2 years, listing dates of master classes, guest lectures and monthly zoom sessions with Gabor (or other Advanced Compassionate Inquiry professional) attended, and/or the Compassionate Inquiry conference or related conferences.
You can download a CE Log Template below.