NBHWC's 50 sessions: when they can start, how long they must be, and what counts

To count toward the NBHWC coaching log, a session must involve an eligible client, happen after you pass your training programme's final Practical Skills Assessment, run at least 20 minutes, devote at least 75% of its time to coaching facilitation rather than education, and take place in person, by phone or over live interactive technology. Paid and pro bono sessions both count. A group session counts as one session no matter how many people attend. Text-based coaching does not count. Friends, family and current classmates are excluded. The live page says "current classmates" while the January 2026 packet says "classmates"; former classmates need clarification. Neither source expressly settles reciprocal exchanges.

Those rules come from NBHWC's coaching-log requirements page and its January 2026 Board Exam Application Packet. Check the current requirements before planning sessions for your application.

Count sessions separately from hours and clients

The requirement is a count of sessions. A 20-minute session and a 60-minute session each contribute one row, so nothing is gained by converting your practice into hours and dividing.

Nor is it a count of people. NBHWC's own log form has a column for "session # with coaching client", and its published example shows a client at session 6 and another at session 3. Repeat sessions with the same client are clearly anticipated. The coaching-log page and January 2026 packet do not state a minimum number of distinct clients. Their examples support repeat sessions; they do not establish a rule for every possible distribution of 50 sessions.

The start date is the PSA, and your programme owns it

The coaching-log page says sessions "must be dated after you pass the final Practical Skills Assessment (PSA) within an NBHWC Approved Training Program" and that the "[e]xact start date must be verified by the NBHWC Approved Training Program." The packet repeats it: "Only coaching sessions that occur after passing the PSA may be included in the coaching log," and tells applicants with questions about their PSA date to contact their programme directly.

Enrolling is not the start. Neither is finishing a module, nor an earlier skills check that was not the final PSA. Coaching you did before that date cannot be moved into the log by relabelling it.

Your programme, not your own diary, is the authority on the date. Get it in writing while you are still in contact with the programme, because you will need it long after your cohort ends.

Passing the PSA and finishing the coursework are separate requirements. If your programme places the PSA before coursework completion, you may be logging valid sessions while still unable to apply, because NBHWC also requires that you "complete the coursework before you can apply for the NBHWC Board Exam."

Twenty minutes means the session you actually delivered

The minimum is a floor on the session, not on the slot you booked. A 30-minute appointment that ended after 18 minutes is an 18-minute session. A no-show is not a session. Time spent writing notes, sending a summary or arranging the next appointment is your work, not coaching delivered to the client, and does not lift a short session over the line.

Record the actual session length, including any education within the permitted proportion; do not record only the facilitation minutes. Exclude separate administration and time spent receiving coaching. The log's attestation asks you to certify the sessions "as noted".

At least 75% coaching facilitation in each session

NBHWC's rule is that "75% of each coaching session must be devoted to coaching facilitation and not education." It applies to each session separately, not to the average across your 50.

The coaching-log page and application packet do not specify a method for measuring the split. A session spent mostly explaining, instructing or delivering content will not qualify, however useful it was to the client. If a session went that way, note it honestly and run another one.

Four worked classifications

These are illustrative applications of the published rules, not rulings from NBHWC. Each assumes every other requirement is already met, in particular that the client is eligible and the date falls after the verified PSA pass.

A 19-minute session. Does not count. The minimum is 20 minutes, and there is no rounding rule in the published requirements.

A session held two weeks before the programme-verified PSA pass date. Does not count, even though the coaching itself may have been good. Only sessions dated after the PSA pass are eligible.

A 40-minute session with 30 minutes of coaching facilitation and 10 minutes of education. If those classifications and timings are accurate, 30 of 40 minutes is 75%, meeting the numerical threshold. This calculation does not establish how NBHWC would classify a particular activity. Fifteen minutes of education within a 40-minute session would leave 25 minutes for facilitation: 62.5%, below the threshold.

A 60-minute group session with six participants. One session, one row. NBHWC states that "[g]roup coaching sessions count as one session." The log asks you to record it as a group and to list the number of participants.

Formats, payment and the things the sources do not settle

Coaching "may be facilitated in person, by phone, or using live interactive technology," with Zoom and Facetime given as examples. Text-based sessions "are not eligible to submit toward the coaching log", so a text-only WhatsApp exchange or an email thread does not count however substantial it was.

Paid and pro bono sessions can both qualify, provided every other requirement is met: "[c]oaching sessions can be paid or pro bono."

The coaching-log page and January 2026 packet do not state a maximum age for a session, a same-day session limit, or a minimum number of distinct clients. They also do not give a universal interval after the PSA in which to finish all 50. Your chosen application window still creates a submission deadline, subject to an eligible log extension. If your plan depends on an unusual arrangement these documents do not address, ask NBHWC about it and keep the reply.

If time is the pressure, the coaching log extension applies only to the log and requires you to meet all other exam requirements by the application deadline. It has a non-refundable US$65 fee, payable after exam registration, and you cannot schedule the exam until the completed log is submitted. Check your window's deadline: as of 11 September 2026, the extension page's spring 2027 application dates conflict with the board-certification page, so obtain NBHWC confirmation before relying on them. An extension does not change which sessions qualify.

A short check before you log a session

Run this while the session is fresh:

• Was the date after the PSA pass date your programme confirmed in writing?
• Did the session run at least 20 minutes as delivered?
• Was at least 75% of it facilitation rather than education?
• Was it in person, by phone or over live interactive technology, rather than text?
• Was the client outside the excluded relationships, and screened before you started?
• If it was a group, have you recorded it as one session with the participant count?

Anything you cannot answer confidently is a question for your programme or for NBHWC, not a judgement call to make at the point of signing. Once a session passes, the worked log example shows how to record it.

Related guides: Becoming NBC-HWC · Finding practice clients for your 50 sessions · Coaching accreditation explained.

Sources

Official sources checked 11 September 2026.

• NBHWC, Coaching Log Requirements: 20-minute minimum; post-PSA dating with programme verification of the exact start date; 75% facilitation; exclusion of friends, family and current classmates; paid or pro bono; group sessions counting as one; permitted delivery formats; exclusion of text-based sessions; the seven log columns and the published three-row example; the coaching log extension link.
• NBHWC, Board Exam Application Packet, January 2026 version: "Only coaching sessions that occur after passing the PSA may be included in the coaching log"; instruction to contact the programme about PSA dates; the same session criteria; the signed attestation covering the listed sessions.
• NBHWC, Coaching Log Extension: eligibility, fee, scheduling and submission restrictions; spring 2027 application-date discrepancy with the board page.
• NBHWC, Get Board Certified: coursework must be completed before applying; the 50-session requirement; the three-week log extension.