Coach Accreditation: 3 Powerful Reasons I Chose IAPC&M to Thrive

Thriving as Humans: Why I Chose IAPC&M Coach Accreditation

People often ask how I found my way to coaching and why I care so much about professional accreditation. The truth is, my path has never been linear, but it has always been about growth, resilience, and purpose.

From Early Lessons to a Global Career

I grew up under a totalitarian regime, where choices were limited, and freedom was fragile. Those early experiences shaped my resilience, curiosity, and drive for excellence, qualities that became essential during my 20-plus years in international banking and business.

I loved the challenges of global finance, but over time I felt a deeper call: to work not just with numbers and strategy, but with the humans leading those strategies. I wanted to work with companies not for companies, and with people not for people. In 2005, I graduated with a certificate of distinction from Noble Manhattan Coach Training and started coaching while working as a banker. 

My passion to help people flourished. In 2009, I left my career as a banking executive to pursue my deeper calling as a coach. It was time to build my coaching and training business, one of the most rewarding decisions of my life. 

My experience helped me understand the pressures in my clients’ lives.  I feel awe and joy when a coaching partnership helps a client reclaim their power. Maybe they tap into their potential and reconnect with their strengths, or they change unproductive behaviours and envision new directions to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. 

Coaching is one of the best learning tools, helping people live authentically and flourish. Coaching helps clients expand humanity, optimising businesses and organisations.

Why Accreditation Matters to Me

From the start, I wanted my coaching practice to meet the highest professional and ethical standards. I came from the corporate world and knew the standards for learning and development were high.  That’s why I joined the International Authority for Professional Coaching & Mentoring (IAPC&M).

For me, coach accreditation isn’t another piece of paper; it’s a living commitment to quality and continuous development. By adding coach accreditation to my professional evidence portfolio, it tells my clients –  senior executives, mid-level leaders, entrepreneurs, with a preference for navigating big life stages – that they are working with a professional who is skilled and accountable. 

Over and above a coach accreditation certificate, IAPC&M offers something that feels closer to the way I work:

• Whole-professional support: IAPC&M accredits coaches, mentors, and training providers. They focus not only on skills & capability, as evidenced by practical hours logged, but also on the coach’s business and wellbeing.
• Personal, service-driven community: IAPC&M is intentionally smaller than other esteemed organisations, for example, ICF. I find it very much more service-oriented, giving members practical, direct, ongoing and immediate complimentary 1-2-1 support. For me, this was important.
• Values and connection: IAPC&M feels like an ecosystem where we exchange ideas and grow together like in a family, with much care.

Giving Back Through Volunteering with the IAPC&M team

Accreditation was only the first step. I also wanted to give back. Volunteering with IAPC&M lets me share decades of business and coaching experience, mentor fellow professionals, and help maintain high standards in a field I care deeply about.

My Coaching Philosophy

My work stands at the intersection of executive coaching, leadership, and wellbeing. I help leaders of leaders create clarity, confidence, and resilience so they can transform their organisations without losing sight of themselves.

I draw on cognitive, emotional, and somatic intelligence, blending rational thinking, emotional awareness, and mindfulness. Clients say they feel truly heard and leave our sessions with fresh energy and practical next steps.

As a wife and mother of three, I know firsthand what it takes to integrate a demanding career with personal life and health. Daily meditation and lifelong learning keep me grounded and inspired, and these practices naturally flow into the way I coach.

I see joining IAPC&M as more than a professional milestone; I see it as a continuation of my life story. It affirms my belief that coaching, when done with integrity and heart, can transform not just leaders but whole organisations and communities.

This is the journey I bring to my conversations: from early lessons in resilience to boardroom strategy to the quiet power of deep listening and connection, where magic happens.

That’s why I proudly stand with IAPC&M, and why I love helping people and organisations thrive fully and sustainably. 

This blog is contributed by Catalina D. Flore, Accredited Fellow Coach (AFC), Netherlands.