Awakening the True Self Through ICF Mentor Coaching: Developing the Skills to Evoke Awareness and Courage
- Emily Cardamon
- Oct 13
- 3 min read
First, Eliza and I would love to meet you and build a relationship for when the time comes to complete your 10 hours of required mentor coaching. Book some time with us here. We hope this post helps in expanding your frame around what coaching really is and how the mentor coaching requirement can support.
In coaching, the ultimate goal isn’t to fix, advise, or motivate — it’s to awaken the true self. Every skilled coach knows this truth: and at ICF Coach Mentors, Emily and Eliza lead with the knowing that real transformation doesn’t start with action. It starts with awareness — the kind that changes how a person sees themselves and what they’re capable of.
Because yes, every coach wants to help people.But help them do what?
Take steps toward goals?
Become more authentic?
Transform limiting beliefs that hold back potential?
Ignite a fire that moves them from stagnancy to inspired action?
What these all have in common is this: a truth is emerging from within the client.That truth isn’t about what they do first — it’s about who they realize they already are.
When a client’s awareness deepens, courage follows naturally. And this is where an ICF Mentor Coaching journey truly begins.
The Role of ICF Mentor Coaching in Awakening the True Self
Becoming an ICF credentialed coach — especially pursuing your ACC Credential — is not just about mastering techniques.It’s about developing the presence, trust, and deep listening that allow clients to awaken to themselves.
At ICF Coach Mentors, we help you cultivate these skills by grounding you in the ICF Core Competencies — the foundation of transformative coaching.
1. Embodying a Coaching Mindset
A strong coaching mindset begins with humility and presence. In ICF Mentor Coaching, you practice trusting the client’s inner wisdom instead of trying to guide or fix.This shift creates a spacious, reflective field where the client’s truth can rise to the surface.
2. Establishing and Maintaining Agreements
Clarity builds safety.When a coach learns to co-create clear agreements, clients feel their intentions matter.This is where courage begins — in the space where people feel grounded enough to explore what’s real for them.
3. Cultivating Trust and Safety
Trust is the heartbeat of awakening.As you develop this skill through your ICF Mentor Coaching experience with Emily and Eliza, you learn how to hold a space where clients feel safe to speak their truth, face discomfort, and move toward possibility.
4. Maintaining Presence
Presence is not passive; it’s powerfully alive.It’s the quality that allows a highly skilled coach to stay with what’s unfolding — even in silence.Clients feel that depth of attention and begin to meet themselves there, too.
5. Listening Actively
Active listening is not about gathering data — it’s about hearing being.As you refine this competency on your way to your ACC or PCC Credential, you’ll discover how powerful it is to reflect what’s truly being said, not just the words themselves.Clients begin to hear their own wisdom — often for the first time.
6. Evoking Awareness
This is the moment of awakening.Through curious, open-ended questions and intuitive reflection, a coach helps clients see what’s been unseen.In the required 10 hours of Mentor Coaching, you’ll practice the art of letting insight arise organically, not forcing it. When awareness shifts, identity shifts — and from there, authentic action naturally follows.
7. Facilitating Client Growth
Growth isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about integration.A credentialed coach learns how to support clients to embody new insights, take aligned steps, and sustain meaningful change.This is the coach development work - to embody the very skills you wish to evoke in others.
What Happens When Awareness Awakens
A client no longer shrinks in certain rooms because they recognize their unique magnificence.
A client takes bold steps forward because they trust the inherent support of following their heart.
A client shows up fully — for their team, family, or the world — because they know that authentic expression is freedom.
This is the essence of coaching — not to make people something they’re not, but to awaken who they’ve always been.
ICF Mentor Coaching for Your ACC Credential
At ICF Coach Mentors, we guide coaches in developing the core ICF skills that evoke awareness, courage, and transformation.Our 10-hour ICF Mentor Coaching program is designed to help you confidently pursue your ACC Credential, deepen your coaching presence, and awaken your clients’ truest potential.
Because the world doesn’t need more people striving to be better —it needs more coaches who can help others remember who they already are.
We would love to meet you and build a relationship for when the time comes to complete your 10 hours of required mentor coaching. Book some time here!
