The Academy of Creative Coaching

The Academy of Creative Coaching is a US-based ICF-accredited coach training school founded in 2013 by Dr. Pamela A. Larde in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area. It offers Level 1 (60-hour) and Level 2 (125-hour) certification programs delivered online, in person, and in hybrid formats.

Yes. The Academy holds ICF accreditation under the current Level 1 and Level 2 provider framework. Earlier Academy materials reference the older 'ACTP' designation, which ICF retired in 2022 when it restructured its accreditation tiers. The substance of the accreditation is the same.

Completing the Level 1 (60-hour) program makes you eligible to apply for the ICF ACC credential once you have logged 100 hours of professional coaching experience. Completing the Level 2 (125-hour) program makes you eligible for the PCC credential after 500 hours of experience. The Academy's program fulfills the training-hour and mentor coaching requirements; client hours must be accumulated independently.

The Academy offers three formats: a Coaching Foundations Course (Level 1, 60 hours, cohort-based, $4,495), an Advanced Professional Coaching Certification (Level 2, 125 hours, nine-month cohort, $11,995), and Self-Paced Courses (Level 1 at $4,495 or a Level 1+2 bundle at $7,995). A JEDI-focused version of the Level 1 course is also available. No prerequisites are required for any program.

Students choose up to two specializations woven into their program through textbooks, coursework, independent study, and mentor coaching. Options include life coaching, executive coaching, health and wellness, creative arts coaching, relationship coaching, educational success coaching, spiritual coaching, and executive school leadership coaching, among others.

Invigorative Leadership™ is the Academy's proprietary coaching framework for practitioners working in organizational and leadership contexts. It emphasizes leading with authenticity, energy, and purpose as the foundations of sustainable change, both in institutions and in individual leaders.

The Academy's Creative Approach treats creativity as a coaching resource available to any client rather than a fixed personality trait. Curriculum modules draw on brain science, storytelling, and positive psychology to give coaches practical tools for helping clients access creative problem-solving during sessions.

The Academy is headquartered in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area (currently Lawrenceville, GA). Programs are delivered online, in person (summer intensives in the Atlanta area), or in hybrid formats. Spanish-language instruction is available for some program sessions.

No. The Academy of Creative Coaching uses the initialism 'ACC' as a shorthand for its own name, which happens to coincide with the ICF's Associate Certified Coach credential abbreviation. They are entirely different things: the Academy is a training school; the ICF ACC is an individual coaching credential issued by the International Coach Federation.

The Academy is a small, boutique institution with around 15 staff and instructors. Its distinguishing features are its four-pillar framework (Human Wholeness, Cultural Competence, Creative Solutions, Invigorative Leadership™), its JEDI-specific program track, and its founding mission as one of the first Black female-owned ICF-accredited coaching schools. It does not operate at the scale of larger schools like CTI or iPEC.

A coach who completed the Academy of Creative Coaching's Level 1 or Level 2 program has trained within an ICF-accredited curriculum that deliberately integrates cultural competence, creativity, and human wholeness alongside standard coaching competencies. At Level 1, they completed 60 training hours and qualify for the ICF ACC credential (requiring 100 additional client hours); at Level 2, 125 hours and PCC eligibility (requiring 500 client hours). The four-pillar framework of Human Wholeness, Cultural Competence, Creative Solutions, and Invigorative Leadership™ means their training is more explicitly oriented toward identity, systemic context, and creative approaches than many standard ICF programs. Their chosen specialization track is worth asking about directly, since the curriculum allows focus in areas ranging from life coaching and executive coaching to health, wellness, creative arts, and relationship coaching.

Ask which program level they completed (Level 1 or Level 2) and which specialization track; the answer tells you whether their training depth and focus area matches your needs. Ask what ICF credential level they currently hold and how many client hours they've logged, since the training program fulfills hours toward credentialing but ongoing practice is what builds real competency. Ask how the four pillars, particularly Cultural Competence and Human Wholeness, show up concretely in how they coach; a specific, experience-grounded answer distinguishes practitioners who integrated the curriculum from those who completed it. Ask what they don't work with; knowing a coach's limits is as important as knowing their strengths. If your goals involve leadership, teams, or organizational contexts, ask how they apply the Invigorative Leadership™ framework in practice. Coaching is not therapy; if your situation involves clinical mental health concerns, the right first call is a licensed clinician, not a coach.