Integrative Nurse Coach® Academy
Free Nurse Coaching tools and resources
Everything here is free and open to any nurse. Take a quiz to see where you stand, be coached by a Nurse Coach in practice, try the assessment our students use with clients, watch, read the research, and pick up what you need to build a practice.
Quizzes
Find your fit
Three short quizzes, two minutes each. You get a plain answer, the reasons behind it, and what to do next.
Is Nurse Coaching right for me?
Eight questions about how you practice now and what you want next. For RNs and NPs; everyone else gets pointed to the programs open to them.
Find My Pathway
Seven questions about your goals and how you’d like to pay. See which of the three Integrative Nurse Coach® Certificate Program Pathways fits, and why.
Am I eligible for board certification?
Six questions about your license, degree, practice hours and education. See where you stand against AHNCC’s requirements for the NC-BC credential, and what’s left.
Free Nurse Coaching sessions
Experience Nurse Coaching from the client side
Students in the Integrative Nurse Coach® Practicum offer free virtual coaching sessions as part of their supervised practice. You set the goal; your Nurse Coach partners with you on it. Sessions are open to anyone, nurse or not, in states where the student’s license allows.
Spots depend on student availability and your state. If there’s a match, your Nurse Coach contacts you directly.
Videos
Watch
Start with the short ones. The Open House is the full picture, with chapters so you can jump to Pathways, board certification or the live Q&A.
About the Integrative Nurse Coach® Certificate Program (6 min)
Integrative Nurse Coach® Reflections (3 min)
Program Open House, with chapters (60 min)
Building a Business as a New Nurse Coach (podcast)
Nursing’s Future: Integrating Coaching, Lifestyle and Functional Care (70 min)
Nurse Coach Board Certification (56 min)
Articles
Read
Six articles that answer the questions nurses ask first.
Nurse Coach vs. Health Coach vs. Life Coach: What's the Difference?
The specialty, the license, and why it matters.
Nurse Coach Certification: The Complete Guide to Earning Your NC-BC
Requirements, fees and the path, step by step.
NC-BC vs. NBC-HWC: Nurse Coach and Health Coach Certification Compared
Two credentials, compared on what each asks for and recognizes.
How to Build a Nurse Coaching Business: The Complete Roadmap for RNs
From scope to first client.
How to Integrate Nurse Coaching Into Your Organization
For nurses who want to lead well-being work where they already are.
Practice
Awareness practices
Nurse Coaching begins with the nurse. These are the same practices students learn in Foundations and later use with clients. Try one between shifts.
Introduction to Stillness Practice (4 min)
Mindfulness Based Stillness Meditation for Nurses (7 min)
Let Go, Nurse Coach (7 min)
Connecting With a Safe Place (6 min)
Awareness Practice for Anger and Anxiety (18 min)
Assessment
Take the Integrative Health and Wellness Assessment™
The IHWA is the self-assessment Integrative Nurse Coaches use with clients. It covers eight dimensions of wholeness and takes about fifteen minutes. Take it for yourself, or request permission to use it in your own practice or research.
Instrument development: McElligott, Eckardt, Dossey, Luck and Eckardt (2018), Journal of Holistic Nursing. Read about the IHWA →
Research
Research and standards
Nurse Coaching is a recognized nursing specialty with published standards, a theory that has been formally analyzed, and a growing body of outcome research. Start here.
Standards and theory
- American Nurses Association. The Art and Science of Nurse Coaching: The Provider’s Guide to Coaching Scope and Competencies, 2nd ed. (2021).
- AHNCC. Professional Nurse Coach Role: Core Essentials and Competencies (2023).
- Dossey, Luck and Schaub. Nurse Coaching: Integrative Approaches for Health and Wellbeing (2015).
- Moore, Avino and McElligott. Analysis of the Theory of Integrative Nurse Coaching. Journal of Holistic Nursing 40(2), 2022.
- McElligott, Eckardt, Dossey, Luck and Eckardt. Instrument development of integrative health and wellness assessment. Journal of Holistic Nursing 36(4), 2018.
Outcome research
- Bilgehan et al. The effect of a holistic nurse coaching intervention on glycemic control, diabetes self-management, and empowerment: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Nursing 24, 2025.
- Gipson, Deal, Duke, Srivali Teal and Little. Evaluating Nurse Coaching Feasibility and Well-Being Outcomes Among Nursing Students Using Mixed Methods. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 2026.
- Bennett, Southard and Monsen. Evaluation of Evidence-Based Interventions for the Nurse Coach Scope of Practice Within the Omaha System Guidelines Corpus. Journal of Holistic Nursing 40(3), 2022.
INCA’s own evaluation research is in progress; findings will be posted here when published.
Building a practice
Building a Nurse Coaching practice
Nurses can build a Nurse Coaching practice within their state’s Nurse Practice Act. These are the free pieces.
Before Your First Client
A checklist of the eight things that have to exist before a practice opens its doors, in the order they tend to get built. Three pages.
Employer reimbursement packet
Over 25% of INCA students receive employer support. The packet gives your manager everything they need to say yes.
Launching Your Nurse Coaching Business & Private Practice
The course that builds every item on the checklist. Included in the Implementation and Expansion Pathways.
Guides
Guides and catalog
Integrative Nurse Coach® Certificate Program guide
The three Pathways, schedule, tuition and board certification.
More course guides are on the way.
Not sure where to start?
A 20-minute call with Admissions matches your license, schedule and goals to the right program, with no pressure either way.