FAQ Deep Coaching Institute

What can I expect to learn about the Enneagram and about being a coach during the Deep Coaching Certificate program?

This program is designed for those with some professional experience in a growth-oriented field, such as coaching, spiritual direction, psychotherapy, organizational development and related fields.

The Enneagram encompasses a vast field of knowledge and practice. Building upon your basic prerequisite knowledge (or more advanced knowledge) of the Enneagram, you will develop a solid foundation in how to integrate the Enneagram and coaching with a perspective unavailable in any other program or curriculum. You will be astounded at the depth of learning that occurs in just one year.

The program is designed and sequenced to help you learn and integrate new understandings and insights, step-by-step. After two live retreats and two virtual courses, our five-month faculty-supervised fieldwork program further supports the development of your practical understanding and skills.

Those drawn to using the Enneagram in their personal and professional lives find that part of the intrigue, excitement and love of this system is its invitation to lifelong learning. There will always be more to learn, should you be interested.


Does this qualify as the training I need to be considered a coach through ICF? What about IEA?

Regarding ICF (International Coaching Federation), yes, the Deep Coaching Certification program (DCC) is an ICF Approved Coaching Specific Training Hours (ACSTH) program. DCC Graduates may apply their hours toward the ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) Credential or the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) Credential. The courses in the DCC are approved for a total of 100 coach training hours. These hours have also been approved by ICF for Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) for coaches who are already ICF certified.

Regarding IEA (International Enneagram Association), DCI is recognized as an Accredited Enneagram School. Students completing the DCC can apply to be an IEA Accredited Professional (AP), and can apply to have their programs recognized as IEA Accredited Training Programs (ATP).


How is this training different from other coaching training?

This is one of the few coach training programs to support growth-oriented professionals in integrating the art, science and consciousness of the Enneagram into their lives and professional practices. In addition, it is the only program designed to have classes meet on nearly a weekly basis over 9 months.

The primary reason to study and use the Enneagram both personally and professionally is to increase your own and your client’s presence. This provides the basis for living authentically, deeply aligned with the truth of one’s awakened nature, and becoming increasingly free of the unconscious dictates of the ego.

A characteristic that Deep Coaching shares with other prominent coach training programs is the commitment to recognizing and holding their clients’ wholeness. The Enneagram powerfully supports this commitment in several ways, including: 1) this body of wisdom offers a remarkable lens into our clients’ elevated, expansive and surprisingly precise gifts , which reflect the soul’s deep yearning and the highest nature of that individual’s Enneagram configuration; 2) we focus on simultaneously Being With our client’s wholeness, while having the capacity to penetrate underneath the personality-driven story lines as they show up in the coaching relationship. This enables Deep Coaching professionals to recognize and allow the pain that surfaces and for clients to experience being profoundly seen and held.

Deeply ‘being with’ our clients’ wholeness and being able to bring into focus the unconscious elements of their unique personality structure, then, are not only compatible, but move the relationship from a dualistic relationship (either wholeness or specific personality structure) to a relationship based on truth, compassion, and love for the whole. Throughout, you become immersed in the paradoxes and richness of this integrative perspective, and develop skills in presence strategies, including the five-step Coaching Presence model.

Bringing together an ancient map of consciousness, a coach that understands the unique infrastructure of their own and their client’s personality, an increased capacity for presence, and a compassionate, courageous approach to change, characterize the vitality and robust nature of Deep Coaching.


The structure of the Deep Coaching Certification Program offers unique characteristics, as well, including:

  • Learning directly from the author of Deep Coaching, as well as from a team of outstanding coaching educators with special areas of expertise, including personal and leadership/business coaching.
  • Five months of faculty-supervised fieldwork
  • Participating in small group “pods” for greater personal development
  • Program is oriented to both life coaching and leadership/business coaching

Does knowing the Enneagram put our clients into boxes?

At first glance, using the Enneagram might seem prescriptive or limited in that it identifies variations on nine types. If one stops with this—that is, stays focused on the differences between the type’s characteristics and even motivations, but goes no further, then the Enneagram is used in a limiting and often harmful way. This is not the approach used in Deep Coaching. Rather, we approach this sacred body of knowledge of type as a gateway to transformation.

