The Change Zone Code of Practice

We are committed to maintaining good practice. Set out below are the essential elements of sound ethical practice as recommended by the national Association for Coaching of which we are members.  For the purposes of this code, the person receiving coaching is referred to as the client.

We commit to operate in accordance with the Association of Coahing's Code of Ethics and Good Practice for ethical, competent and effective practice.

• We are required to recognise both personal and professional limitations:

Personal — with respect to maintaining our own good health and fitness to practice. Should this not be the case, we are required to withdraw from practice until such time as we are in good health and fit to resume. Clients will be offered appropriate, alternative support during any such period.

Professional — with respect to whether our experience is appropriate to meet the client’s requirements. When this is not the case, clients are referred to other appropriate services, e.g. more experienced coaches, counsellors, psychotherapists or other specialist services. In particular, we are required to be sensitive to the possibility that some clients will require more psychological support than is normally available within the coaching remit. In these cases, referral will be made to an appropriate source of care, e.g. the client’s GP, a counsellor or psychotherapist, psychological support services and/or agencies.

• We are responsible for ensuring that clients are fully informed of the coaching agreement prior to or at the initial session. It will cover confidentiality, session costs, and frequency of sessions. All our claims must be honest, accurate and consistent with maintaining a professional coaching service to a high standard.

• We are required to be frank and willing to respond to a client’s requests for information about the methods, techniques and ways in which the coaching process will be conducted.This should be done both prior to contract agreement and during the full term of the contract. Our website http://www.thechangezone.co contains a wealth of support information
  

• We must be sensitive to issues of culture, religion, gender and race.

• We must respect your right to terminate the coaching agreement at any point during the coaching process, having given due notice in writing..

• We are required to maintain appropriate records of our work with clients, ensuring that any such records are accurate and that reasonable security precautions are taken to protect against third party disclosure. Attention must be given to the your rights under any current legislation, e.g. data protection act.

• We are required to monitor the quality of our work and to seek feedback wherever possible and from other professionals as appropriate.

• We are expected to have regular consultative support for their work.

• We aim to undertake a minimum of 30 hours of continuing professional development in the theory and practice of coaching on an annual basis. We share the outcomes of that learning with clients and memebers on our website.
  

• We are required to keep ourselves informed of any statutory or legal requirements that may affect our work.

• We are required to have current professional liability insurance.

• We are required to consider the impact of any dual relationships that we may hold with regards to our clients and/or any sponsoring organisations.

• We must act in a manner that does not bring the profession of coaching into disrepute.

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