It’s the distinction of presence, recognizing its basis for real and sustainable change, and bringing that to the coaching table (and experiencing what that really means, and not just a pop phrase that sounds good to say) that vaporizes any concerns about putting people in boxes.

Starting with the truth of what’s there, and then moving with and from that, coaching conversations are rich and meaningful. Without this, a coach runs the risk of ‘coaching in circles’ or coaching the same issue in a variety of different forms over the course of the coaching relationship, when they could instead name and distinguish the dynamic of the underlying motivation and allow that to be a conscious conversation that transforms the client over time.


Please describe the advantages of offering both virtual and live courses for the DCC?

The DCC combines two live courses/retreats with three virtual courses for an extraordinary learning experience. The virtual courses are managed through state of the art conferencing technology that enhances interactions between students, faculty and mentors. The faculty has experience in teaching virtual courses and is skilled both in engaging student attention and facilitating discussion. Students connect from all over the world using computers, tablets, and phones, some through Skype connections. In addition, the virtual courses allow students to reduce their costs and minimize time away from home and work.

Students have found that there is enormous value in having time (generally a week) between sessions to study, practice skills, apply their new knowledge and skills with clients, and let the material ‘percolate’ and integrate. Further, nearly weekly contact over time with the Deep Coaching faculty and mentors supports the development of presence.

The two one-week live retreats allow students to connect personally and further develop important friendships that continue through the virtual courses, and far beyond the length of the program.


How many hours per week should I expect to devote to the program?

This is an advanced level coaching program. Every student is encouraged to put the attention needed inside and outside the live sessions to receive the greatest benefit. Since everyone learns at their own pace, the times offered below for the virtual courses and fieldwork are approximate.

Virtual courses: Each virtual course session lasts two hours. To help prepare for a session you may have a reading assignment that lasts 30 to 60 minutes. Between sessions you may have a solo or partnering assignment that could last 30 to 60 minutes.

Fieldwork: When the fieldwork portion of the program begins you will have approximately 5-6 hours/month to complete the requirements. Preparing your case studies at the end of the program requires additional time which could be several hours.


Can I just take some of the modules given I already have a solid background in the Enneagram?

To become certified as a Deep Coaching Professional, we require that you take all the modules in this program to understand our theoretical framework and Deep Coaching methodology.

We have found that even those with solid backgrounds in the Enneagram experience great benefit from approaching the material through a different lens.


What type of background do I need to take full advantage of the program?

Prior to starting the Deep Coaching Certification Program, an applicant should have accumulated the following experience. Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis:

  • A minimum of 12 hours of instruction focused on the Enneagram.
  • A sense of your personal Enneagram Type.
  • Experience as a coach, organization development professional, healthcare provider, spiritual director, or other role in a healing or growth-oriented profession.
  • You have engaged in inner work, which could include: a spiritual practice, participating in personal development workshops or retreats, studying healing arts, or other experiences which have helped you know yourself better;
  • Read either of these books by Roxanne Howe-Murphy: Deep Living or Deep Coaching

Can I be certain that I will be certified in Deep Coaching once I have enrolled in the program?

To be eligible to receive the designation as a Certified Deep Coaching Professional, you will need to fulfill all of the course requirements at a satisfactory level, as well as demonstrate a satisfactory level of mastery of the ICF and Deep Coaching competencies that will be shared with you during the program.

You will receive feedback on your progress at different points in the curriculum, and given guidance should there be concerns about your progress.

Should you not demonstrate the necessary requirements by the end of the program, you may be asked to retake certain courses at a reduced cost.


Can I spread the training out over two or three years? Do the courses need to be taken sequentially?

The courses are assembled into four Parts and all students are required to take each part in sequence. We allow students to take more than the nine consecutive months to complete all four parts, however this must be accomplished over a three-year period for certification. We highly recommend that you take the program in one year with your original cohort.


How will this program impact the growth of my business?

During the training program, many students report that their existing businesses grow because of their own growth personally and professionally. Some begin offering additional services, and many report that the kind of client that they attract is more interested in deeper work.

In addition, DCI offers free periodic conference calls that are open to all graduates. While the topics vary from call to call, there are calls that include discussions on ways DCC graduates are building their businesses.

Deep Coaching Institute wants to be in touch with you. Please join our mailing list.

Join Our Mailing List